Do you think there is a correlation between musical taste and intelligence?

I've read on the internet on multiple occasions and different sites that studies have been done that have supposedly confirmed the existence of a correlation between intelligence and musical taste. The studies were done in schools in the United States. What do the studies show? For example, kids who listen to Heavy Metal are supposedly more likely than others to be " gifted ", whereas kids who listen to Reggaeton are more likely to be, well,
" intellectually impaired ". What do you guys think? Is there a link between musical taste and intelligence?

There is a correlation 12
There is not a correlation 21
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Comments ( 36 )
  • SwickDinging

    I listen to heavy metal and Reggaeton. (No, not at the same time.) Where does that leave me?

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    • YE

      You're a music offender 😏

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      • SwickDinging

        I'm a disaster, a microphone master

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    • RoseIsabella

      Keep up the good work!

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  • LloydAsher

    Not really, I think it boils down to the local culture and music taste.

    Someone from the hood is very likely to enjoy rap, just as someone in the country enjoys... well country music.

    Taste is just taste

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    • There clearly seems to be a correlation between gender, age, class and ethnicity though, not just where you live.

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      • ThatOneGuyYouNeverWantToMeet

        "There clearly seems to be a correlation between gender, age, class and ethnicity"

        What would mine be?
        Gender: Man
        Race: White
        Age: 26
        Class: lower middle
        ethnicity: USA, TN
        IQ: According to the first 3 online IQ tests that popped up on my search, in-between 125 & 150
        We must know how accurate this is!

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        • RoseIsabella

          What's with this "we" stuff? I have a girlfriend who always uses we instead of I, and it kinda annoys me. She's a wonderful person, and about ten years younger than me, but from New England, and I'm still me from Texas.

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          • ThatOneGuyYouNeverWantToMeet

            "What's with this "we" stuff?"

            Hyperbole.... & the voices in my head.

            "I'm still me from Texas."

            https://youtu.be/FGGhH7reZMY

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            • RoseIsabella

              🤣

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  • hauntedbysandwiches

    There's definitely no full correlation. They say country music and rap is the least intelligent of all and although I don't like either of those genres I have friends who do and they're definitely intelligent in many ways, one is even studying at the University of Cambridge and another studied at Harvard which are extremely difficult to get into, you have to have a bright mind to study there so I don't think it means much.

    I also don't think I've ever met a single intelligent person who listens to heavy metal, they're usually quite dim-witted but that's not to say there are intelligent people who do, I'm sure there are as are there who listen to any type of genre. A lot of it is just the environment you grew up with and life experiences that shape our music taste.

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    • 1234tellmethatyoulovememore

      I don't understand how music can be "intelligent" or "unintelligent" by genre. I have heard so much country and rap music full of meaning and well composed.

      It seems to be based more on people's opinions of the audience than the music itself.

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    • BatterMilk

      Rap music has the highest vocabulary compared to Rock and country music. So, technically rap music has more lyrical density compared to every other genre.

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      • hauntedbysandwiches

        Rap music has the lowest actually. Rock groups have the highest. I'm not talking about vocabulary though, I'm talking about the studies done suggesting that people who listen to rap and country are less intelligent. I'm just saying music taste doesn't correlate with intelligence.

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        • RoseIsabella

          So Alabama must be full of dumb asses.

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          • LloydAsher

            I think that was well established before this conversation.

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  • 1234tellmethatyoulovememore

    Why do I feel like there's a thinly veiled racial component to this question....

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    • SkullsNRoses

      I was thinking the same thing.

      I have heard that people with worse memories prefer music with repetitive lyrics though, which would make sense.

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  • MonteMetcalfe

    I read on the internet Albert Einstein was a big Black Sabbath fan.

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    • RoseIsabella

      Okay smarty pants, but that's impossible, because Ozzy was only approximately seven years old when Einstein died in 1955 so...

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      • MonteMetcalfe

        Einstein invented time travel but he didn't tell anyone.

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        • RoseIsabella

          What's your favorite Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne song?

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  • Tinybird

    What if I like all music without exceptions??? What does that say about my intelligence?

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    • RoseIsabella

      I dunno, it just sounds like you are very open minded, and accepting. You would probably score high on a personality test for agreeableness.

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      • Tinybird

        It certainly helps with my passion which is singing... Many people make requests and I sing any song that they request. One day I'm singing the alphabet song, next day I'm singing Slipknot, then it's cutesy Jpop, then it's rap god, then next thing it's some oldies, and then some modern pop music... Nothing is out of bounds!!! I don't get paid for it either I just do it for fun as a hobby. I'm also fast at learning songs

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  • GuvnorsOtherWoman

    No co relation whatsoever.

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  • Possibly. I judge people based on their musical taste can't help it really.
    If you listen to music that has more depth to it and is made with lots of creativity then you're probably used to finding the deeper meanings and thinking deeply. Then again i've read that we all find and listen to music which mirrors who we are, the music we listen to don't shape us but the other way around, so according to that people who listen to shallow and generic radio hits are shallow or not very deep thinking people since they're the most attracted to easy listening crap music. But there's most likely exceptions as always. Some people have just never been interested enough in music to look for "their genre" and find the gems but that doesn't make them less intelligent. Not sure how you can be not interested in music unless you're some kind of a psychopath but some people I suppose are unfortunate enough that they haven't grown up for example with parents who listened to and showed them a lot of good music as well as friends. One guy I knew said he doesn't like music and when he does listen it has to be happy, simple songs because everything else is depressive, apparently. I once sent him some songs which were more complex, long and with lots of interesting lyrics and melodies and he was just like "I dont like this because it's sad"... And they weren't even sad songs. Personally I read that as he was scared of feeling deeply as songs with a lot of emotion and passion in them provokes deep thinking and feeling. Depth isn't automatically sad though thinking and feeling too much can make one sad or disappointed. But it's also how you learn.

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  • Somenormie

    I don't see a correlation.

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  • Clunk42

    No, but this is a meme someone made by stealing and editing a YouTube comment I made a few years ago. It doesn't even say what I originally said.

    https://pics.me.me/ihave-a-mental-age-of-67-only-because-my-upbringing-35361685.png

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  • Someone who really likes rock music more than anything else.

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    • ThatOneGuyYouNeverWantToMeet

      ...Was that for my comment?

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      • LloydAsher

        Noobs

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