Country Music Makes You Suicidal

There’s nothing worse than switching on the radio in the hopes of catching a sprightly ditty from whichever girl band happens to have won X-factor this week to find yourself in a room full of gloom as Garth Brooks wails about his long lost wife/lover/cousin. Before you know it you’ve tied a noose around the lounge lights and are teetering on the edge of the stool. It’s only then that the SugaHoneez come to your rescue, dragging you out of your pit of despair with a chirpy song about how you'll like the shape of their bottoms.

Well take solace from the fact your not the only one. Steven Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan and James Grundlach of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama scooped an Ig Nobel in 2004 for their discovery that the amount of country music that’s played over the radio correlates with suicide rates.

And to think that the military spent all that time trying to develop a gay bomb when they just could have bought the Kris Kristofferson back catalogue and depressed their enemies into submission. Or is there something in the Geneva Convention about that?

Back to Top Ten Ig Nobel Prize Winners

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