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Advertiser (Adelaide)
(Adelaide, Australia)
Dec 5, 2017, p. 33

Copyright © 2017 News Limited Australia. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

No Praise for Songs on Drugs, Alcohol

One in five Australian top-20 songs over the past decade included references to alcohol,
tobacco or illicit drugs, according to new research published in the Drug and Alcohol Review.
The finding is in line with research from the US, which found American adolescents are exposed
to about 34 alcohol mentions in popular music every day.
References to alcohol in popular Australian songs peaked in 2010, when almost half of the top-
20 songs mentioned alcohol and/or illicit drugs, before declining steeply in the following years,
which was linked to the “YOLO”, or You Only Live Once, phenomenon.
The research by Curtin University examined 508 songs from 2003 to 2015 that featured in the
top 20.
School of psychology and speech pathology Professor Simone Pettigrew says young people are
heavily exposed to popular music, with estimates of about three hours a day among 15 to 18-
year-olds.
“Music is one form of popular culture that plays an important role in defining and reinforcing
society’s expectations of substance use, including what is and isn’t considered appropriate,”
Prof Pettigrew says.
The research made recommendations such as monitoring music lyrics as a way of helping
researchers gain a clearer insight into substance use among youths.
“The link between the reduction in the consumption of alcohol among youths and the references
to alcohol in top 20 songs may indicate popular music closely mirrors actual consumption rates,”
Prof Pettigrew says.Nearly 20 per cent of the popular songs examined by mentioned alcohol
alone mirroring overseas research.

Summary
"One in five Australian top-20 songs over the past decade included references to alcohol,
tobacco or illicit drugs, according to [2017] research published in the Drug and Alcohol Review.
The finding is in line with research from the US, which found American adolescents are exposed
to about 34 alcohol mentions in popular music every day." (Advertiser (Adelaide)) The
increase of references to drugs and alcohol in Australian pop music is reported.

Citations
MLA

"No Praise for Songs on Drugs, Alcohol." Advertiser (Adelaide), 05 Dec, 2017, pp. 33, SIRS
Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

APA

No praise for songs on drugs, alcohol. (2017, 05 Dec). Advertiser (Adelaide) Retrieved from
https://sks.sirs.com

Related Subjects
● Australia
● Music
● Music and youth
● Music, Influence of
● Popular culture
● Popular music
● Substance abuse
● Drugs and popular music
● Music and society
● Music fans
● Musical criticism
● Popular culture, Australia
● Popular music fans
● Popular music, Texts
● Songs
● Alcohol
● Music and children
● Songs, Texts
● Australia, Social conditions