Scientists think I am highly depressed, am contemplating suicide, drink and drive AND indulge in unprotected sex !!!

I have this habit of saving/collecting articles I find on the internet, that I "might" find interesting OR which I might possibly think have a "Collector's Value", if you know what I mean.

The funny thing is, most of the time these saved html files remain lying on my PC for months and months (sometimes years!) - and I eventually end up clearing everything out when I want to free up hard-disk space.

Anyway, the above cycle... was busy deleting old old files when I came across this beauty, and boy, I just had to post it here in my blog!!!

And yup - for those of you who don't know (and I find that extremely WEIRD) , although I listen to most forms of music, the genre that I love the most is HEAVY METAL!

Alright - enough yapping, you may proceed to the reading room :)

Kids' choice of music may reveal suicidal tendencies

Tue, Aug 5 2008
Doctors can determine whether a teenager is at the risk of developing a mental illness or committing suicide just by asking him or her what type of music they prefer, according to a new study.
Published in Australasian Psychiatry journal, the study showed that teens who listen to pop music are more likely to be struggling with their sexuality, while those who prefer rap or heavy metal could be having unprotected sex and drink-driving.
Teens who favour jazz are usually misfits and loners.
The authors of the study say that these observations go to suggest that teens' musical tastes may serve as a diagnostic indicator in mental health assessments.
"There is no evidence to suggest that the type of music you listen to will cause you to commit suicide, but those who are vulnerable and at risk of committing suicide may be listening to certain types of music," smh.com.au quoted the author of the study, Felicity Baker, as saying.
She said that an Australian study of year 10 students had shown significant associations between heavy metal music and suicide ideation, depression, delinquency and drug-taking, while an American study had also shown that young adults who regularly listened to heavy metal had a higher preoccupation with suicide and higher levels of depression than their peers.
She further said that deliberate self-harm and attempted suicide was also linked with children who listened to trance, techno, heavy metal, and medieval music as part of the goth subculture.
Teens who attended dance parties were much more likely than their peers to be taking drugs, she added.
Dr. Baker also revealed that some genres of rap music, like French rap, were linked to more deviant behaviours including theft, violence and drug use, while teens listening to hip-hop were usually less troublesome.

THE PIT v.2.0 - 18th April 2009

And so to the biggest event of April 2009 – bigger than the National Assembly Elections… THE PIT v.2!
I doubt whether any review would do justice to the actual event. It is far easier to review band competitions or one-off gigs, because you can actually get away with being critical of a particular band or a musician.

But events like The Pit are far bigger than just one musician or a single band – to me, this is more than just about the music. This is more than just about a horde of metal-heads congregating at some metal shrine and headbanging like lunatics… No, The Pit is a concept, a message from the heavy metal loving fraternity of Kolkata to the rest of the metal loving maniacs of our country. So to insult (or to be overtly critical) of any musician performing @ The Pit would be an insult to The Pit itself.

Anyway, for all those who were NOT present, The Pit v.2 was not just a success, it was a MAMMOTH SUCCESS! This entire metal slug-fest was so well organized that it left me totally flabbergasted.
Me being the perennial pessimist, I was expecting pit-falls and goof-ups at every corner – but no, apart from the 1 hour delayed start, I was left totally disappointed!
I couldn’t lay my finger on anything.
The concept – A+

The venue – A
Granted, it is definitely not the classiest theatre in town. And ok, the toilets stank and the dearth of ACs (April 18th – 40.8° centigrade – one of the hottest days in 10 years!) was a killer – but regardless, the compactness of Tapan Theatre just felt so right that I couldn’t think of any better venue to hold such an event! (an outdoor gig in this weather would have led to all of us dying of sun-stroke anyways!). Plus, this joint being in South Kolkata… what more could I ask for? Heh! I hope all such events are held in South Kolkata! Heh!

The sound – A
Again, no complaints. The sound was very clear to even a deaf person like me. No boom, no feedback, no reverb and all that trash which makes listening to music torture. What more could one ask for?

The music – A++
Like I said, it would be totally unfair to criticize any of the bands – it wasn’t just about the music after all, The Pit was around to make a bold statement.
In any case (and this is the good thing) none of the bands did anything for me to be critical about. Am I being diplomatic? No absolutely not. I enjoyed the performance of all the bands. Maybe I was too caught up in the entire wave of metal enthusiasm to be too bothered to listen to every note and line of the songs being played as intently as I might at any other concert. Who know! But whatever, I loved the music dished out by all 8 bands that day. And this, despite my having some reservations initially before the event started.

Amongst the 8 bands, one band I had never ever heard before (live or online) – and there were at least 3 bands who were playing for the 1st time with new members (and supposedly very little practice as well!) – yes, you know which bands I am talking about.
So yup, I wasn’t very sure how good the music would be – but looking back I have to honestly say that all the bands (new line-ups, old line-ups) all gave solid performances.

The crowd – A+
A Saturday was always a great date for such an event, especially for an office-goer like me. (I still regret having to miss the 1st edition of The Pit). Anyway, I expected a pretty decent crowd on the 18th.
But what I saw that day was far beyond my expectations – this was like the biggest assembly of metal freaks ever. And there was this particular time, just after the Flash Flood gig, when the entire crowd seemed to pour out of Tapan Theatre… the neighbourhood then looked like a sea of black tees. It was really an awesome sight! I’m sure the “para” folk were scared stiff seeing so many menacing freakos in their area.
Yes, I know – a major chunk of the crowd consisted of wannabes and pseudos. Girl-friends of metal-heads, friends and relatives of musicians, curious “para” folk… all these sections of the society contributed to the numbers – still, the response to The Pit v.2 was absolutely heartening and bodes well for the future IF such events can attract such huge numbers. (Hey stuck-up event management people, wake up! Even metal shows draw great crowds in Kolkata!)

Being a DEATH tribute band is no easy task and so my hats off to the 4 members of In Human. For a 1st time listener I can only say that they were brilliant and I kick myself for not having heard them before in the past. They did a splendid job getting the event started.

The same goes for DIOT B. I had only ever seen them play half a set (@ Bethune College!) which is a crying shame. Anyway, here they were and they just let rip. 30 minutes of deadly music. The crowd was fully utilizing the space available for moshing activities.

A special mention goes out to Flash Flood. I don’t want to rank any band, but if you had to give out prizes then they were probably the winners of PIT 2. And Leeyong is such an insane muthafucka – he is the living embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a classic case of a person having 2 sides, a 2 Face - who could imagine such a docile well-mannered kid going so bloody crazy when you give him a guitar and put him on stage?
Flash Flood was brilliant – maybe instead of leaving, Diwash and Leeyong should stick around. I know I am trying to be politically correct and I shouldn’t be saying such stuff, but ya, that’s what I feel right now.

Chronic Xorn? What can I say – another great gig and more bad luck as usual! Playing to a crowd that had just survived Flash Flood’s assault was tough enough… but the massive power failure during their set was the icing of the cake. Anyway it was good to see Anindya playing with the gang.

Sinful Oath is another crazy band that I just love to watch. Maybe the thinnest band around too – from what I saw after seeing their topless performance. The most improved band in the circuit.

To me, this was my best gig I have seen Cicatrixx play. They performed far beyond my expectations. Regardless of the bassist change I found this to be their most mature gig to date, even better than what I saw @ the Karunamoyee Kings Of Rock competition. Good going.

Crystal And The Witches with a new guitarist. And the young chap did a great job. So that obviously helped the band to put up a good show. No hiccups, loads of energy, great choice of covers, and Leeyong going crazy as ever. Plus Diwash is a great front-man, no doubt about that.
I’m not very happy that Arthur is missing and I sincerely hope things can be patched up and that CATW return to being what they were + the new guitarist. No problem in being a 5 member band after all. Anyway, their band dynamics are not for me to handle. I will always support this band regardless of them being a 4 member band or a 5 member band.

Lastly, Noyze Akademi – also with a new bassist, but a talented one at that. This was just my 2nd NA gig and yup, I enjoyed this one far more than my 1st one (@ the Scholastic Beats final). I think removing the DJ was a good idea. Nothing against him, he’s a nice chap – but the sound of NA is far more solid because of this line-up change. There aren’t too many hard-core nu-metal acts in India so Noyze Akademi has loads of space to make a name in this genre.

So that was that, The Pit v.2 done and dusted. Special mention must be made about the massive power cut which lasted for what, 2-3 hours? It almost killed the event. And the heat, well that was even worse.
But nothing seemed daunting enough to the Pit organizing committee. And so the show went on and we all had a great time… and now everyone is dying for the next Pit to happen. And I am sure the rest of India are sitting up and taking notice of our “little” community here as well – I can guarantee that those “big daddies” from Mumbai and Delhi will be dying to be a part of The Pit v.3 whenever it happens next. Managing team, be prepared for a flood of requests from these bands!

\m/