Hey, it's Alan and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. This episode is brought to you by Carmax. Searching for your next car? Tense settle. Thrive. At Carmax, it's easy to shop online or in person. With upfront pricing and tools designed to help, finding a car you love has never been easier. Plus, you can sell or treat in your current vehicle with an online offer in minutes. With no strings attached, start shopping now to find a car you'll love at Carmax.com. Carmax. The way it should be. You're on with Xfinity. How can we help? Hi. Can my phone keep up when I travel for work? Yep. With Xfinity Mobile, you get Wi-Fi speeds up to a gig on the go. So I can work on my phone by the beach? Your secret's safe with me. Switch and save with Xfinity Mobile. Now through January 10th, Xfinity Internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. Get Xfinity Mobile.com to learn more. Xfinity. Bring on the good stuff. Restrictions apply. Xfinity Internet and two new unlimited lines required. Reduce speeds up to 30 gigabytes of usage per line. Data thresholds my berry. Actual Wi-Fi speeds vary, not guaranteed. Okay. Okay. You can call me nosy, but I love knowing what other people think about things. This is why I gravitate towards surveys, you know, on the kinds of stories where ordinary people are asked for their opinions on and reactions to the most random things. And for me, the weirder the better. For example, back in 2014, there was a poll in the UK that asked the question, would you have sex with a robot if given a chance when the numbers came back? Wow. Okay. I wasn't expecting that, but rather annoying. Anyway, one in five people said that they would get jiggy with a robot, one in five. And as an addendum to that, almost 50% said that they wouldn't think negatively of someone who did. Like I said, that survey was way back in 2014. And you got to wonder if attitudes have changed since then. Here's another. 2,400 Americans were asked if HTML was a sexually transmitted disease, telling the responses. We learned that, yeah, you know, you don't have to do that, right? Like I can handle it from here. Anyway, the answer is that 11% of Americans thought that HTML was a venereal disease, 11%. It also found that 42% believe that a motherboard is a deck on a cruise ship, 27% were under the impression that a gigabyte was an exotic South American insect. And 15% thought that software is some kind of comfortable clothing. Listen, I'm not making this up. Somebody did the research and conducted the survey. All right. One more. This is a Canadian survey is bacon better than sex. You're going to do it again, aren't you? No. Okay. I'll play along if it makes things more fun for you. Survey says 43% would rather chow down on some bacon than have sex. In British Columbia, the number was 50% and I wonder what's happening out in BC. So you know what's coming next, right? If I'm talking about surveys, you know, I'm going to pivot to surveys from the world of music. If that's what you think, you would be correct. Stop that. This is the ongoing history of new music podcast with Alan Cross. Pointless is pointless, mastermind was unkind and my answers were lampooned on family fortunes. I thought I was going to be a big star, but our survey says I thought my career would go for a survey. That's a guy named Dave Goody with our survey says, and I think it's the perfect way to start this program filled with weird music surveys. Hello again, I'm Alan Cross and by the time this episode is over, you will learn things about your fellow music fans and music in general that you can use to astound everybody. And when they say, go on, that's not true. You can simply point them to the research. Something you're about to hear is the result of some kind of legitimate study or at least one pretending to be. Some of the result of serious empirical scientific work at universities and labs. Others were conducted by professional pollsters and survey takers. And then there's the category of survey where a piece of research is is really just a masquerade for an advertisement. Let's start with one of those. People love to know what other people are up to when it comes to sex. So we might as well dive in it. Elysses encounters is a hook updating site like Ashley Madison. Its mission is to connect cheating spouses. And they commissioned someone to ask 1000 British people about certain sex things. See, it looks like a serious sociological endeavor, but it's really just a trick to get people to talk about the client. Anyway, the survey began with this question. Could the kind of music you prefer affect the amount of hooking up action you get? Apparently, the baseline for lifetime lovers in Britain is six for men and four for women. Now, let's overlay the added metric of musical preference to see if that average goes up. In the UK, it's metal fans that, on average, get the most nooky with 17 partners. My pop was second at 15, and down at the bottom was jazz and folk tied with three. Let me read you the executive summary. People who enjoy listening to high-energy music like heavy metal are often more extroverted with a zest for adventure, and that's reflected in the high number of lovers they've vetted. If you're a jazz lover, it's more likely you're a cool cat who's more in touch with your emotions and have fewer notches on your romantic score. Okay, sure, but it's a survey. We can go a little deeper down this rattle. An American site designed for truckers wanted to know more about people who drive F-150s rams and hummers. It's the whole SUV thing. We learned that the favorite genre of American truck enthusiasts is rock, 21%. They then asked 1,000 of these folks if any of them had done it in their vehicles. 40% replied that they had, and the vast majority of them sound-tracked everything that they did in their truck to heavy rock. Now let's broaden things out to the general population. This was commissioned by an American online doctor site, and it wanted to know the best songs for sexual encounters. They began by searching through 11,000 songs from 150 playlists created by over 1,000 people who wanted to soundtrack their own boinking. Songs by pop artists were most common on these playlists. Hip Hop was in second place, followed by R&B. indie rock was fourth, alternative was fifth, and EDM sixth. Heavy metal and classic rock finished dead last. Then again, country did not rate it all. Although the study did turn up that country fans were the ones most likely to have participated in an orgy. And the folks least likely to use any kind of protection, which is probably a bad combination. We also learned that 72% of metalheads say that they have a fetish of some kind, and 82% of them admit to having an all-night stand. No judgment, just facts. This track topped the rock and alternative list for favorite boinking song, which I guess is fine. But sexy enough to finish very high as the top-alt rock song on playlists designed to soundtrack action in the bedroom. And I'm sure we'll come back to more sex surveys later, but let's move on a bit. This is a little more family-friendly. A t-shirt company that makes merch for musicians did some research, and they found this. The average music fan owns, at any given time, six artist t-shirts. Seems low, but that's just me. Metal fans, and there they are again, own the most bad t-shirts with an average of 10. Metal fans also spend the most on such gear, dropping $500 or more over their lives on t-shirts. Shirts from Testament, Trivia, and Opeth are the most searched for. Short-sleeved bad t-shirts are purchased by 88% of fans while hoodies come in second at 41%. Long-sleeved shirts and sweatshirts make up less than 20% of the buys. Now, here's the part of the survey that will divide people. How do you feel when you see someone wearing a specific shirt and know full well that they're only wearing it because it looks cool and not because they know anything about the band? You know the kind. They've got a Ramon's t-shirt, they've got a Metallica t-shirt, they've got a Motorhead or Nirvana shirt that they bought at some fast fashion place. And you can just tell that they have no clue about the name of the artist on that shirt and what they have done. The same survey returned this response from the majority, that is over 50%. They say that to wear a band t-shirt, you should be able to name at least three songs from an artist to wear that shirt. However, 30% said you don't need to know anything. It's a fashion choice. Pure and simple. "I'll wear what I want," they say. And you can't shame me for doing that. 57% of music fans will buy their shirts at a concert, but 34% will also wear a shirt for a tour that they did not attend. In a related survey, 10% of people say that they own a t-shirt for a band that they've never listened to. Never listened to. I'm just going to let that sit there and you can discuss that amongst yourself. Okay, let's stick with the subject of t-shirts. This is from another bit of research by a merch retailer. Black t-shirts sell the best, no surprise. The most popular size is 2X, and as of 2023, the average merch purchase at a show is $66. K-pop fans spend the most, and EDM fans and country music people spend the least. Here's another t-shirt survey that will divide people. Is it acceptable to wear a band t-shirt to one of their concerts? Does that show faith and devotion, or is it pure cringe? Never see the 1994 movie PCU featuring Jerry Piven. It includes this scene that might be the genesis of the no-shirt-to-show policy. Is this where it all started? I don't know if you're aware of this, but there actually was music recorded before 1989. What is this? You're going to wear this to the show. You're going to wear the shirt of the band, you're going to go see. Don't be that guy. I'm sad to say that there doesn't seem to be any definitive answer to this question. I've seen multiple surveys on this topic, and they're either contradictory or inconclusive. First of all, there does not seem to be any hard and fast rule. It changes from genre to genre. Metal fans will often go to a gig proudly representing the bands of the bill by wearing one of their shirts. Been to a Metallica show? Count the shirts? Exactly. It's like going to a sporting event where everyone is wearing the home team's jersey. However, if you want to look at indie rock, it seems, seems, that it is generally considered uncool to wear a shirt to show. Maybe it shows that you're too much of a fan and you're not cool enough or chill enough? Is it bad concert etiquette? I don't know. More research needs to be done. Here's a quick song from the Foo Fighters Silver and Gold album, and yes, it is called T-Shirt. ♪ Pretend there's nothing wrong ♪ ♪ You can sing along with me ♪ ♪ I don't want to be queen ♪ ♪ Just trying to keep my T-shirt clean ♪ More on the Survey Says Beat? Nah, coming up. With Amex Platinum, you can really be in the now. Access to resi priority notify? Yes. 4 p.m. check out with fine hotels and resorts booked through Amex Travel. We needed this. And dedicated card member entrances at select events? Let's go. Mmm, you can focus on the present moment. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com/with Amex. Remember entrance access not limited to Amex Platinum card. Oh, it's such a clutch off-season pickup, Dave. I was worried we'd be bringing back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Lines.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install? No, it was easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Hall of Fame Sun. They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world. Lines.com is the GOAT. Go to Blinds.com for 40% off-site blinds.com, rules and restrictions may apply. We are using this program to look at surveys and studies that are both serious and silly. Again, the purpose is to enlighten and entertain as well as to give you tidbits of information that you can use to annoy your friends. This one has a little more gravitas. SkyArts, the TV channel out of the UK, conducted a survey to determine the greatest guitar riffs of all time. I'm going to give you the top five and you can tell me what you think. At number five, it's money for nothing by dire straights, which I find interesting. Number four, deep purples, smoke on the water, which you can see coming. Number three, more dire straights with sultans of swing, which really doesn't have a traditional guitar riff, does it? And second place, Purple Rain by Prince and at the top spot, Sweet Child of Mine from Guns and Roses. Okay, I'm not really sure about this particular survey because every breath you take by the police finished at number eight, five spots ahead of Led Zeppelin and Whole Lot of Love. The only Jimi Hendrix song in the top 20 is Purple Haze at number 14 and ACDC's Thunderstruck came in Dead Last at number 20. Okay, I don't like that one. Let's counter it with this survey by Guitar World Magazine, again, top five. At number five, ain't talking about love from Van Halen. Okay, so finally some acknowledgement of Eddie. Smoke on the water, number four, back in black by ACDC at number three and second spot Crazy Train, Randy Rhodes playing for Ozzy Osbourn, good call. And in top spot, finally, Whole Lot of Love by Led Zeppelin. Going a little deeper, we find Metallica's Enter Sandman at number seven, Black Sabbath's Iron Man at number eight, Rage Against the Machines Killy in the Name at 16, followed by Smells like Teen Spirit at 17. All right, here is another one. This is from 2022 and was commissioned in the UK. The top five guitar riffs are Stairway to Heaven at number five. At number four, it's Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. And then another one bites the dust by Queen at number three. Here's a shock, at least to me, survivors, I have the tiger at number two with 31 percent of the vote. And once again, at the top, sweet child of mine, Guns N' Roses. I've gone through a few more. Beat it from Michael Jackson, shows up quite a bit, usually near the top. And while Eddie Van Halen plays the solo, the riff in Beat it actually comes from Steve Luchitur, better known for his work with Toto. In fact, three members of Toto play on Michael Jackson's Beat it. There are the other usual suspects, satisfaction by the Stones, Walk This Way from Aerosmith, Steppenwolf Born to Be Wild, and the alt rock song that consistently finishes the highest in all these surveys is this one. Shocking, I know. Next up is this survey about travel. What are the best cities around the world for music lovers? This comes from a concert ticket reseller, nice clickbaity thing that entices people to buy concert tickets at inflated prices. Now, I will say this. In all my travels around the world, I have come to believe that no one loves music more than the English. With so many people packed together on a small part of a rainy island, everybody follows music like sports and politics, everyone follows the charts, everyone goes to gigs. And this survey confirmed my suspicions. It ranked London as the top global music hotspot with a ranking of 9.3 out of 10. Los Angeles finished second largely because of the insane number of gigs that happen in that area every year. In 2023 alone, Los Angeles, an area hosted 1,575 shows in 12 months. The city with the greatest number of venues is Chicago. That was enough to put them in third place overall. And with more than 3,000 acts originating from New York City, it landed in fourth place. That's even more than London with about 2,900 and LA with 2,500 acts. Now let's look at things from a different angle. Which cities have the most stores selling vinyl? We begin with Berlin, third spot, about 98. Then we have London at 110. But no one, no city, has more record stores pedaling vinyl than Tokyo. There are at least 226 shops in that city. And what about this? Which city has the most stores selling musical instruments? In third spot, it's Boston, 129. Moving up to second, it's Berlin, 130. But the city with the most musical instrument stores on the planet is Chennai, India with 176. The next survey has to do with cybersecurity. What do you use for a password? Some people use the name of their favorite band, Hackers Know This, and there were data breaches and leaks all the time as a result. A company called Mailsuite is concerned about data loss and identity theft. They analyzed 300 million compromised passwords found on the dark web, and they came up with a list of music-inspired passwords that you should not, and I repeat not ever, ever use. Here are the top five. Of all the music-related breached passwords out there, about 137,000 used "slayer". In fourth spot, "green day" was the password, 142,500 times. Then it's "slipknot" as the third most compromised music-related password, 258,000 times. In second is Metallica, 264,913 times. And the worst band name that you could possibly use for your password, because it is going to get hacked, is Blink-182. That hyphen ain't gonna save you. Right now you're probably thinking, "When's it gonna talk about the best drinking songs?" Right now, a whiskey retailer analyzed 23,425 Spotify playlists that referenced either drinking or partying in their title. The goal was to find the most popular songs within that sample, thereby indicating which tracks are best for sound tracking tipples. They felt that they could also infer which artist was associated most with those activities. And I'll cut right to the jakes. AC/DC had three of the top five. Back in block at number four, highway to hell at number two, and thunderstruck in the top spot. You shook me all night long, was it number eight, and TNT was at number eighteen, giving the group four of the top ten and five in the top twenty. No one else even came close. But why is Toto's Africa at number ten? Does anyone really consider that to be a drinking song? Now as you probably guess, there's more than once of a survey. This one is a little less subtle. One top spot is AC/DC again, but this time with Have a Drink on Me. Duh. It's followed by Guns N' Roses Night Train, which in case you did not know is a brand of very cheap wine. In third spot, it's Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters, then it's one bourbon, one scotch, one beer from George Thurgood and the Destroyers, and Whiskey and a jar. The original Thin Lizzie version from 1972 is fifth. I also learned something from this list, and it comes courtesy of the sixth song, Brass Monkey from the Beastie Boys. A brass monkey, in case nobody knew and I did not, is a premixed cocktail featuring vodka, dark rum, and orange juice. Brass Monkey, that funky monkey, Brass Monkey chunky, that funky monkey. Brass Monkey boy, and put the girl down, Stakes a big gold man slaps it around. Okay, where can we possibly go from drinking songs? I know. How about taking drugs at festivals? This comes from a study dedicated to increasing drug safety in time for the 2024 festival season. 900 likely festival goers were asked, "Do you plan to take drugs when you go to an event this summer?" 84% said, "Yeah, of course." That was a 10% increase from 2023. Weed figures as the most popular drug, no surprise there. 65% said that they planned to indulge in that. Cocaine was in second spot, followed by various psychedelics, then ecstasy, and then finally ketamine. In case you were wondering, the festival with the most people on drugs seems to be rockfest in Wisconsin. It finished ahead of Burning Man, plus Coachella, Rolling Loud, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza. Here are a few more random survey results. The best music for working out, as determined by the manufacturer of stationary bikes, Michael Jackson, Eminem, and Queen. The music that makes people feel the most confident, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Adele, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga. The artist with the most tic-tockable shows, Taylor Swift, not even close. She was also determined to be the most tiring artist to see with her marathon 40 song sets and so much dancing. Tay Tay is also rated as the most expensive performer for whom to be a fan. The average Swiftie will spend over $1,100 a year on her. Which is almost twice as much as second place Kanye. Listen, would you spend $500 on Kanye? But the best music for controlling pain? That's a bit tricky because it's been determined through multiple studies that virtually any music can control pain, as long as the person suffering from it has control over what's played. That being said, if the person can't be in charge, go with classical music. Pilotsart plus Adele has been proven to work very well on inflammation. The best music for cats is classical music. That comes at research at Louisiana State University. Cats love classical music. They also tend to hate metal, especially the guitar solos. And if we're doing that, what about dogs? Well, there are tons of research into this, but here are some results from the University of Glasgow. Dogs want music that closely matches their resting heartbeats, so metal is out. Motown, too energetic. The best possible music for your dog is reggae. And based on research that I have conducted with my English bull terriers in my home lab, that's spot on. And this one seems to be a favorite with them. I'm not done yet. War of Our Survey says, "episode coming up." I give up. You're on with XFINITY. How can we help? Hi. What's up when I travel for work? Yup. With XFINITY mobile, you get Wi-Fi speeds up to a gig on the go. So I can work on my phone by the beach? Your secret's safe with me. Switch and save with XFINITY mobile. Now through January 10th, XFINITY internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. Visit XFINITY mobile.com to learn more. XFINITY. Bring on the good stuff. Research and supply. XFINITY internet and two new unlimited lines required. Reduce pizza for 30 gigabytes usage per line. Data threshold's my berry. Actual Wi-Fi speed's very not guaranteed. This is an ad for better help. Welcome to the world. Please read your personal owner's manual thoroughly. In it you'll find simple instructions for how to interact with your fellow human beings and how to find happiness and peace of mind. Thank you and have a nice life. Unfortunately, life doesn't come with an owner's manual. That's why there's better help online therapy. Connect with a credential therapist by phone, video or online chat. Visit betterhelp.com to learn more. That's better h-e-l-p dot com. Never wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator, facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Colosseum. Find out on the Ancient's podcast from History Hit. Twice a week leading experts and academics delve into our distant past and discover secrets thought lost to the sands of time. Join me, Tristan Hughes, as I hear exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians to the Celts to the Romans. And visit the Ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were. That's the Ancient's From History Hit. We're having some fun in this episode by reviewing some research, specifically surveys and polls, but also peer-reviewed academic studies. What about music for studying? You've got to cram for a big test. What should you listen to? And what should you avoid to get the best grades? The worst type of music for studying is hip-hop and rap, largely because of its lyrical density. It's just too distracting. When you should be concentrating, you may find yourself slipping into the flow of the song, which is bad. Metal is the second-worst study music because it's also too distracting. Only eight percent of respondents say that they find it productive. And pop is third on the Do Not Listen to list, but there is a disagreement on it being productive, 23 percent, versus distracting, 22 percent. Pop is also listed at the top of best study buddy genres. It's only slightly better than lo-fi tracks. However, students with the highest grades reported listening to these genres. Number one, classical. Number two, some kind of down-tempo instrumental. And number three, indie. Let's swing back to sex because, well, why not? A study of over 1,500 people on driving and dating revealed some interesting connections. 24 percent of the respondents said that if you were in a car with a potential partner and that person favored country music, and you did not, the relationship was doomed. Unless, of course, you're both country music fans. If you're not into hip-hop and your date insists on playing that in the car, there's a 21 percent chance that things are going to end poorly. Meanwhile, 28 percent of women said that metal was a turn-off. This will be controversial. In what decade was the best music made? Very tricky because it's important to remember that everyone believes that the music of their youth was the best music of all time. So the best music ever made directly correlates to your age. This comes from a YouGov Washington Post survey. Whatever you were into at about age 17 will be your sweet spot, your musical comfort food for the rest of your life. From then on, older music is the best music. And by the time you're 30 or 31, people have generally checked out when it comes to new music. Let's break this down. If you were born before 1950, the '60s were your jam. If you were born between 1951 and 1969, chances are the mid-1970s is your sweet spot. And if you were born in the '70s or '80s, it's probably 1990s music for you. In fact, if you were born in the '90s or early 2000s, you still may be into '90s music. Let's start to wrap things up with a few random studies, surveys, and poll results. If you met someone who was completely dialed into your musical tastes and you wanted to date this person and they lived in a different city, would you relocate to be with them? This depends on your age group, 44% of Gen Z's and 40% of Gen X would. Only 17% of baby bloomers could be bothered. This is related, and I apologize for it, shall we? If you found someone who loved the same music as you, would you compromise a little more on that person's physical appearance, their looks? Yeah, I know. All demos finished between 17 and 20% saying that they would prioritize music overlooks. Everyone, 80% or more, says that music compatibility is more important than attractiveness. Do you like to be sober or have a buzz on at a concert? Again, it depends on the age group. 83% of baby bloomers want to go to a show straight and sober. Compare that to 61% of Gen Xers and 60% of Gen Z. Millennials are the least likely to be sober. 50% of Millennials are guaranteed to be buzzed, to some extent, at a concert. All right, what about phones at concerts? Gen Z is split down the middle at 50/50 when it comes to a partner being on their phone during a gig. Millennials hit it the most at 72%, and let's end with this. Would you call in sick so you could go to a gig? Gen Z is the most likely to do that way ahead of Millennials. 43% of Gen Z said that they would give up booze for six months if they could get front-row seats for a gig by their favorite performer. 20% of Gen Zers said that they've been so overcome with the motion at a concert that they've cried, and 21% say that their first concert was more impactful than losing their virginity. And just so you know, Gen Z says that the best gift to receive is concert tickets, and that outranks clothing, any kind of luxury good or wellness product. They seem to have their act and priorities together with music, doesn't it? Let's see. Would a Gen Z music like to see this band live? Before we finish up. There are a few more results from some random surveys. If they could get away with it, 29% of employees would punch their boss in the face, 23% of people text on the toilet. That's a UK number by the way, I don't know if it applies anywhere else. In 2021, a survey in Japan asked people if you could turn into any animal, what would it be? Cats were first followed by dogs, then pandas. And from America in 2019, one in 10 people in the United States, one in 10 think that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. I get the results of music surveys all the time. So I will continue to save them all up until I have enough to do another episode like this. Meanwhile, please use this information wisely and for good. There are hundreds of ongoing history shows available as podcasts wherever you get your on-demand audio and speaking of surveys, rate and review if you get a chance. There's also my other podcast, Uncharted, Crime in Mayhem in the Music Industry. It's true crime meets music and there are a bunch of those available too. Meanwhile, let's meet up on all the social media platforms. My website is always there with daily music news and information at a journal of musical things.com and all email should go to allen@allencross.ca. Local Production by Rob Johnston, we'll see you next time. A catastrophe of biblical proportions swarms the city.
