Alcohol and Malt Liquor in Popular Music
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth D. Waiters, Ph.D.

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References to alcohol beverages, drinking behaviors, or drinking contexts have been noted in country, blues, rock, soul, punk, and rap music lyrics throughout different time periods. Given that listening to music is the number one leisure time activity of adolescents, and that most teenagers know nearly all of the lyrics to their favorite songs, music is one potential source from which young consumers of popular culture receive information about alcohol.

This project is a content analysis of beverage-specific references in the top 100 songs for each year from 1980-1999 in four music genres popular with young listeners: rap, alternative rock, country-western, and Top-40 pop. The focus of the analysis is on the types and frequency of alcohol references as well as the themes, images, and other characteristics of alcohol portrayals in song lyrics.

The primary aim of this project is to understand the ways in which the recent proliferation of malt liquor's presentation in song lyrics differs from the presentation of other alcoholic beverages, particularly in regard to the presence of health-related behaviors such as violence and risky sexual practices. A secondary goal of the research is to determine how depictions of specific types of alcohol beverages differ from each other and vary across music genres.

The results of this research will provide a basis for designing prevention efforts to counter the potential influence of popular music targeted for specific youth subcultural groups regarding the use of alcohol and high potency malt liquor beverages.


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