The authors examined the impact of homicidal, suicidal, and nonviolent heavy metal and rap songs on the moods of male undergraducates under the guise of administering a memory for lyrics test. Subjects heard one of six songs and completed a memory task. Subjects completed several mood inventories as part of a “second study.” There were no effects of song content or music type on suicidal ideation, anxiety, or self-esteem. The nonviolent rap song elicited higher Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores than the violent rap songs. And, rap songs elicited significantly more angry responses than heavy metal songs.
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