Metal only: five day challenge
By: Chris Guerrero

The mission: Listen to metal music from Friday to Tuesday. This is going to be a tough one. My goal is to listen to metal playlists created by users on Spotify and see if I can complete the challenge. Wish me luck.

Day 1: Today, I started the “metal only” five day challenge. It was insanely tempting to switch the music from metal to rap or pop. At one point, I actually did, but I stopped myself and yelled “Oh my gosh” really loud. I began the day by listening to a softcore metal playlist and increased the intensity of the music as the day went along. I listened to bands like Stoned Jesus, Knocked loose, and Avenged Sevenfold. I got a headache from all the screaming during seminar and I had to take medicine when I finally got home.

Day 2: My friend tempted me with music today. No, not tempted, pressured me. She felt pity and even told me “no one is watching, it’s okay,” but I felt if I did listen to the song I would be cheating myself. I declined her offer nine times. I got Instructor Nate Kukla to play metal music for the whole class. My friend Soph. Emily Grant said she “could not concentrate the whole hour” and that she “could not hear me”. Although metal music is really loud, I actually enjoy how fast my heart pumps when I listen to it.

Day 3: Today, I did not really have that big of a chance to listen to music at all. I had work so I only ended up listening to metal for about a half hour. I actually kind of liked what I listened to. I was in a bad mood all day and metal sort of became a release for me. I listened to Metallica, Slipknot, and Drowning Pool throughout the day.

Day 4: Again, like yesterday, I did not have that much time to listen to music. When I did my homework all I wanted to do was listen to something other than loud screams and heavy drums. I ended up listening to Bring Me the Horizon and I was actually able to progress through some of my music. Even now, at 11:26 p.m. I’m still doing homework and listening to “I’m the Mountain” by Stoned Jesus and it is actually helping me focus.

Day 5: Today was officially the last day. I am not going to lie, I played one non-metal song by accident. But, when I did realize that I did, I put my metal music back on. I mostly played the most streamed metal songs on spotify the whole day.

The good: I learned I do not have a particular liking for metal music, but I can tolerate listening to it. I found two bands that I like, Stoned Jesus and Avenged Sevenfold.

The bad: I did not like all the yelling, and I realized that metal does not have any slow or even romantic songs; it is mostly angry and loud. Although I kind of knew that before starting, it made me miss my old music, and it was really hard for me to not cheat. I also did not like that a lot of the music sounded the same.Whereas in metal it all mostly sounds the same.

The effect: Throughout the past five days, I was more hyper and I wanted to get stuff done. I didn’t want to sit down and do nothing. I was up and cleaning my room and house; I even did my homework on time. The music, on the other hand, was not my taste, but I now know what to listen to when I want to get productive and get up and do something.