Mahler and Metallica: Closer than you think

Posted at 11:45 AM on September 9, 2008 by Gillian Martin

I love scientific studies like this one: researchers at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, have found "a distinct correlation between people's personality traits and the style of music they enjoy."

In particular, they found that heavy metal fans and classical music lovers have common personality traits:

"Aside from their age difference, they're basically the same kind of person," he said. "Lots of heavy metal fans will tell you that they also like Wagner, because it's big, loud and brash. There's also a sense of theatre in both heavy rock and classical music, and I suspect that this is what they're really trying to get at when they listen."

But where does that leave fans of Haydn string quartets, or Bach keyboard suites, I wonder? Anyway, read the whole article here. (And thanks to artsjournal.com for the tip.)