Monday, March 8, 2010

Blog Riffing Challenge Topic #4


Tonight's question is as follows: How did our parents' taste in music (or non-taste, for that matter) shape our own likes and dislikes?

This is the easiest one of all. My mom went to three concerts while I was still in the womb: Springsteen, Rush, and The Allman Brothers. When I was five years old, she took me to my first concert: Julian Lennon. She and my father taught me almost everything I know about the genre known as "classic rock". They introduced me to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Monkees, and a lot of other bands I still love to this day.
As for dislikes, my mom is a huge fan of Prog-rock, such as Yes and The Moody Blues. I don't particularly care for these bands anymore. As soon as I began to develop my own taste, I stopped listening to those bands. They're just not my taste, as an adult.
As for non-taste, my dad doesn't like much by the way of contemporary music. He'd prefer to stay firmly planted somewhere around 1975, musically speaking, with very little exception.
When I read this question, non-taste really jumped out at me as an experience my husband had. Kris's parents listen to country, christian music, and a smattering of 80s bands like Journey and REO Speedwagon.
Anyone that reads this and knows my husband knows that he is a bigger music elitist than I am. He learned nearly everything he knows about music, classic and contemporary, on his own.
We're taking all of the passion we have about music of all kinds and passing it on to Jonas. It is our responsibility as parents to give him a well-rounded musical education.


6 comments:

  1. I was profoundly influenced by my parents' records as well as their tastes to a degree. While they played the hell out of Brian Auger, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Paul McCartney and Wings, Allman Brothers, etc., It was my Dad's records that caught my attention. I wanted to know more about the 50s music, so I started playing those 45s at age 5. My Dad's records, Sha Na Na and Happy Days started me on this crazy journey of musical knowledge, record collecting and music research. I was glad to return the favor by taking my Dad to a Brian Auger concert and introducing them. It all came full circle.

    -Jason

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  2. That is a really great story, Jason. Thank you for sharing it. Have you ever seen Paul McCartney live? When I was little and you could still "camp out" for concert tickets, my parents and I took turns waiting in line for two days. We had an '87 Mustang hatchback and my parents let me sleep in the back with the seats folded down. The waiting paid off, we got front row seats. It was an awesome experience.

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  3. My mom was just not into music. She turned the radio on when we were cleaning house, but that's the extent of it. She liked Simon and Garfunkel, and the Dave Clark Five, but that was really the extent of it. Dad, on the other hand... most of my peers' experience in growing up with music from the 60's-80's, I was mostly 30's-50's. My dad was 24 years older than my mom, and he would have just turned 86 last month... so what I grew up actually listening to was WWII standards, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and a lot of 70's and 80's country. My first concert was the Statler Brothers.

    I think it gave me a better appreciation of different sorts of instrumentality, a different cultural aspect of music. I know my dad never know the imact he'd have on my tastes as an adult- I still remember him finding my copy of The Razor's Edge by AC/DC and totally flipping out... :)

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  4. I remember we chatted about what you grew up on the night we put together roses. I bet Statler Brothers was fun. Hilda's parents are older, too, she had a similar experience to yours growing up. She loves music from the 50s, anything from that era, really.

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  5. "Anything from that era" applies to me as well. The only tv I really watched as a kid was Nick at Nite. It drove my mom crazy- "Can't you watch anything MODERN?" and I really couldn't... I loved Donna Reed, My Three Sons and Make Room for Daddy best- and, of course, The Monkees. :)

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  6. I always watched Donna Reed and My Three Sons, too :)
    And yeah...the Monkees of course!

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