The discussion surrounding music and its implications on violence has been in circulation for about a century. The discussion itself is often linked to the discussion surrounding violence in video games and media. — However, the velocity of the discussion ramped up heavily following the school shootings at Columbine High School in 1999. In uncovered journals, by student killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, many lyrical references were made to a number of popular metal bands at the time. Columbine related music
Just recently, the tragedy in Dayton, Ohio linked music to violence again. As it was soon discovered that the killer, Connor Betts, was the lead singer in a “pornogrind” band that performed regularly in the Midwest death metal scene.
Digging into the psychology behind music and violence, there seems to be a large amount of disagreement. I wasn’t able to find any one article that summed up the discussion as a whole. However, there have been a number of scholarly articles published on the topic from both sides.
Consider the differences in POV: Violent music increases aggressiveness vs Violent Music doesn’t desensitize , or the abstract here: Extreme music and anger processing
I think this topic will be an interesting for the class to weight in on. I would consider music to be part of our “contact zone” that perhaps sometimes goes overlooked.
E367: Writing and Diversity 