Korman: Music, partying an uncertain combination

Popular music charts have never been a bastion of the world’s most profound lyricism. The predominant themes of pop music evolve over time, of course, but generally show little variation at specific points — and right now, the predominant theme seems to be partying.

Disclaimer: I am not anti-partying. The partying institution has merits that cannot be supplied by, say, those of higher academia or domestic gardening. For college students specifically, partying provides much-needed reprieve from the rigors of a hectic week of classes and schoolwork. It also capitalizes on the fact that at this point in our lives, we do not yet have to tend to the high-pitched timbres of a crying infant the morning after a long night out. Partying is good. Some might even argue that partying is “freakin’ awesome.”

The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” has been perched atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart since July 11, and no less than 23 times, its refrain makes a dubious yet infrequently challenged prediction: “Tonight’s gonna be a good night.”

Although the song’s candor situates it among the most explicit illustrations of the current “party song” trend, it is not unique. Seven of the top 10 songs on the Aug. 29 Billboard top singles chart make direct or indirect references to partying or alcohol. For lack of a better historical comparison, the chart corresponding to my first day of kindergarten featured only one such song. And yes, it was “Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio.

Indeed, music and merriment are a winning combination dating back to biblical times, and the two entities are today so tightly intertwined that a party without music feels hollow, void of life and would likely be described by college folk as “lame.”

In this sense, the urge to combine partying with music that is essentially about partying seems perfectly reasonable. In fact, it’s a wonder we don’t already have music that itself is about party-themed music — the self-referential dance jam, if you will — and that we don’t party while wearing T-shirts bearing clever party-related witticisms.

Although this scenario would be totally meta, it would not be freakin’ awesome. Rather, the experience might simply be a higher order, drunken iteration of monkey-see-monkey-do.

Psychology majors and laymen alike might very well be familiar with the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Generally, it suggests that if you tell yourself that tonight’s gonna be a good night 23 times over the course of five minutes, you might in fact be predisposing yourself to make it happen. It’s a dubious theory on the surface, but self-fulfilling prophecy is not a pseudoscientific conjecture.

Research presented by noted psychologist and skeptic Richard Wiseman in his 2003 book “The Luck Factor” indicates that when people think positively, their subsequent actions are actually conducive to producing positive results.

Likewise, the effects of music lyrics on human behavior also have tangible support. A 2003 study conducted by two Iowa State University professors presented strong evidence that violent song lyrics positively correlate to hostile moods and actions in listeners.

Another study published last August in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed a similar link between pro-social lyrics and pro-social thoughts and behavior.

No such research has been presented correlating pro-partying lyrics to an actual increase in partying intensity or frequency. However, the existing evidence indicates that a causal link between the two is not only plausible, but perhaps even likely.

Considering the fervency with which college students typically party, it’s perfectly natural to assume that the urge is somewhat instinctual, untouched by external stimuli — entrenched in our blood, some might say. Alas, there is no known genome corresponding to beer pong skill, nor to an affinity for burnin’ fires on the dance floor, shorty or otherwise.

Life imitates art. Just as the rise of the television crime drama has spawned a 32-percent increase in undergraduate forensic science majors, music about partying makes the whole venture all that more appealing. Our “festive” lifestyle, in many ways, has been imposed on us culturally.

In 1999’s “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” the overweight Scottish henchman Fat Bastard whimpers, “I eat because I’m unhappy. And I’m unhappy because I eat.” This roughly approximates to the relationship between us and partying: We party because it’s cool, and we’re cool because we party.

That said, the goal of this column certainly wasn’t to piss on anyone’s party — it’s Friday, after all. All I ask is that you let tonight’s goodness be found not in the words of a song but in the freakin’ awesomeness of your heart.

E-mail Ben at bek25@pitt.edu