stupid music makes you play chess worse: SCIENTIFICALLY TESTED (on myself)
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It's time for a new post of unsolicited and probably useless advice.
I was listening to some random music on youtube and playing some blitz on here, and decided to compare how well I play after listening to good music vs. bad music. Does stupid music actually make you stupider? Time for: science with chuddog!
I picked one genre: hip-hop. Possibly because listening to bad pop music would induce levels of pain above what I can tolerate, even in the name of science. All other conditions were the same: 3/0 time control, ~equal opponent rating pool (I always issue the same open challenge: -25 to +400), random colors.
The result was, listening to good hip-hop did not affect my play, but listening to mumble rap made me play chess worse. It probably took ~200 blitz rating points off my skill level. Even though I was listening to that trash "ironically", the simple, repetitive beats and nonsense lyrics infected my brain and interfered with my thinking, making it hard to plan or calculate.
Sample game: after listening to TechN9Ne:
https://www.chess.com/live/game/3066592575
Same game: after listening to Lil Whatever
https://www.chess.com/live/game/3066701971
So you know how they said listening to "smart music" (e.g. Mozart) makes kids smarter? Well, listening to stupid music makes kids (and adults) stupider. Once again, a case of science proving the obvious, I guess.