• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What Kind Of Music Did Your Parents Listen To When You Were A Kid?

Status
Not open for further replies.
And did it influence your musical taste at all?


I was born in 1975 to hippies. I distinctly remember a selection of artists and albums that my mother played during my entire childhood growing up in the 80's. I can sing every song on every one of these albums to this very day.

Simon and Garfunkel - Greatest Hits (1972)
Janis Joplin - Greatest hits (1973)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Dr. Hook - Sloppy Seconds (1972)
Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow (1975)
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978)


My parents, like many people it seems, hit a wall with music and never got into anything past a certain point in time. This meant there was nothing from the 80's played by my parents. They never got into disco, or 70's funk. The didn't touch 80's music like Flock of Seagulls, Madonna, the Punk scene, or any of the new rock n roll/hair bands in the late 80's. They literally just listened to a select few artists and never branched out or grew/evolved with the music of the time.

As for myself, I was into everything except what they liked. I hated Janis Joplin and S&G when I was a kid (I like them now though!). I listened to Top 40 and recorded dozens of tapes from songs off the radio.

I can pinpoint the exact age I was really, really into music. It was 1984 and I was 9 years old. Fat Boys, Run DMC, Prince (Purple Rain!), Van Halen, Madonna, and Ray Parker Jr singing motherfuckin' Ghost Busters. The Car's Heartbreak City? I loved that shit. I listened to it so much I wore out the tape. I could go on and on. The year 1984 is my reference point for my entire life based on the music.

My musical taste has always been really diverse and eclectic considering that my parents had such a tiny palate. When I was in my early teens I started to discover older music like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Pink Floyd's other work. I was dumbfounded that my parents had omitted such fantastic artists from their musical library. They had no excuse! This was what they would have grown up on! Also around this age I was really into rap which had really come into it's own. I had pretty much grown up with the genre itself.

When grunge and the alternative music scene exploded in 1991, I was 16yrs old. Do you have any idea how fucking awesome it was to be 16yrs old with an entirely new genre of music is introduced to the world? It was fucking amazing, that's what it was. I was at the right place at the right time in history and I took full advantage of it too.

Anyway, a funny thing happened just prior to this. My dad changed jobs and had a 45 minute drive to and from work. So, he really got into music. And man, he listened to everything. The first time I ever heard Soundgarden (Ultramega OK 1990), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mother's Milk 1989), or Jane's Addiction (Nothings Shocking 1988), it was from tapes my dad gave me. He was on the bleeding edge but was completely unaware that scene was going to blow up. He bought his music based solely on how cool the band name and cover art were. I'm totally serious. He still buys his music based on these same two essential criteria to this day.

It was an amazing time to grow up as far as music was concerned. Looking back, I'm glad my parents had pretty good taste in music. I mean, my wife's parents listen to Air Supply, Hall and Oats, The Carpenters, and Folk Music!
 

AkuMifune

Banned
My dad listened to Jethro Tull on vinyl once when he was drunk, that was it, ever.

But it made a huge impression on me. And in my house, music!
 
I was born in the late 60s, but my parents were relatively old. They listened to big band music (cool), easy listening (not cool) and my mom had a thing for stuff like Boxcar Willie.

Luckily, my older siblings all had good musical tastes, lots of Beatles, Zepplin, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Who, Stones, etc. Of that, only the Beatles and Who really stick with me, although I appreciate the rest.
 

Alucrid

Banned
beetop_left.jpg



Would play Hall and Oates, Whitney Houston, Eurythmics, etc.


I just looked at what they recently played and it was One Direction, Pink, Hoobastank.

Thefuck?
 

Zucchi

Member
My mom was born in 1950, and I was her youngest in 1988, so I grew up listening to a LOT of her two favorite bands, the Beatles and the Moody Blues. Those songs have so many childhood memories for me, and the lyrics are burned into my brain, lol. A good amount of british invasion pop rock too. I credit my mom for why I had such a distaste for late 90s-early- 00's pop, I never liked it and was one of the few in school who didn't.
 

joe2187

Banned
My mom was motown and old school R&B as well as Salsa or any salsa music from puerto rican musicians.

My dad was pure Jazz and Blues, as well as motown and R&B.

My dad never introduced me to any of his music besides Jazz, I sort of stole his old Music collection when he left us though, and I discovered the beauty of Stevie Wonder through that, and inherited some of his music tastes.
 

Bulk_Rate

Member
this was in the early 80's

Pre-parents' Divorce:

Dad: Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, George Jones

Post-Divorce (living with mom): The Neal Diamond/Barbara Streisand "You dont bring me Flowers anymore" duet, and Streisand's Xmas album, over and over again. Some Lionel Richie. That is all I remember. Traumatic.

Thank God my older sister listened to Tom Petty, early U2,AC/DC, the Clash etc.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
A lot of classic jazz, stuff that I can't even name, but it was pretty ubiquitous. If the record player was on 95% of the time it was jazz.

I liked it.

EDIT: Some blues as well.
 

andymcc

Banned
lots of bad 70's/80's radio rock with a few good bands every now and then. queen was played far too often ugghhh
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
Billy Bragg, Beatles, Madness, Dusty Springfield, Simon & Garfunkel, Supertramp, David Bowie, Queen are the ones I can remember from my childhood
 
Dad:

Rod Stewart
CCR
Paul Simon
Journey
Prince
Genesis
Phil Collins
Huey Lewis

To name a few...

Mom:

Gloria Estefan
ALOT of Donna Summer :)
 

Gustav

Banned
Dad:
Marhavishnu Orchestra
Tangerine Dream
Ten Years After
King Crimson
Yes
Jethro Tull
Black Sabbath
Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Mom:
Björk
King Crimson
Mother Tongue
Coil
Brian Eno


My dad started to listen to a lot of music that I brought home when I was about 10 onwards. From the things I brought home, he especially liked:

Guns n' Roses
Sepultura
Biohazard
Machine Head
 
My dad listened to Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ACDC, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, and a lot of other 70's rock music when I was a kid. He absolutely hated Disco. He has expressed this many times while I was growing up! He also listened to a lot bluegrass and gospel music, which I found somewhat contradictory to his other tastes. He actually kept up with music until the 2000s. I remember him getting into the Cranberries and the Wallflowers when they got popular in the 90s when I was a kid. He also enjoyed some Nirvana. My mom was never really into anything specific, she just listens to whatever the top 40 is.
 
I was born in the early 80's. My parents listened to a lot of hip hop and R&B. The earliest stuff I actively remember is stuff like Run DMC, Bobby Brown, Slick Rick, and Prince. In the 90's my mom was very in to 2 Live Crew and anything from So So Def or other danceable hip hop, while my dad got pretty in to stuff like Public Enemy, Outkast, Wu-Tang, and NWA. When the cops would inevitably get called on us for having the music too loud on a Friday night, he would blast "Fuck the Police" while he answered the door. Oh yeah, did I mention he's white?
 

pwack

Member
Born in 1978. Heard a lot of Rush and Pink Floyd and the Who while riding in the car.

Still think rush is pretty awesome. And The Who's Tommy is fucking amazing.
 

Friggz

Member
My parents listen to exactly what i listen to now.

Frank Sinatra, and classical.

(but i also enjoy rap and techno/trance/etc)
 

Borgnine

MBA in pussy licensing and rights management
My dad listened to cool shit when he was a teenager, I have all his old Ventures records. But by 1991 it was the fucking Bodyguard soundtrack, Gloria Estefan, Commitments soundtrack, Amy Grant, I don't know wtf happened man.
 

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
Classic rock. Or, as it was known then, "current shit".
 

DJ_Lae

Member
That I can recall:

-Classical (lots of classical)
-The Beatles
-Michael Jackson
-Fleetwood Mac
-Rod Stewart
-Neil Diamond
-Phil Collins
-Alan Parsons Project

And lots in a similar vein that I'm probably forgetting.
 

meijiko

Member
My dad is really into like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Tom Petty, Dire Straits, the Beatles. He's a big guitar person, likes listening to a lot of classic rock.

My mom, on the other hand, prefers more poppy dance music. She was really into Billy Joel growing up, but she'll listen to just about anything she can dance to, including new music.

Most of my current musical tastes come from my older brothers. I love the old stuff too, but they introduced me to bands like Vampire Weekend, The New Pornographers/Neko Case/AC Newman, The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Beck, Belle and Sebastian. They also got me into Paul Simon, which I'm grateful for.
 

Valhelm

contribute something
Lots and lots of old time music, some Neil Young, some Elvis, lots of Beatles, and a good amount of classical stuff. Opera was pretty commonplace.

I guess my parents had kind of peculiar tastes.
 

.GqueB.

Banned
Barry White and Aretha Franklin.

Like all the time. Whenever I hear their music I instantly recall my childhood.
 

speedline

Banned
Dad:

BB King
Fats Domino
Willie Nelson
Lynard Skynard
Credence Clearwater Revival
Elvis
Fleetwood Mac
Neil Young
50's music doo wop

Mom:
Beatles
Christian Music
Top 40 stuff
 
Queen
Electric Light Orchestra
Abba
The Beatles

Those are the main ones I remember, and to be fair they're all amazing bands. In later life I really took to ELO, Queen and The Beatles. Abba, though, were always a little too ubiquitous for my tastes. Growing up I reacted against whatever my parents tended to listen to, it was music for their generation not mine, so I gravitated towards new music that spoke to my generation. Of course, as you get older and your tastes become more refined and sophisticated, you realise that the artificial generation barriers you created were barring you from tons of amazing albums.
 
My answer is almost identical to the OP, actually. Plus Crosby, Stills and Nash, Clapton's various bands, the Allman Bros, and Neil Young. And Dire Straits and Santana... and a lot of other stuff.

I remember when it was time to choose an instrument at school, I wanted to go with trombone, and my dad was like, "hell no, play guitar"! Haha. I took his advice.
 
My parents listened to Motown (The Four Tops, Temptations, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, etc), CCR, Beach Boys, The Beatles, Neil Young, Elvis, The Bee Gees, Billy Joel, Clapton, Hall & Oates, Rod Stewart, etc. My dad even enjoyed Metallica.

I credit my impeccable music taste to my dad.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom