BBC Learnings · Section 10

Can death metal bring you joy

Rob, do you like metal? That's an odd question.

Level: B1 · 112 sentences

Transcript

  1. Rob, do you like metal?
  2. That's an odd question.
  3. I've never really thought about it.
  4. I use metal things every day –
  5. my toaster, my bike, the underground.
  6. No, not that kind of metal – this kind of metal!
  7. Oh, that kind of metal – the musical genre, the type of music.
  8. Yes, and in particular death metal.
  9. That fast, loud, aggressive sounding guitar-based music style?
  10. Yep, that's the one.
  11. Nope, not my cup of tea at all.
  12. What kind of person do you think I am?
  13. Well, that's the point.
  14. The type of person who likes death metal
  15. may not be the kind of person you think
  16. they are. More on that shortly.
  17. But first, a quiz.
  18. The electric guitar is an essential element to death metal music,
  19. in which decade were the first electric guitars produced?
  20. Was it a the 1920s, b the 1930s or c the 1940s?
  21. Ooh, I think quite early, so I'm going to say the 1920s.
  22. Well, we'll see if you're right later in the programme.
  23. Does violent music give people violent thoughts?
  24. Recent research claims to have found the answer.
  25. This is how the topic was introduced on BBC News.
  26. What was the conclusion?
  27. A psychological study of fans of death metal suggests
  28. that they are not desensitised to violence
  29. despite the genre's association with growling,
  30. often graphically violent lyrics, including depictions of cannibalism.
  31. Researchers found that the main response
  32. of fans to the music they love was joy, not violence,
  33. adding that most are very nice people who wouldn't dream
  34. of hurting anyone, let alone eating them.
  35. So what conclusion did the researchers come to?
  36. Well, they found that the response to the music
  37. was joy, not anger or violence.
  38. It made people happy.
  39. There was a fear that listening to music with violent lyrics,
  40. which means violent words, would make people desensitised to violence.
  41. If you're desensitised to something, you don't
  42. see it as unusual or unacceptable.
  43. It doesn't bother you.
  44. The newsreader also said that the lyrics
  45. of death metal include topics such as cannibalism,
  46. which is the practice of eating human flesh.
  47. Listening to someone singing about eating people apparently
  48. didn't make them feel like snacking on their neighbours.
  49. Let's hear the introduction again.
  50. A psychological study of fans of death metal suggests
  51. that they are not desensitised to violence
  52. despite the genre's association with growling,
  53. often graphically violent lyrics, including depictions of cannibalism.
  54. Researchers found that the main response
  55. of fans to the music they love was joy, not violence,
  56. adding that most are very nice people who wouldn't dream
  57. of hurting anyone, let alone eating them.
  58. Professor Bill Thompson from Macquarie University in Sydney conducted this research.
  59. What does he say people don't feel
  60. when listening to this kind of music?
  61. Most fans are not angry.
  62. Most are actually musically trained people who really get a lot
  63. of empowerment and aesthetic interest out of the music.
  64. They feel joyful, they feel transcendent, they feel empowered.
  65. But what they don't feel is angry.
  66. What don't people feel?
  67. They don't feel angry.
  68. What they do feel is joyful – the adjective from joy.
  69. They feel happy.
  70. Something else they feel is empowered.
  71. This is a feeling of being in control of your life,
  72. that you can make and follow your own decisions.
  73. Music is certainly a powerful art form.
  74. Professor Thompson also said that fans
  75. have an aesthetic interest in it.
  76. This means that they appreciate it as an art form.
  77. Let's hear Professor Thompson again.
  78. Most fans are not angry.
  79. Most are actually musically trained people who really get a lot
  80. of empowerment and aesthetic interest out of the music.
  81. They feel joyful, they feel transcendent, they feel empowered,
  82. but what they don't feel is angry.
  83. Time to review our vocabulary, but first
  84. let's have the answer to the quiz question.
  85. In which decade were the first electric guitars produced?
  86. Was it... a 1920s b 1930s
  87. See the 1940s. What did you think, Rob?
  88. I took a guess at the 1920s.
  89. Well, electric guitars were early but not quite that early, I'm afraid.
  90. The first ones were produced in the 1930s.
  91. So well done if, unlike Rob, you got that correct.
  92. Now on to the vocabulary.
  93. Yes, we had a few words connected with music.
  94. We had genre for a style of music and also lyrics
  95. for the words of a song.
  96. Some of the lyrics of death metal songs are about eating people.
  97. which is called cannibalism.
  98. Cannibalism is a form of extreme violence
  99. and there was some concern that people exposed
  100. to such violent lyrics in songs
  101. might become desensitised to actual violence.
  102. This means that they would accept violence
  103. as normal and not be worried by it.
  104. However, the research show that this doesn't
  105. happen and fans actually feel joy,
  106. which is another way of saying happiness.
  107. The research also suggested that fans have an artistic appreciation
  108. of death metal, described as an aesthetic interest.
  109. The final word was for a feeling that fans
  110. might get after listening to the music – empowered.
  111. Someone who is empowered is in control
  112. of their own life and decisions.