The report appears in The Journal of Longitudinal Studies.

Co-authors Hanphram T. Zennels and Moira Beverley have found that fans of R.E.M. earn $4,400 more, annually, than fans of The Replacements. (All dollar amounts are gross pre-tax income.)

However, Replacements fans exhibit far greater levels of happiness, shaped by what the authors called “their ability to see everything that is bad, and good, be aware of all that, and realize that life is what obtains, not what should obtain. This realism of the Replacements fan appears to free him or her from pathological levels of depression, and also fosters a joyful, wry humor.”

R.E.M. fans, on the other hand, suffer from what Zennels and Beverley call “a near-constant need for idealistic reinforcement. The only way the world makes sense to them is to pretend it’s something that it isn’t. This cultivates a selfishness and narcissism that translate into higher earnings through the mechanisms of flattering superiors and doing superficially valuable work without regard to fundamental worth.”

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