What kind of music did your parents listen to?

[rollingstoned]

My mom and dad are both into rock. My mom likes pretty much anything from classical to some modern rock, but she graduated in the late 70's so she loves the stones, beatles, zeppelin, floyd, etc.

My dad is a HUGE stones and doors fan (just like me), but he likes all stuff from mid 60's to modern. (exclude the 80's rock and anything disco or rap)

 

[Buff]

That's one thing I loved so much about my folks is that they were into everything (well, except Western, thank god), but their era was the 40's so naturally they were big fans of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. But my dad was also a very big fan of classical music and jazz, so I got quite a big dose.

They never got into *my* music much. Told me to "turn down the noise" LOL. I remember once I was watching old vidoes of KISS and my dad took one look at Gene Simmons and LOL and said "....and they made fun of Liberace". My dad, however, does say that the electric guitar is one of the most beautiful instruments, and thinks Eric Clapton is *very talented*. He's 89 years old BTW.

 

[~Banshee~]

Mum had a stack of old 45's she passed along to me, mostly British chart stuff from the 50's & early 60's. She saw lots of bands at the local Palais and her favourite were The Kinks.

Dad was into the Stones, young Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Eddie Cocheran etc He too passed on his vinyl too, many I'm ashamed to say I've got rid of over the years. Still have one or two that I couldn't part with regardless of them being scratched.

 

[wisertime]

Mom liked '60s pop and I didn't think dad even liked music until I found his small stash of Motown albums. Go dad!

They never listened to music, though, except occasional in the car for mom.

 

[JimJam]

My parents came of age in the '30s and '40s in New York and their tastes pretty much stuck in that time frame, swing and the "pop" of that era. My mom had a taste for opera and they both had a thing for show tunes and the "American songbook." But, similar to wisertime, they rarely listened to music other than for background on the radio.

 

[Metal Health]

My dad listened to mostly folk and soft rock. He was into Simon and Garfunkel, Loggins and Messina, CSN, stuff like that. My mom is into stuff like Journey, Boston, REM, some of that kinda stuff. Somehow, I came out of that. I love it all!

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

My Dad's tastes are quite similar to mine. When I play my music in the car he enjoys most of it - he introduced me to Dire Straits, Lynyrd Skynyrd, who he went to see twice before the plane crash, and Wishbone Ash (who otherwise I probably wouldn't have ventured to listen to). I've never asked him much about his favourite songs although I know he absolutely loves Brothers In Arms (the title track), Simple Man and The King Will Come. He does enjoy some stuff that I'm not so crazy about but on the whole we are very compatible.

My mum really strongly dislikes hard rock and heavy metal, and isn't too keen on progressive rock. Trying to introduce her to Deep Purple or Black Sabbath would be waste of time. Having said that I think she doesn't mind some of the more acoustic Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd songs. When I was watching Led Zeppelin's Celebration Day recently I was surprised when she said she really liked No Quarter. I wasn't quite so surprised she didn't like Dazed And Confused much. She likes singers such as Dusty Springfield and likes the Bee Gees quite a bit. She enjoys most of the folk-rock or mid-tempo songs that I like and she really likes Mark Knopfler's duet with James Taylor, Sailing To Philadelphia.

 

[JimJam]

My Dad's tastes are quite similar to mine. When I play my music in the car he enjoys most of it - he introduced me to Dire Straits, Lynyrd Skynyrd, who he went to see twice before the plane crash, and Wishbone Ash (who otherwise I probably wouldn't have ventured to listen to). I've never asked him much about his favourite songs although I know he absolutely loves Brothers In Arms (the title track), Simple Man and The King Will Come. He does enjoy some stuff that I'm not so crazy about but on the whole we are very compatible.

My mum really strongly dislikes hard rock and heavy metal, and isn't too keen on progressive rock. Trying to introduce her to Deep Purple or Black Sabbath would be waste of time. Having said that I think she doesn't mind some of the more acoustic Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd songs. When I was watching Led Zeppelin's Celebration Day recently I was surprised when she said she really liked No Quarter. I wasn't quite so surprised she didn't like Dazed And Confused much. She likes singers such as Dusty Springfield and likes the Bee Gees quite a bit. She enjoys most of the folk-rock or mid-tempo songs that I like and she really likes Mark Knopfler's duet with James Taylor, Sailing To Philadelphia.

You could make a playlist or CD-R of Zep's acoustic (or semi-acoustic) recordings for your mom and she would probably love those terrific songs.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've included a few of the acoustic/semi-acoustic Zeppelin songs on iPod playlists in the car and she seems to like (or at least put up with!) most of them.

I don't tend to speak that much about strong preferences with her unless she mentions that she likes a song but she definitely doesn't mind the following:
- Your Time Is Gonna Come/Black Mountain Side (I always play these two together as the version I have cross-fades)
- Thank You (I know she likes this one)
- Tangerine
- That's The Way
- Going To California
- The Rain Song
- Bron-Yr-Aur (although she probably wouldn't recognise this as Led Zep)
- Down By The Seaside

She also seems okay with the following electric or at least more intense songs, although I'm not sure she actually likes them:
- Good Times Bad Times
- Livin' Lovin' Maid (I did once try Heartbreaker, which was a definite 'no')
- Ramble On
- Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
- Hey Hey What Can I Do
- Battle Of Evermore
- Stairway To Heaven
- Over The Hills And Far Away
- D'yer Mak'er (by contrast I once played The Crunge at home and she said 'what a racket'. She might have a point though I do quite like it myself ).
- Kashmir
- Ten Years Gone

I've never tried Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Friends or Black Country Woman. I doubt she'd like Gallows Pole or Boogie With Stu much, I think she'd think they were a bit 'chaotic', and she wouldn't like Hats Off To (Roy) Harper, although that is not exactly my favourite either so I wouldn't be likely to include it on a playlist.

In Through The Out Door is the only Led Zep album I do not currently own in any format although actually I think she'd enjoy some of that. Of the truly classic Zeppelin albums I think LZ I would be the one she'd most dislike, and Houses would probably be the one she would find most listenable (the only songs I'd expect her to really dislike would be The Crunge and maybe The Ocean).

The biggest no-no, however, would be Whole Lotta Love. She wouldn't like the hard rock sections but I can only imagine what she'd make of the theremin solo and Plant's moaning in the middle section... I'd be quite curious to know the exact point where she'd turn it off or skip track, but it wouldn't be fair of me to force on her a track I'm fairly sure she'd hate.

When it comes to Floyd I know she likes the title track from Wish You Were Here, SOYCD Parts 1-5 and Us And Them. She also seems okay with most of the quieter, more acoustic ones, however she does not like Roger's voice much so overall I'd say the two she'd probably most enjoy would be Obscured By Clouds and The Division Bell, but she'd hate Animals and The Final Cut. Pink Floyd does seem to be a bit of a mood thing with her, there are certain songs like Have A Cigar and Run Like Hell which she is okay with some of the time but at other times she doesn't like and skips them.

As PF and LZ are my two favourite bands I always like to include a few songs by them in a playlist, but usually if my mum is around I keep the number of tracks fairly low. If I'm in the car with just my Dad I often play a lot more of them as he likes most of the songs.

 

[JimJam]

^^^ In your "ok" list, the one that stands out is Livin' Lovin' Maid, far more raucous than the others. If she's ok with that one, how would she take to Communication Breakdown or the highly danceable Rock & Roll?

Among others not listed, maybe she'd go for What Is And What Should Never Be, Since I've Been Loving You or In The Light.