Did your parents musical tastes affect what you like now?

quote:

Originally posted by jcs_smith:
What sort of music did your parents listen to when you were growing up?

None at all; we didn't have a record player!

What about the radio?

They rarely listened to it. We used to listen to Children's Favourites and Pick of the Pops. Most of the time my parents and other relatives would sit round boozing and reminiscing about the good old days.

My Dad liked The Stones and The Who (a fair bit of who's output I like) - but worryingly he also liked Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree by Tony Orland & Dawn. So probably there isn't a hereditary thing going on here!

Cheers

Rich

it certainly did I don't like any of their music ie Opera,Harry Belafonte,Nina and Frederik etc. I do like some classical Bethoven,Bach being most popular.To be fair the radiogram,later record player was not used that much.

This is an interesting question, bearing in mind the recent threads on rap music, here & on pfm. Some postings said that kids like rap as a rebellion thing, going against their parents.
IME, my cot was kept on top of the "radiogram", & so my parents music literally sent me off to sleep.
I also remember a mates band recording a song called "nature boy". They needed a keyboardist to help out, & I was the cheapest available. I got a DAT copy from the end of the session, & took it home to play it, & mum started singing along!I had no idea at the time of the origins of the song. She thoroughly enjoyed telling me how much I have to learn about music, & I guess that is still relevant today.
matt

I'm like Joe. I was brought up in silence.
I am fortunate enough to have children myself now and they are exposed to everything that's going. My 8 year old daughter now has a decent CD collection. We were out shopping in town one day and there was a picture of Robert Johnson somewhere - in a book or record shop. My little girl told my wife who he was and that he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads.
I was accused of brainwashing her of course.
She gets to stay up very late on Fridays now to watch Jools.

Certainly, - indirectly. They sent me off into classical music at an early age. Their preferences were romantic music. Later I investigated Early music, and this is my preference to day.

The only music I ever heard my old dad say he liked was 'Bohemian Rhapsody'!

My mum brought me to classical concerts, my dad to Jazz music (partly concerts). That's where I landed, today (after an extended period with rock, blues, punk, electronica, and the like)

interesting question, though !
Stefan

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
I'm like Joe. I was brought up in silence.
I am fortunate enough to have children myself now and they are exposed to everything that's going. My 8 year old daughter now has a decent CD collection. We were out shopping in town one day and there was a picture of Robert Johnson somewhere - in a book or record shop. My little girl told my wife who he was and that he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads.
I was accused of brainwashing her of course.
She gets to stay up very late on Fridays now to watch Jools.

I am delighted to hear such encouraging news of the musical education of the young.

By contast, my memory of my 'birthday treat' as a 5 year old (1968) is having to endure the 'Mikado', d'Oly Carte and all. I recall that I really didn't like it.

But these days I have to count 'Turandot' amongst my favourite musical works, and love 'real' opera (sorry to be an opera snob G&S fans, if any), so something about trip must have stuck.

I'm not sure my parents quite understood my liking - ten years later - for Rory Gallagher and for Prog, which I have happily returned to in the last five years.

James

My father was born in 1900 and so by the time I came along in 1944, there was quite a generation gap. He made a living as a Cinema Organist until they died out and he then fed the family as a bank clerk which he loathed. In later life he managed to recapture a bit of what he loved doing by playing piano in a holiday camp part time. He took me along with him on some Sunday's to a cinema in our town that still had a cinema organ and I sat enthralled as he played this mammouth affair with four keyboards and row upon row of stops and effects. The music was what we now refer to as the "old standards". Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein.

We had radio of course but Family favourites in the 1950's jsut reinforced what my dad played

I guess my generation demonstrated the "gap" strongly and I bought Bill Haley "Rock around the clock" first, followed by Elvis, Jerry-lee, Buddy H, Eddie Cochran and so on. I did'nt take up the piano but did play banjo and then guitar in a jazz band, a group of us formed in our mid teens, which was trad and then modern as the tastes of the friday night crowd in the local dance halls changed.

So what do you get from that.

Some one who has always loved Jazz and is now rediscovering mainstream on Vinyl. An avid fan of Ella Fitzgerald occasionally leavened by a dash of Tony Bennett and, shock horror, old Frankie. An dabbler in new era rock. Loather of punk and rap who is finding the qualities of classical music more attractive as age creeps on.

I guess my musical tastes and strong attraction to a real "song" were put there by my old dad, now long gone of course.

regards
Geoff

Possibly, but not ultimately.....

I have very early memories of listening to War of the Worlds on Dad's tape/radio/record all-in-one player thingy and getting totally drawn into the story, and the music!! I'll never forget the artwork on the lp either! Then another memory of listening to Paul Simon's Graceland on tape with Mum, probably the reason why I own both of those now.

Being persuaded to play the recorder when I was young, then later the bassoon at school (although I used to hate practicing) gave me an appreciation of classical music and we used to go to concerts at the Usher Hall which I enjoyed, but classical doesn't take up the most room in our collection....

My tastes have changed/evolved over the years and are quite eclectic.....
Mum likes my queer indian music, as she calls it.....

So yeah, they may have influenced what I listen to I guess.....

Cheers,
Ali

Well my parents got me listening to music; searching through the family records I found



and it stood out to me - it was my musical discovery - it just sounded so much better than anything else I'd ever heard. I hadn't taken that much notice of music before, but this was special. I used to play it when I was allowed to play a record. Suddenly music mattered. (It's Folk Roots, New Roots by Shirley Collins = if you don't recognise the thumbnail graphic)

Then I discovered lots of other music - my parents used to listen to Alan Freeman on the radio - his early Pick of the Pops were highly influential - I grew up listening to the Beatles, Kinks, Small Faces and Hollies.

So yes a big influence.

Well, I wonder how much impact it has. My parents did (and, indeed do) listen to a lot of classical music (and indeed my love of Mackerras goes very much down to the fact that they admire him greatly also). They also took me to a number of concerts which doubtless shaped my tastes.

However, a lot of the music I listen to (e.g. jazz, pop, rock, etc.) did not come from them at all, and, indeed, various things I have liked (such as Pink Floyd or Miles Davis) I have passed back to them.

Interestingly, I am one of three brothers. My elder listens almost exclusively to classical music and my younger listens to almost nothing that does not include electric instruments. While I, in the middle have somewhat eclectic tastes.

regards, Tam

Dear Friends,

The answer is one big no no for me.

My father was not very fond of the idea that i should like the olden music, and felt it an utter waste of my time, which in his view would have more usefully occupied sitting glued to Hawaii Five O, or whatever. He was fond of ella, but I did not find her for myself until the last ten years, not least because I was utterly repelled by the idea of sharing a common taste or thought with the old b*****d!

Well he had one redeeming feature I find, now five years after he gave the peace of mind by quiting his mortal coil. He like Ella Fitzgerald.

Bach came later, after I was no longer in his home, so heaven knows what he would have made of that! No actually ther3e was no aspect of me or my music he could get on with, and that only made it worse. He even disapproved of my having a regular girlfriend (the only one sadly) while he was married three of the five times he did that. I pointed out ruefully (and inadvisedly as it turned out) that unless one's wife is dead, then one cannot marry again in a Churh sense for those promisses are sacrosanct.

Fredrik

My parents listened to lots of music which primed my interest. The music I listen to and that they do has a fairly small overlap though. Glad to see you survived your medical appt. today Fredrik.

Regards
Matt

Dear Matt,

The nurse was ill, so it was cancelled! Did I hear mutterings of 'Physician, Heal thyself...!'

I was much happier when I was told.

Fred

I basicly grew up under my mother's Grand Bechstein, which was a perfect space to play with my toy soldiers. All those chords were great sound effects for my war games. So classical music came early and at home. The rest is from Stefan's recommendations...

Haim

Fredrik,

I was in a couple of weeks ago myself. Blood pressure and cholesterol made my doctor happy. She, as always, advised me to lose some weight. Good luck when the nurse is well.

Matt

Somewhat.

My father was big on western music and I was introduced to many early on.

Particularly the 20th century Russian composers for classical.

An avid cinema fan, I still like some of the soundtracks from 60-70's foreign films. ( Mancini, Rota, Jarre, Lai et all )

Some old records I buy these days, are probably influenced by my early memory and nostalgia. ( like Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 I am listening to now )

It's a good influence, I think.

However, He is also a huge karaoke fan and I do have an alergic reaction to Frank Sinatra's Going My Way and John Denver's Country Roads.

I was very lucky to have very supportive parents. My dad took me to the Jazz Showcase, heard Coleman Hawkins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Elvin Jones, Gene Ammons, McCoy Tyner, Charles Lloyd, and others. Had a lot of classical, jazz, and folk in the house.

My dad, being a school social worker (not mine, thankfully) actually brought the first Zappa album into the house, We're Only In It For the Money, to "check out what the kids were listening to."

And the first Dylan in the house, too, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, because he and my mom were into the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, and, of course, Woody Guthrie. Dylan was touted as "the new Woody," just as Springsteen was touted "the new Dylan."

And they sent me down to Orchestra Hall (by myself on the subway) every Sunday afternoon for a couple of seasons of solo pianists like Rubenstein, Horowitz, Serkin (Rudolph and Peter), Alicia de Larrocha, Andre Watts, Alfred Brendel, and others.

And on my own I was going to concerts by Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, CSN&Y, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and many others.

I consider myself very fortunate.

Fred

I often think now that my mother would have been in her late 30's, early 40's when it all kicked off in the 60's. I have asked her how come she wasn't blown away by Elvis, or excited by what was coming with the KInks, Beatles & Stones, but she just says that it wasn't part of her life. It still totally mystifies me.

My parents' musical tastes were somewhat limited: records were Perry Como/Jim Reeves type stuff; a little country music; the odd bit of Gilbert and Sullivan and a handful of popular classics. It's all surprisingly conservative given that they they grew up in Liverpool and would have hit their teens just in time for the Beatles.

Whatever got me into music, it certainly wasn't my parents!

Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
I often think now that my mother would have been in her late 30's, early 40's when it all kicked off in the 60's. I have asked her how come she wasn't blown away by Elvis, or excited by what was coming with the KInks, Beatles & Stones, but she just says that it wasn't part of her life. It still totally mystifies me.

Yebbut back then, a late 30s/early 40s person would have regarded pop as 'kids' music'. My mother was in her early 40s, and though she thought the early Beatles stuff had nice tunes, she was totally turned off by 'old rubberlips' Jagger and other long-haired weirdos.