"Dad? Play me something you listened to..."

[JBFLA]

She's (14 years-of-age) already 'borrowed' my "Standing In the Shadows", "Best of the Temptations", "Marvin Gaye's Hits" CD's (amongst others). I've burned her copies of "Songs In The Key Of Life" and a few others from the era. She loves "Thick as a Brick" and "Fragile"...

 

She's a 'Hip Hop' kid, but she understands the path that musical influence may take... and brutally honest about what moves her and what doesn't. Open minded, but prone to the Ad Agency's bombardment of "What Is Hip" - she's not afraid to admit to an affinity to music that belies her generation.

 

...I musta done something right? eh?

 

Tonight was "Best of the Spinners", "Best of AWB" and Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions".

 

Question? - Do you have 'Favorites' that you play for your kids/relatives as a means to teach influences/understanding of music and music history?

 

Thanks,

Jim

[dohhhhh6]

I'll add my cents as a kid. My parents raised me on the oldies station. "There she was, ah walkin' down the street, singin' doo wah diddy" were the words I heard in the morning until I moved to Arizona. There, me and my 2 brothers got into alt rock and grunge.

 

Then, I was changed when I started to play guitar. That old crap, I understood. So then I got into ACDC and Jimi Hendrix, and yada yada. I got a little bit of this from my older brother.

 

After that, I started to play bass in which I started to listen to the older R&B and music such as The Beatles (oh, and jazz). Did my parents in anyway help me with this? Not really, except letting my borrow their readily available Miles Davis, Beatles, and Monk cds.

 

My friend suprisingly likes older rock music too, though he doesn't play any instrument. Those influences are from his older brother. He screamed when he heard Snoop Dog cover The Doors' "Riders in the Storm." Interesting.

 

Wow, I think that was pretty useless. That's my account of things.

[way2fat]

My daughter and her friends love Countdown to Ecstasy by Steely Dan and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic, most Tull, 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit. Her twin brother loves Hendrix and Led Zep and Kapt. Kopter and the (fabulous)Twirly Birds. They both like War. The boys crowd loves Spanish Moon by Little Feat. Also dig on older Fleetwood Mac like Kiln House and Future Games and Bare Trees and Mystery to Me. Some of the older Airplane like Good Shepherd and Hey, Fredrick and a few tunes from Sunfighter.

[JBFLA]

Originally posted by Da LadY In Tha Pink Dress:

I'll add my cents as a kid.... Wow, I think that was pretty useless. That's my account of things.

The lack of any meaningful (musical) parental influence can be off-set by peer influence... maybe even less influential. (I'm straying into 'dcr' territory here, and will defer to 'dcr').

 

Growing up in Detroit (in the 60's), anything my parent's had to say (from a Pop/Cultural point) was pretty much moot.

 

My point (above) was that I'm fortunate (and therefore, maybe{?}, so is my daughter) that some recogniscence of Music History is a part of her awareness as to where the current state of music gained its' influences?

 

It's all good...

 

Jim

[zachg]

being of the younger generation myself i can also add to this conversation. for me, almost all that i listen to are old pop- about 50 percent. the other 50 is all jam bands, showtunes, jazz, blues and other GOOD music that really is music.

 

i guess you can say i have good music morals

 

but the more i think about it, my parents only gave me a small piece of my musical taste.

 

oddly enough, if you ask my mom who is singing on the radio, she'll have no clue!

[J. Robert Rennix]

Originally posted by JBFLA:

she's not afraid to admit to an affinity to music that belies her generation.

 

...I musta done something right? eh?

Personally, it makes me want to wretch when a young person easily accepts the notion that her parent's music is better than her own. No one should like their parent's music (whether it's good or not). If you easily accept the notion that your parent's music is deep and rich and your own music is throw away trash, then you're never going to expect anything more than throw away trash.

[zachg]

jrob, i don't quite get what you are saying

 

what is wrong with repecting older music? in many cases, it just so happens to be that older generations of music just might be better than that of today- and IMO i would hope that many kids would recognize music that came before their generation's.

[Mike H.]

There is a lot of cross-generation listening going on today. Parents listening to kids' music and vice-versa. I think it's a good thing.

[butcherNburn]

First of all thank your lucky stars that your kid is willing to check out and even appreciate some (gasp) "oldies".

 

I'd try to play off her modern day influences if that's what will keep her motivated. Also, I myself personally, heard somewhere to "find out what influenced the musicians you like and find out who influenced them". That took me a long way.

 

Myself personally:

Led Zep- Stones- Hendrix- Cream-

Muddy Waters- Howlin' Wolf- BB King- JL Hooker- Albert King-

Old R&B- Motown- Phil Spector Wall of Sound-

On and on....

 

The key is work back from what she already appreciates.

[ihategarybettman]

I look at it from both sides of the fence. I remember clearly when Sgt. Pepper came out, because my mother got the album and gave my the cardboard cut-outs of quasi-military patches that used to come with the album. While I don't like a lot of what my parents liked, the fact that my mother listened to the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and showtunes and my dad liked polka, country and western, and zither music meant that I grew up listening to and ultimately appreciating a wide variety of musical styles.

 

Now I'm a 42-year-old father with two boys. They're 5 and 7 and, while I have the ability to before they start listening exclusively to what they're friends tell them is cool, I'm trying to expose them to as much as possible. They listen to a lot of current music, both pop and a variety of alternative music, but I'm sure they were the only ones in their kindergarten class who also knew who Howlin' Wolf was. Charlie Brown soundtracks are great ways to introduce kids to jazz. My boy Sam was the only 3-year-old I've ever seen who knew all the words to "Smoke on the Water." And, yes, thanks to hanging out with Grandpa they even like polka and zither music.

 

Basically, what I'm saying is kids won't make informed decisions about anything, including music, if they don't know their options. Yes, they're going to listen to some crap (that's what teenagers do), but some gems will probably also be in their playlist.

[rockinredneck69]

Between my own preferances and conversations with other people its apparent to me that our own personal taste is a mix of what we heard from our parents in the first 10 years of our lives and then that of our peers in the next 10 years. My favorite album of all time will always be "Abbey Rd." and my second fave is probably "Black in Black". That should have given ya my age right there. My own kids will probably follow closely with that as I hear them sing along with songs I play that I know they don't hear anywhere but from my stereo.

[tarkus]

My friend's son is 5 years old and won't let him remove Who's Next from the cd player.

 

My nephew is 16 and into hip-hop he asked for what his father listened to.

 

Here ya go kid: Frank Zappa!

[Tenstrum]

I kinda laugh whenever you all say oldies...

Oldies to me is Bill Monroe, Flat & Scruggs, etc...

And then you can reach back even further and get some Beethoven, Mozart, Bach.

 

I love ALL music that is DONE WELL. Wether it be metal, hip hop, bluegrass, or classical. And I'm only 31.

[Tenstrum]

I kinda laugh whenever you all say oldies...

Oldies to me is Bill Monroe, Flat & Scruggs, etc...

And then you can reach back even further and get some Beethoven, Mozart, Bach.

 

I love ALL music that is DONE WELL. Wether it be metal, hip hop, bluegrass, or classical. And I'm only 31.

[Gord -B]

Theres so much crap surrounding what is 'right' to listen to that people seem to forget that musical taste is a personal thing. If you like what the artist is giving you buy their stuff and bollocks to what other people think about that.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Originally posted by Mike H.:

There is a lot of cross-generation listening going on today. Parents listening to kids' music and vice-versa. I think it's a good thing.

My 19 year old son (guitar player) and I have played Skynard, Sabbath, Pink Floyd, BOC, RATM, Metallica and Offspring together. He isn't too hung up on "what's current" or "what's popular" as he is on listening to Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" and digging the guitar work.

 

Concur -

[Lee Flier]

Originally posted by jrob:

Personally, it makes me want to wretch when a young person easily accepts the notion that her parent's music is better than her own. No one should like their parent's music (whether it's good or not).

Say WHAT??

 

Despite any marketing claims to the contrary, there's no "our music" vs. "our parents' music." It's all just music and either you like it or you don't, no matter what your age. The advantage that an older person MAY have is that they might have heard some styles of music that a younger person may not have been exposed to yet.

 

I for one am really glad that a lot of the generation gap created by the last couple of generations has gone away, and you now see more parents and kids and even grandkids at the same concerts, with no one generation trying to take "ownership" of any particular style of music. I'd like to think the Internet has something to do with this... when kids download music they know little about the age of the music or the people they're downloading from, so they are not taught to develop any generational prejudice.

[ihategarybettman]

I concur, Lee. There are 50 years of terrific rock and roll (not to mention an unimaginable number of other styles) to enjoy already, and more great stuff gets released or played live each and every day. Even though he died 3 years before I was born, Buddy Holly's greatest hits was my first album. I still listen to it, along side CDs that were just released. Intentionally closing your mind to some style just because it wasn't released within the last five years and, therefore, isn't part of your generation is as stupid as not buying anything new after you graduate from high school or college.

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by Da LadY In Tha Pink Dress:

.

 

Did my parents in anyway help me with this? Not really, except letting my borrow their readily available Miles Davis, Beatles, and Monk cds.

 

Wow, I think that was pretty useless. That's my account of things.

Yep no help at all........?.........

 

Anyway, where was I

 

My parents listened to only ethnic music....my mom likes the beatles, but she lost all of her beatles cds when leaving Iran and never replaced them.

 

BUt anyway, when i started listening to Led Zeppelin, Cream, Hendrix, The Who, The Beatlesetc. on the classic rock side

 

And all the motown stuff from the 60s and 70s(just about anything and everything with Jamerson)

 

And fusion, straightahead, and different types of jazz, such as weather report, miles in all ofhis eras, mingus, coltrane, brian bromberg, steve swallow, etc

 

and modern rock, such as 311, wallflowers, rage, incubus, tool, rhcp, vic wooten, DMB,janes addiction, alice in chains, primus, steel train,

 

And the stuff no 16 year old should be listening to such as frank sinatra, classical interpretations of modern rock,and uummm half of whats posted above

 

My aprents kinda freaked out

 

P.S. my parents didnt know led zep had been broken up for 20+ years until maybe 6 months ago

[Cozmicslop]

My stepfather turned me on to big band music when I was in junior high. I didnt like it at first, but came to love it all. He wasn't too intrested in the Jackson Five though.

 

Later when I lived with my dad in high school and thought Joe Walsh was God's gift to music, my dad tried to turn me on to Amahd Jamal (sp?) and Wes Montgomery. At the time I didn't get it, but today I do. He did seem to like some of my music, but the reason he liked Earth Wind and Fire was probably because they played with Ramsey Lewis.

 

Today, my son and I share a wider sphere of music we both enjoy. He borrows my Peter Gabiel CDs, and i borrow his Seal. When we take a road trip theres no argument about what to play as he enjoys our Ella and Frank as much as we enjoy his Eminem, Ludicrous or Maroon Five.

 

Like Lee said, there's no our music and their music. Kids aren't born with such prejudices, they learn them. They're all the more rich if we share with them the music we loved. It doesn't hurt for us to be open to what they like also.

[Tenstrum]

One of my all time favorite songs:

 

I was standing on the corner when I heard my bulldog bark

He was barkin' at the two men who were gamblin' in the dark

It was Stagger Lee and Billy, two men who gambled late

Stagger Lee threw seven, Billy swore that he threw eight

[JBFLA]

Originally posted by jrob:

Personally, it makes me want to wretch when a young person easily accepts the notion that her parent's music is better than her own. No one should like their parent's music (whether it's good or not). If you easily accept the notion that your parent's music is deep and rich and your own music is throw away trash, then you're never going to expect anything more than throw away trash.

Aside to jrob: Those who responded have said all that needs to be said - I have nothing to add. But, I have a question:

 

That button on your jacket? The one that says "Don't trust ANYONE over 30!!!"?

 

Was that a gift from your Parents, or did you get it off e-bay?... Just curious... No big deal. You have 2-3 years yet to re-evaluate.

 

To everyone else - Thanks for your input and examples. I agree that there is more 'cross-listening' than ever before, and I think it's a good thing. If nothing else, it leads to a common link in communication between generations.

 

Excuse me - We have "50 cent", "Los Lonely Boys" and "Earth, Wind and Fire" on Shuffle on the CD player... Time to go listen.

 

Jim

[_Sweet Willie_]

I recently played a CD with Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" for my 8-yr old daughter. She dug it. We went down to the basement, she got out her guitar and I got out the Real Book, and she has now learned the head. This, mes amis, was a proud moment for me.

 

All I hope is that she grows up with "big ears" and a willingness to at least listen to a variety of music -- even if she decides she doesn't like some of it.

 

I'll also say that she has grown "bigger ears" since starting to play guitar. It's only been a few months, but she is clearly more curious about what she listens to -- whether it's Hilary Duff or Helion (yes, Pernax, I've exposed her some of the tracks from your CD).

 

Peace.

--s-dub

[Danzilla]

If I had to rely on the little music that my parents had going on in the house, I would be playing John Philip Sousa and Englebert Humperdink. (Humperdink-Humperdink-Humperdink!) About as modern as mom got was Olivia Newton-John. Fortunately my brothers are 9 & 7 years older than me; so I cut my teeth on Jethro Tull, Yes, The Who and Led Zeppelin. My son (now 14) listens to some of the same stuff that I do; I figured most of it was because he has to! BUt I was impressed the other week when I was driving him home from school and he was actually singing along with my Marillion cd's! Thank you , Lord! But he & I share Switchfoot & OC Supertones cd's, too; we argue over which David Crowder cd is who's. He playes guitar, but resists my help in that; no prob, he needs to find out how to express himself on the instrument. But the other week he asked me to back up him and his friend at youth group; and afterwoard, his friend was playing old Zeppelin riffs. That was cool to jam on! So yeah, it's happening all over the place, this cross-generational stuff. Now if I could only get him to enjoy my Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown discs...

[Gruuve]

Hey Dr.SW:

 

That's pretty cool with your kid! My 2 yr old daughter really seems to dig music. She's getting a kid-sized drum kit for Christmas this year, but she seems to love string instruments too (I guess it's genetic... ), so I'm wondering how old she needs to be before she could start to learn to play a kid-size bass. Any thoughts?

 

Thx,

Dave

[73 P Bass]

The last song I played for one of my kids was "Pop Goes the Weasel".

Quinny got a "Jack-O-Box" for Christmas.

Another Holiday music aside; We were listening to an Elvis Christmas CD and my 12 year old son inquired excitedly to who it was. He's diggin' the King!

[JBFLA]

Posted this almost 3 years ago.

 

Some things never change...

 

One thing that has changed is the frequency that I get to spend with my daughter. Now, she's a H.S. Senior - between sports (this is volleyball season, followed by the Hoops season, and then Softball season) team practices and games and her job and her need to be a teenager with all the demands on her time... we don't get the chance to be together as much as I'd like. So - we make do with travel time between all of this.

 

Usually, 3 things are discussed -

"How are your classes doing?" Thanks to 'Ed-Line', I already know, but I want her view.

 

She asks "What CDs did you bring?" I know her preferences, but some new stuff has surfaced. She still loves "Thick as a Brick", but now also wants to hear "Best of the Yellowjackets" and "Rippingtons - LIVE in LA".

 

The 3rd subject still cracks me up. She knows my tendencies to buy/sell/trade gear. And though I've promised not to do so, she wants to hear me say that I've not traded away my '78 'Ray ... "SWEAR AND CROSS YOUR HEART!!!"

I've asked her why (with all the other basses here) she is so protective of that one?

 

Her response: "I can see where your thumbnail has gouged out the space above the pickup and rounded off the edge of the pickup, I can see where your forearm rests, I can see where you've worn the finish of the back of the neck in 1st position (she was 1st chair trombone in elementary band despite the protests of the 4 boys in the trombone section - one day I found her with my fretless, learning the trombone part to U of Michigan's "Victors" song at the age of 9; she knows 1st position)... If this bass is so good that you wore it out - I WANT it, you know, some day, later, when, you know, you aren't playing anymore...

 

"Some day, Later, ..."

 

That day draws closer as the years draw on.

 

But I know that she has learned an appreciation for music and musical instruments, and effort and practice, and respect for those (before her time) who gave the same.

 

The "Old Man" did something right, just maybe. I can live with that.

 

Jim

[jeremy c]

U of Michigan's "Victors" song

.

Now that's a good song. I hope to hear it often this year.

 

My dad's record collection was all classical. I listened to all of it.

 

Now my dad (at the age of 84) is taking various music appreciation courses in college and I get to tell him what to listen to.

 

When my son was in his early teens, I caught him humming along to the fusion cds I was playing in the house.

 

Then he switched to listening to techno and trance and sort of lost me, although he did introduce me to Squarepusher.

 

Now he listens to swing and blues and recently took a music appreciation class in the Blues. He didn't realize that I owned every single recording that they listened to in class. But he wasn't surprised.

[Paul K]

I've asked her why (with all the other basses here) she is so protective of that one?

 

Her response: "I can see where your thumbnail has gouged out the space above the pickup and rounded off the edge of the pickup, I can see where your forearm rests, I can see where you've worn the finish of the back of the neck in 1st position (she was 1st chair trombone in elementary band despite the protests of the 4 boys in the trombone section - one day I found her with my fretless, learning the trombone part to U of Michigan's "Victors" song at the age of 9; she knows 1st position)... If this bass is so good that you wore it out - I WANT it, you know, some day, later, when, you know, you aren't playing anymore...

 

"Some day, Later, ..."

 

 

 

Jim

 

Wow! That is just the coolest thing; powerful. After reading that I now have more than a twinge of regret for never having children. Hooray for you, hooray for your kid. I'm totally blown away.

 

Wow!

 

Peace

Paul K

[Basshappi]

My kids "get" some of it.

 

My 14 yr old daughter likes Kansas all my children like Peter Gabriel, Oingo Boingo, Jethro Tull,Rush, Yes, Bela Fleck, AC/DC, some of Led Zep.