How a 1968 News Story on Steve Miller Sparked an Urban Myth About Head-Banging Insects and Heavy Metal

The Myth of Termites and Heavy Metal

Imagine a scene where you're immersed in the powerful riffs of Iron Maiden, head-banging to the beat. According to an intriguing theory, if your home is infested with termites, they might be doing the same — thrashing to the music while devouring your house at twice their normal speed. This bizarre claim has sparked curiosity and skepticism alike, leading to a deeper investigation into its origins.

The story began with a study supposedly published by the Royal Society Open Science. It claimed that termites exposed to heavy-metal music, with its electric guitars, booming bass, and thunderous drums, ate through wood at twice their usual rate. The study suggested that the vibrations from the music helped them break down the wood more efficiently. However, upon closer examination, this claim seems to lack solid evidence.

Curiosity led me to reach out to the Royal Society in London, only to discover that no such study was in their archives. Further research uncovered a 2005 paper from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that discussed termites and vibro-acoustic signals. However, this study did not specifically mention heavy metal or any music genre, and it was unrelated to the original claim.

I then contacted Theo Evans, one of the authors of the 2005 paper, who confirmed that neither he nor his colleagues had ever researched music as a vibration stimulus. Despite this, he was intrigued enough to explore any potential connection between “heavy metal” and “termites.”

His search led him to a fan webpage for rock guitarist Steve Miller, maintained by Bruno Ceriotti, a self-described rock historian. Among the details about Miller’s career was an entry from a nearly 60-year-old news story about a unique performance by the Steve Miller Band at the Matrix, a San Francisco club on September 11, 1968.

During this event, a mysterious entomologist named Trenchard Bowelton (also spelled Bowelson) was involved. According to the story, the Steve Miller Band played in front of a flock of termites, which were guests of a group of government scientists. At a press conference held before the show, Dr. Trenchard Bowelton claimed his team planned to study the effects of musical vibrations on termites' ability to digest their wood cellulose diet.

Six days after the show, Dr. Bowelson reported that the termites exposed to the music showed increased activity, such as foraging and eating. They neglected their family life and kept on eating instead of feeding their larvae and queen as they should have been doing.

Despite these claims, there is no concrete evidence of Bowelton's existence or credentials. The University of California at Davis, where he was supposedly employed, had no record of him or his assistant, Miss Jeanne N. Collier. Additionally, the U.S. Library of Congress provided a photocopy of the article titled "Rock ’n’ Roll May Bug Bugs," which included the entomologist’s claims.

Further investigation revealed that the entire story might have originated from a Snapple bottle cap. In 2003, a former Washington Post reporter, Peter Carlson, posted a factoid on his blog stating that termites eat through wood twice as fast when listening to rock music. He sourced this information from inside the cap of a Snapple bottle, which often includes humorous and exaggerated trivia.

Despite reaching out to the Entomological Society of America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Agricultural Library, no evidence supporting the claim was found. The story of termites and music appears to be a myth that gained traction over time.

In conclusion, the idea that termites are head-banging to heavy metal while destroying homes is more fiction than fact. If you’ve been keeping your stereo volume low out of fear, you can rest easy. Turn it up and head-bang away without worry.