Study: Country Gets Happier When Times Get Hard
The cyclical trends of country music, and all popular music have always thought to be tied to a certain extent to the socioeconomic conditions of the time, but a recent study by the American Psychological Association bucks the conventional wisdom that country music’s stereotypical depressing themes come from dealing with tough times. Conversely, when economic times gets tough, country gets happier, and more female.
The study, called “Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States” found all matter of interesting tidbits about the trends of country music, and how they differ from pop. Where pop tends to mirror the mood of society as a whole, becoming more moody and dark in both chord structures and themes when times get tough, and turning to happier topics and structures when things are rosy, country music works virtually in the polar opposite direction.
The study conducted by sociologist Jason Eastman and psychologist Terry Pettijohn II looked at 63 songs that reached Billboard’s #1 position on the country chart from 1946 to 2008. They looked at the lyrical content, the music and the use of major chords (generally considered “happy”) or minor chords (generally considered “sad”), as well as the age and sex of the performer. “Country songs of the year are lyrically more positive, musically upbeat, and use more happy-sounding major chords during difficult socioeconomic times. While older country musicians are more popular in difficult socioeconomic times, unlike pop performers, the country artists of the year are more likely to be females when the social and economic environment is threatening.”
Why would country music cut against the grain compared to pop when it comes to mood? The study concludes, “…the more marginalized working-class listeners of country music use happier sounding songs from comforting female figures, like the wives and mothers portrayed in country songs, as a catharsis in difficult socioeconomic times.”
The Science Behind Why Pop Music Sucks
Beyond the subject of the mood of music and how it’s affected by socioeconomics, this study also reinforces the importance of Billboard’s charts, and their ability to accurately represent genres of music when researchers look back to attempt to understand trends and how music can affect individual’s moods, and the overall mood of society. When Billboard dramatically overhauled their rules in 2012 to include more interplay between genres by boosting the performance of genre-specific songs when they receive pop airplay and attention, it eroded the autonomy country music and other genres have from pop that is vital to studies such as this one from the American Psychological Association. The study was able to register the difference between country and pop because the two genres were defined by clear boarders. One could argue this would be more difficult today in the current Billboard chart climate.
Furthermore the study illustrates why music is important in people’s lives for coping with emotional difficulties. The differences inherent in genres allows listeners choice to more custom fit current music to their mood and disposition. As the differences between all popular music continue to deteriorate, including country music with the current encroachment from rap and EDM influences into the genre, it could potentially render country music less effective as either the emotional crutch, or the upbeat escape it once was for its listeners.
April 18, 2014 @ 9:49 am
I’ve always thought that country music (and country radio) rise in popularity and economic downturns were connected. (Urban cowboy era following 70s recession, 90s rise following 1990 recession, current rise following 2008 downturn).
Nice to see some research into the validity of that theory, and some reasons why.
April 18, 2014 @ 12:32 pm
Pretty interesting findings. As you mentioned, with the Billboard stuff, and with the mono genre country music that dominates it, the accuracy of the study down the road is probably short lived. The “working class” probably isn’t even the Billboard country fan base anymore.
April 19, 2014 @ 12:11 am
Interesting. The correlation between hard times and a high representation of female singers has obviously not panned out in the current recession (the trend since the recession has been toward male monopoly over country music).
However, there is a point to the idea of hard times leading to more upbeat country music. An international parallel here would be with the Indian film industry, Bollywood. Bollywood is renowned throughout South Asia and beyond for its dance-oriented movies centered around predictably happy love storylines. It has often been said that such movies serve as a cheerful distraction for the impoverished masses in India.
April 19, 2014 @ 12:25 am
“Country” on this site has a nebulous definition, which I appreciate, but it seems that “pop music” is portrayed as a monolithic entity. What is “pop?” Is it statistical or is it what Trigger deems to be “pop?”
April 19, 2014 @ 8:33 am
In this case, pop is defined by what was popular on Billboard’s charts in the time period of the study. This study appears to have been a followup on numerous studies that delved into how music paralleled the mood of society based off of economic conditions.
Though I personally may be critical of pop music at times, or its influence and encroachment on country, I really don’t think I have some definition for it that’s out of the norm in any way. Pop music is what is popular, and that can be a country song, or a hip-hop song. I also believe that pop has its place in the music world and shouldn’t be discounted completely. I also don’t have problem with mixing genres necessarily as long as it is done with heart and artistic merit. But I also believe the integrity of genres is important to maintain the diversity of music that makes music such a vibrant part of culture.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:27 am
thanks, very interesting stuff here.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:34 am
This assessment is bullshit. People had harder times during the great depression and worked hard in the 1950s and such. Sad music is what understood them. The difference between are economic down turn is people now live with mommy and daddy or live on some type of government assistants. People back then just suffered. The music reflects the spoiled bratness of our culture not the suffering or hard work. Look at third world countries. They make tons of sad music cause that’s what understands them and gets them through there misery.
April 19, 2014 @ 10:58 am
I tend to agree with your statement. The “hard times” we face now are not the same as in years past. I believe that a vast majority of our younger population (the ones who gave is these Billboard studies) are not in tune with the economic, or socio-political plight in the same way our fore-fathers and previous generations were. Millennials ( my generation) wear blinders when it comes to the state of our country, and therefore do not accurately paint a picture of America circa 2014.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Millennials have suffered more than any other generation as a result of the economic crisis. Many of them have been shut out of the job market entirely, and many others are working in jobs well below their level of qualification.
April 19, 2014 @ 11:04 am
You have to appreciate that this study started from virtually the beginning of the country genre in the mid 40’s, and excludes that last six years. Many studies like this are five years removed from the study period because of how in-depth the studies go into creating statistical facts behind their findings. I think it would be very interesting to take this studies findings, and balance it around what country music says about people’s moods today. I think what we would find as I’ve been saying along with many others, is that country, and all genres have been going through the most systematical changes in the past couple of years than ever before, more change and homogenization towards a mono-genre in two years than individual genres experienced in decades of times previously.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:52 pm
Do you honestly believe that living on government assistance somehow creates a great sense of happiness? All such assistance provides is food and maybe some basic housing and health care. The United States has the smallest welfare state in the developed world.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:54 pm
Also, the idea that Third World countries generally produce sad music is simply not true.
Let’s take a look at the quintessential Third World regions, Africa and South Asia. South Asia, as I mentioned above, is famous for its dance-based movies. African music is also defined by dancing and a generally celebratory atmosphere.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:38 am
It’s like in some European countries. They are live in nice apartments wear nice clothes but feel they are too good to do hard work. They vote in politicians that support their welfare and have other European countries bale them out. They cry that so called inferior races have to be in their country to do the work they are too self entitled to do and that culturally they are being over run by them.
April 19, 2014 @ 10:53 am
This actually makes a lot of sense; because while I was growing up, I was raised on a lot of Celtic and Gaelic music and I was quick to observe that, in spite of some deceptively dark themes and tropes being nodded to through the balladeers……….the music mostly had a buoyant, foot-tapping whimsicality driving it.
And it’s actually not hard to see why. The Celts understand living with limited resources, and relying almost exclusively on an agrarian economy. So when they determine success on how well they achieve that baseline of providing enough for themselves and their loved ones, they’re happy. They’re candid in the songwriting of the toils that come with this, but the music most often sounds exuberant.
Country music, at its core, channels that spirit. In the corporate mainstream sense of how “country” is marketed, that has largely fallen to the wayside. But we indeed have an extensive back history that confirms this, along with many in the Ameripolitan sphere.
April 19, 2014 @ 11:09 am
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/bros+before+woes+Florida+Georgia+Line/9754447/story.html
On a somewhat related note, Florida Georgia Line frontman Tyler Hubbard was reviewed by the StarPhoenix………..and here’s what he had to say about happy and depressing music:
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“You come to our show and have a good time – that’s what we’re all about. People want to be happy. They don’t want to hear depressing songs. I think it’s kind of self-explanatory.”
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Firstly, why the hell did they cover “Stay” then, let alone release it as a chart-topping single? Sounds more whiny depressing to me than anything. Doesn’t seem all that “self-explanatory” to me! 😉
Secondly, while it’s true ballads have been struggling on corporate country/”country” radio as of late, decidedly downbeat subject matter is still thriving. As disingenuous and appallingly written as it was, “Drink A Beer” would strike most listeners as depressing. “Give Me Back My Hometown” looks likely to top the chart in the next several weeks and is downright downbeat. “Rewind” is a wistful pop song. “Sweet Annie” is all about the aches that come with longing to settle down with painful lines like “But one day lightning will strike, and my bark will lose its bite…”. “Slow Me Down” and “Wake Up Lovin’ You” are holding their own in the Top Twenty right now. And so forth.
Listeners STILL value emotional realism and release in their music, whether it be positive or negative emotions. And sometimes, it inspires truly depressing songs. That’s just what writing from the heart produces.
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April 19, 2014 @ 11:46 am
During/after the Vietnam War, I remember my grandfather listening to Cash, Jones, Tammy and Loretta. It wasn’t upbeat.
April 19, 2014 @ 10:09 pm
Economically speaking, the Vietnam War era was a very good time for America. I think the combination of material abundance and social upheaval during that period explains why the music of that era was so philosophical.
April 19, 2014 @ 9:51 pm
I’d be curious to know how the study classifies the mood of a song. For example, is “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive”, which includes lyrics about hard times in the neighborhood, considered upbeat? What about Garth Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers”, would that be considered upbeat or downbeat?
April 19, 2014 @ 10:16 pm
I would consider “Unanswered Prayers” to belong to the third category of country music mood, which in my opinion contains many of the finest songs of the genre:
wistful
April 22, 2014 @ 8:48 pm
Makes sense but nothing is more depressing than country radio playing generic pop and bro country 24/7. If this is happy I’d hate to see the kind of music played in a depression. The title should be Country Gets Shittier When Times Get Hard.