Why do metalheads tend to be cat people?
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Why do metalheads tend to be cat people?
The current issue of Decibel (#62, Converge cover, buy here) has a feature called “The Cutest Kitties in Metal.” Obviously it parodies Revolver‘s annual feature on, well, another kind of kitty. It also makes this issue the best magazine issue ever. If you were a fly on the wall in my home recently, (a) I hope you leave soon, and (b) you would have seen me read and re-read that feature with alarming frequency, constantly exclaiming, “Awww,” and “So cuuute.” Dez Fafara’s pretty kitty Sundance! Joe Axler’s giant feline Turtle! Dave Witte’s cat Eddie who chases him around the house! I heart them all.
This got me to thinking. Why do most pet-owning metalheads I know have cats? See, for example, the recurring Metal Pets feature on this site. We have had six cats and one dog so far, and several cats are in the pipeline. I have met metalheads who own dogs, but they are in the minority. (For the record, I am both a dog and a cat person, but much more the latter.)
A sizeable amount of commentary exists on the differences between dog people and cat people. See, for example, this article, which claims that cat owners are more likely to be single, while dog owners are more likely to be married. This blogger claims that dog people are more outdoorsy and extroverted, while cat people tend to be homebodies and have fewer friends. Another blogger says that pet owners tend to be like their pets — eager-to-please/easygoing for dogs and their owners and quiet/finicky for cats and their owners. Then this article says that all that is bunk.
It’s easy to see how all this could apply to metalheads. Most metalheads I know are introverted people. The pursuit of metal tends to be an indoor activity. (Although I wonder if hiking-crazed Fenriz is a dog person.) Most metalheads I know have problems finding like-minded people, so they tend to entertain themselves — just like cats. And, ideally, the pursuit of metal stimulates independent thinking and a rebellious streak — characteristics of cats. So maybe metalheads are naturally wired to like cats.
Or maybe we just find them cute.
