Results of a study released today attempt to link “degrading” song lyrics to teenage sexual activity. Unfortunately for music geeks everywhere, the study proved what many already knew: iPods and big record collections probably will not get you laid–no matter what Nick Hornby says.

In the study, “degrading” basically applies to any song that glorifies casual sex, criminal sexual behavior, violence, unprotected sex or other irresponsible action of the sort.

Researchers involved in the study picked a group of over 700 Pittsburgh area ninth-graders and surveyed them regarding their musical tastes and degree sexual activity.

You can read the entire article here if you want to, but the gist of the story is that after reviewing hundreds of popular songs and their apparently explicit lyrics, researchers have concluded that, “people who are exposed to certain messages in music are more likely to copy or emulate what they hear.”

Seems like a pretty vague conclusion, doesn’t it? Continue reading »