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Soaring numbers of chart hits bought by young people have alcohol-related lyrics, according to a new report - more than double that of 2001.Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University are warning that the pro-drinking lyrics are a threat to youngsters as they promote an unsafe message, and there are fears they allow alcohol to be marketed to children and teens via the music they love.
The latest study shows that as many as one in five songs in the UK top ten today include references to alcohol - a figure rising partly due to U.S.-imported songs.
Since 2001, lyrics about alcohol have more than doubled, according to Liverpool's John Hopkins University. Researchers fear it glamourises drinking to children. One in five songs in the UK charts was found to make references to alcohol, while children and teens were found to spend two hours a day listening to these songs
The researchers, led by Katherine Hardcastle, discovered children and teens listen to over two hours of music every day.
Researchers in the United States have previously documented a rise in alcohol references, including mention of specific brands, in popular music, but until now little data was available on comparable UK trends.
Hardcastle’s team selected four focal years for analysis, comparing music charts across four decades.
They found a significant jump in the number of times alcohol was mentioned.
Songs charting in 1981 contained relatively few references to alcohol, with the number declining further in 1991.
Rave culture was popular in this period; a music scene linked more to the drug ecstasy than alcohol. Yet, the alcohol was back in music by 2001, featuring in eight per cent of popular hits.
The study attributes the rise of alcohol-related lyrics to an increase in the amount of U.S songs becoming popular in the UK. It uses Katy Perry's Last Friday Night, a still from the music video pictured, as an example and claims the song links drinking to confidence and success
This pattern is consistent with U.S. trends, although UK charts still have fewer alcohol mentions than their U.S. counterparts.
Alcohol-related song lyrics are associated with urban song genres and U.S. artists, with lyrics generally putting a positive spin on alcohol consumption.
Drinking is linked to confidence, gregariousness or physical attractiveness, as well as outcomes such as wealth, success, or sex. Chart-topping singers voice the negative effects of alcohol on health and wellbeing far less frequently.
Lyrics have an impact beyond the U.S. and UK too, Hardcastle suggests, pointing out that English-language songs often have global appeal.
For example, U.S. artist Katy Perry’s 2011 single Last Friday Night detailing excessive drinking and risky, antisocial behavior, achieved a top 10 position not only in the States and the UK, but also across Europe, Australia and Canada.
The study looked into chart history. Songs in 1981 contained relatively few references to alcohol, with the number declining further in 1991. Yet by 2001 they featured in 8% of hits. This figure continued to climb, more than doubling by 2011 18.5 per cent of the top 10 songs featuring alcohol-related lyrics
The study concludes: 'The exposure of young people to alcohol in the media is a major concern given its potential impact on drinking behaviours.
'A greater understanding of the impacts of alcohol-related popular music content on young listeners is urgently needed.
'Health and other professionals should be vigilant for increases in alcohol-related lyrics and work to ensure that popular music does not become a medium for reinforcing and extending cultures of intoxication and alcohol-related harm.'
The findings are reported in the Trends in alcohol portrayal in popular music: A longitudinal analysis of the UK charts study, in the current issue of the journal Psychology of Music.
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