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The Effect of Country Music on Suicide
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95183303
STEVEN STACK, Wayne State University JIM GUNDLACH, Auburn University
. Social Forces. Volume: 71. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 1992. Page
Number: 211.

Abstract
This article assesses the link between country music and metropolitan
suicide rates. Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal
mood through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal
population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation
from work. The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49
metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to
country music, the greater the white suicide rate. The effect is
independent of divorce, southernness, poverty, and gun availability.
The existence of a country music subculture is thought to reinforce
the link between country music and suicide. Our model explains 51% of
the variance in urban white suicide rates.

Sociological work on the relationship between art and society has been
largely restricted to speculative, sociohistorical theories that are
often mutually opposed. Some theorists see art as creating social
structure ( Adorno 1973), while Sorokin ( 1937 ) suggests that society
and art are manifested in cyclical autonomous spheres; and still
others contend that art is a reflection of social structure ( Albrecht
1954). Little empirical work has been done on the impact of music on
social problems. While some research has linked music to criminal
behavior ( Singer, Levine & Jou 1990), the relationship between music
and suicide remains largely unexplored. Music is not mentioned in
reviews of the literature on suicide ( Lester 1983; Stack 1982,
1990b); instead, the impact of art on suicide has been largely
restricted to analyses of television movies and soap operas (for a
review, see Stack 1990b).

In this article, we explore the link between a particular form of
popular music (country music) and metropolitan suicide rates. We
contend that the themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood
among people already at risk of suicide and that it is thereby
associated with a high suicide rate. The effect is buttressed by the
country subculture and a link between this subculture and a racial
status related to an increased suicide risk.

Increased Suicidal Risk has also been associated with Grand Opera and
Heavy Metal music..