Classical the Music of the Privileged? Think Again...

My friend George Tzougros, who heads up Wisconsin's Arts Board, hipped me to a fascinating article in the Atlantic by Richard Florida. And, like most of Florida's missives, the pushback in the comments section online is even more so.

In the piece, he holds that the notion that heavy metal music is most concentrated among disadvantaged, alienated, working-class kids is wrong. Instead, the nations in which the most metal bands have released albums are among the most privileged in the world...specifically Scandinavian nations.

Rich attempts to make other correlations revolving around the angst of privilege...but the comments are fairly brutal, questioning his logic. The funniest correlation is that it is not because Scandinavian kids are rich...

It's that the kids hate living there because it's so freakin' cold.