Pop records which portray the ageing process negatively are bad for your health, a new nursing study has claimed.
Researchers at the Anglia Ruskin University have found that tracks such as The Beatles’ When I’m Sixty-Four and The Who’s My Generation could have a ‘detrimental’ effect on the elderly.
They studied musical archives from the thirties to the present day for tracks mentioning old age and found the majority - 55 out of 76 songs - focused on the bad aspects of ageing such as frailty, loneliness and death.
The report also found that the negative connotations of growing old in these songs can affect the confidence and self esteem of elderly people, which in turn could lead to other health problems.
Lead author Jacinta Kelly, senior lecturer in nursing at Anglia Ruskin University, said: ‘The negative representations of age and ageing can be dispiriting, and can affect confidence and the esteem of older people. Negative emotions experienced by older people are connected to poor outcomes in mental and physical health, particularly cardiac health.
‘As popular music is a powerful mass medium that has both positive and negative effects on people's emotions, we thought it would be useful to investigate how age and ageing is portrayed. Unfortunately, from this study, we found mainly negative representations.'
Kelly went on to explain that while When I'm Sixty Four is generally thought of as an upbeat tune, the lyrics 'when I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine' question whether someone who is old is still loveable, which she finds ‘concerning’.
Elsewhere, Kelly points to the negative connotations of The Who's My Generation, which has the lyrics ‘I hope I die before I get old’.
The report found the decade with the highest proportion of negative songs was the eighties, where around four fifths of the songs studied covered ageing in an adverse way.
Researchers at the Anglia Ruskin University have found that tracks such as The Beatles’ When I’m Sixty-Four and The Who’s My Generation could have a ‘detrimental’ effect on the elderly.
They studied musical archives from the thirties to the present day for tracks mentioning old age and found the majority - 55 out of 76 songs - focused on the bad aspects of ageing such as frailty, loneliness and death.
The report also found that the negative connotations of growing old in these songs can affect the confidence and self esteem of elderly people, which in turn could lead to other health problems.
Lead author Jacinta Kelly, senior lecturer in nursing at Anglia Ruskin University, said: ‘The negative representations of age and ageing can be dispiriting, and can affect confidence and the esteem of older people. Negative emotions experienced by older people are connected to poor outcomes in mental and physical health, particularly cardiac health.
‘As popular music is a powerful mass medium that has both positive and negative effects on people's emotions, we thought it would be useful to investigate how age and ageing is portrayed. Unfortunately, from this study, we found mainly negative representations.'
Kelly went on to explain that while When I'm Sixty Four is generally thought of as an upbeat tune, the lyrics 'when I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine' question whether someone who is old is still loveable, which she finds ‘concerning’.
Elsewhere, Kelly points to the negative connotations of The Who's My Generation, which has the lyrics ‘I hope I die before I get old’.
The report found the decade with the highest proportion of negative songs was the eighties, where around four fifths of the songs studied covered ageing in an adverse way.
