The Null Device

Music taste/lifestyle correlations

A UK university study has found correlations between musical taste and various aspects of lifestyle. According to the study, there is a positive correlation between fondness for hip-hop and dance music and sexual promiscuity, drug use, having committed (or claiming to have committed) crimes, and not giving a fuck about the environment or social justice (see also: "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'"). Which sounds like they have just discovered the Chav phenomenon.

In other surprises: fans of opera and classical music are most likely to have PhDs, have high incomes and not accumulate excessive credit card debt, and (along with jazz fans, who are a shade beneath them) are most likely to drink wine.

There are 3 comments on "Music taste/lifestyle correlations":

Posted by: dj Mon Sep 18 02:57:51 2006

That's a fairly limited range of musical genres - no mention of the various types of metal, punk, indy, etc. etc. To think there would be no one with a PhD who liked chart pop would be indicative of a very limited sample. How did they decide what group someone belonged to? I know my musical collection would not fit neatly into any of those genres and I suspect many of the people that read this blog would be in a similar position.

Posted by: toby Mon Sep 18 03:59:13 2006

Too lazy to look. Did they correct for the effect of age?

Posted by: amy Mon Sep 18 14:40:14 2006

I remember a similar study done ages ago in Italy yielding similar results, except that Verdi and Puccini were the "lowbrow" choices. Apparently, only the lower middle class listen to the more "accessible" homegrown composers.