Any correlation between intelligence and musical preference.

no. Different types of music do have different effects on your thinking though. You think it's a coincedence that people like to jump around and bash into one another while listening to rock? I'm not saying it's bad, but you can do some research and find out some interesting stuff on music genres and thinking.

I like death metal and I post on letsrun.

Okay, two things:

1. "Correlation" is a statistical measure. Based on anecdotal personal experience--but a lot of it--I'm sure that there *is* some kind of positive correlation between intelligence (or a proxy, say IQ) and one's likelihood of voluntarily listening to and enjoying classical music. That means that people with three-digit IQ's are more likely than two-digit folks to listen to "sympathy music" (as my fellow warehousemen used to call it).

2. The correlation, as you've noticed, is *considerably* less than 1.0--a lot of high-intelligence people have no real interest in "serious" (serious according to whom?) music, and some double-digit types think it's great.

Tastes are tastes. You have yours, others have theirs. There's nothing deficient (at least in that regard) about any of you.

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FWIW I'm in the three-digit crew and as likely to listen to various kinds of rock as to classical. In fact I'm about due for a metal concert--my ears haven't bled in weeks...

I don't think listening to metal automatically means you're dumb. I think alot of smart people listen to progressive metal (Dream Theatre), "math"core (Dillinger Escape Plan), 70s punk (The Stooges), etc. My personal experience has been that really intelligent, educated people are into jazz, not classical. I haven't done any surveys though.

I'm fairly educated (Masters degree) and have an official IQ of 135. So I'm not in the upper tier of brainiacs, but I'm a pretty smart dude. I mostly listen to music that would fall into the Americana, Alt-country, Bluegrass categories. Examples: Gillian Welch, Neko Case, Richard Buckner, Townes Van Zandt, etc.

I'm sure all the geniuses out there have widely varied tastes in music, but there is one thing you can count on. If someone listens to Nickleback, Kid Rock, or Fallout Boy you can bet your ass they have an IQ of less than 115.

I agree.

Nickelback sucks,

and my "official IQ" of 161 says so.

It also says rhat I only listen to rap/hip hop.

Your theory is flawed.

by "official" I simply meant that I actually took a real IQ test administered in an academic setting, not one of those fake online gizzmos.

Kid Rock may be a dubious choice for listening, but he certainly doesn't belong in the same breath as Nickelback and Fallout Boy.

Just think of it this way: listening to any music that is creative, well-composed, inspiring, skillfull, intriguing -basically any music that has some quality about it that makes you want to sit down and actively listen to it - isn't something to be ashamed of.

On the other hand, there is the simple, meaningless music who's only function is to provide background noise and maybe something to tap your foot to. You might need it ocassionally, say if you want to get your dance on at a club, or if you're the type of person that benfits from some white noise while concentrating, but if you listen to it outside of such situations, chances are you're a wee bit on the shallow side...

themack wrote:

I agree.

Nickelback sucks,

and my "official IQ" of 161 says so.

It also says rhat I only listen to rap/hip hop.

Your theory is flawed.

Somehow I doubt your IQ is 161 as 100 is average.

Actually, almost every metal-head I've met(especially fans of technical, complex varieties) seems smarter than the average human. Maybe I'm biased, but...I still think I'm right.

There was actually an article about this recently somewhere, it had a couple interesting points (although it seemed a little exaggerated at times). Besides the frequent presence of technical/complex compositions in metal, it's said that themes of alienation (prevalent in the genre) appeal to many of those who find themselves feeling that way due to their status as relative "outsiders" (arguably due to their refined intellect).

PS - Rammstein is industrial. They do have metal elements, though.

I have an IQ of 140 and I like Nickleback.

I am a chem major at Williams College and I have a prof who has discussed how much he loves Lil Jon (Lil Jon!!!) with me. Also apparently a big fan of Linkin Park. This guy is one of the smartest people I have ever met.

I do think there is a correlation between ACADEMICS and musical taste, but no correlation between taste and education. Those who are smart but lean towards academia tend to be the lit/classical type so I can understand a correlation there.

Otherwise no. So F*** Off.

It's a shame Einstein missed out on Radiohead.

dont listen to classical wrote:

It seems like intelligent people (professors, scientists, mathematicians) listen to classical music. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D in Physics, and I feel left out! All my fellow graduate student listen to this stuff. When asked who my favorite composer was the other day, I said Rammstein (for those who don't know, they are a German industrial metal band)... haha (I laughed inside, because they had no idea who that was). I said they're a group of German composers .. Anywho, what's your take on intelligence and musical preference? Does my taste in metal make me stupid?

This is off topic, but since you're a physics guy, and you like metal, tell me what you think of the name I came up with for a metal band:

Dielectric

I recently bought a couple of classical songs from itunes out of curiosity. Both are Mozart. I got "Requiem: No 1. Introitus and Kyrie: Requiem and Kyrie" by the London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Colin Davis, and I hate it. The choir sounds totally goth. The other one I got is "Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466: III. Rondo (Allegro Assai)" by the same, and I like it much better. Any recommendations? No choirs plz.

Oh, and my IQ is about 125, if it matters.

As for Mozart, symphonies 40 and 41 are classics, my dad likes the french horn concerto (maybe it's just called the horn concerto?), some of the operas are good (everyone knows the overture to figaro, and i really like die zauberfloete). The only problem is that half of his music is so good it's almost cliche -- a lot of people have the 40th symphony as a ring tone on their cell phones.

I bet smarter people don't have any particular preference for a certain kind of music, but they're more likely to be open-minded about musical taste. In other words, they're less likely to go with what's popular and more likely to go with their personal preference. Somehow that sounds like a pretty good summary of my social life in general. :) I'm also a physics PhD student.

I don't know how you can not know of Rammstein. But my mom doesn't know who Freddie Mercury was and she was in her 30s when he was popular, so go figure.

I had a differential equations professor with a PHd in applied mathematics. If you went to him during his office hours he was always playing death metal. Frequently slayer. Kind of entertaining.

I "unofficially" belong to MENSA (unofficial means I didn't take any test, and just made it up, although I did buy a "MENSA" sudoku book, and I just think I'm smart, if you ask me).

But no, it's not your taste in metal that makes you stupid. (ha ha)

Interesting question. I wonder how the average IQ (and standard deviation) compares between classical fans, and a more "blue collar" group, say, who prefer country and western music? (No offense intended for country and western fans).

I think part of what music you like depends on what you've been exposed to as you were growing up, and part of what you enjoy about a genre of music, is that, by association, it brings back some of the pleasure (or pain).