Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050136
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Donald Bradley/The Kansas City Star
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SO, YOU GOT LAID OFF DOWN AT THE FACTORY.
That's the advice of two sociology professors who determined that too much "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" music could help you decide to kill yourself."Persons who are going through a suicidal crisis could be pushed over the edge by listening to country music," said James Gundlach of Auburn University in a recent telephone interview.
No way, say Willie Nelson, Reba McIntire and Garth Brooks, to name a few of Gundlach's critics.
They denounced the findings, as did the Country Music Association. Ed Benson, executive director of the organization based in Nashville, Tenn., called the study's link of suicide and country music a "quantum leap at best."
"Country lyrics have always explored the range of human emotions, from joy and contentment to love, longing and loneliness," Benson said. "That's why country music has been and will continue to be one of America's most popular music forms."
The country music uproar started when Gundlach and Steven Stack, formerly of Auburn and now at Wayne State University in Michigan, wrote a sociological research project titled "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide."
It concluded that country music has inherent themes - lost love, despair, financial strain, marital discord - that can nurture a suicidal mood. The study said many country tunes tend to convey a sense of hopelessness.
As an example, they cited lyrics from a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band song about a farmer whose land was auctioned off:
"Worked this land all my life. Broke my heart, took my wife. Now I got nothing to show."
The study suggested country music may incite suicide by its "There's a Tear in My Beer" portrayal of drinking as a typical and rational method of dealing with life's troubles. Other studies have established a clear link between suicide and drinking.
Since the presentation of the study in September at a meeting of the American Sociological Society, Gundlach and Stack have been assailed nationally by country music radio stations and artists.
"You should hear some of the things they're saying about us out there," Gundlach said. "We've been called academic coneheads. Somebody said I wouldn't know a smoky from a Twinkie."
Gundlach, 49, is a little peeved about the assumptions critics made about him - especially the "academic conehead" remark, which implies he has no knowledge or familiarity with rural American values.
He grew up on a farm in western Oklahoma. When hard times hit, he ran moonshine at age 14. His father hid 10-gallon kegs of corn liquor in a load of hay bales, and Gundlach drove the tractor to town.
He also left school early to tend bar at his parents' honky-tonk.
"I grew up listening to Hank Williams and Patsy Cline on the jukebox, and I lived the hard times they sing about in country songs," Gundlach said. "So I'm not dealing with something I know nothing about."
Gundlach and Stack do not contend that country music can lead a psychologically sound person to suicide. A possible victim must already be at risk - someone with a strong, lingering sense of despair and loneliness.
Most often, the victims are working-class, young, white men.
Their study began as research solely on suicide but expanded to include country music when high suicide rates appeared for Nashville and Oklahoma City, two cities that Gundlach and Stack knew were big markets for country music.
The professors, acting on a hunch, then combined data for country music radio programming with suicide incident rates for 49 big cities.
The research method they used is called "multiple regression analysis." They took the two primary numbers - country music exposure and suicide rate - and factored in accepted suicidal causes such as divorce rate and poverty index for that particular city.
Still, their research didn't convince everyone.
"Oh sure, I believe it," said Steve Smith, manager of the General's Inn, a large country music nightclub in Kansas City. "Of course, I believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, too."
Smith also questioned the relevance of Gundlach and Stack's work.
"Sociology professors - is that what these guys are supposed to be?" he asked. "Well then, why doesn't somebody put them to work trying to figure out how to feed all the hungry people in America? That ought to keep them busy a while."