Did your grandparents recommend you listen to X or Y ?

[rasputin1963]

I was born in 1963, my grandparents were born in 1923.

 

They, of course, lived through the Great Depression, The Swing Era, Big Band Era, the non-rock pop music of the 1950's.

 

My granddad, whenever he'd see me, made a deal with me... I was about 11 or 12. He would buy me any rock record I wanted, as long as he could also buy me an LP of something from his era.

 

So, for every David Bowie or Bob Dylan or Carole King album, he'd buy me an album of Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Carmen Cavallero, Andrews Sisters, and so forth.

 

To my 1970's ears, the stuff from his generation sounded VERY different indeed. Like it came from a different planet. Such was the "Generation Gap" of the 1960's and 1970's. (I didn't care for Big Band as a 12-year-old, but now, at age 48, recognize just how incredibly hip and slick it was.)

 

[is it safe to say we can blame the infamous ASCAP---BMI schism for this musical generation gap?]

 

But today, the music of the 1960's-- or much of it-- still sounds very hip and relevant to teenagers born in the 90's and Oughts.

 

Can you remember a musical "Generation Gap" as you were growing up?

[Lee Knight]

My Grandma wanted me to listen only to bagpipe music. She'd run over to her "Hi-Fi" and play her Scottish pipe band records. She'd stand there, eyes misty, looking up and say, "Listen, Lee. Look! You can almost see them march over the green hill into our valley. It's... it's beautiful... and she'd bust a move. Or a jig. You know that cliche arms up twirl around Scottish dance? Like that. Tears streaming, eyes closed dreaming of her beloved Edinburgh and dancing. "Listen Lee! Play like that, son."

 

 

Never liked the pipes much but loved my Grandma Rae.

 

Other than that, there was never a music gap for me with my parents. I loved it all from the beginning with the exception of my dad's watered down Musak style Montovani style cover stuff from the 60's, which really doesn't count cause that was just wallpaper. I'm sure those arrangers would agree. He'd put that on the the car.

 

But everything they shared, I pretty much dug if it was of any musical value. 20's pop, big band, swing singers... show tunes... country, folk... I loved it all.

 

Of course the favor was not returned. They didn't go in for rock, hard jazz or classical so much.

[scarecrowbob]

There are lots of different ways to break up why folks like what they like, but you have to get over the notion that any music is just inherently, objectively good.

 

I remember growing up in the 80s and early 90s, and having my 2nd grade classmates wonder why I wasn't much for def leopard and poison, and was more into Paul Simon and Led Zepplin and mostly the Beatles. And I remember when the Beatles doc came out and suddenly everyone my age liked the Beatles. So one axis of preference could be mass exposure and social norming.

 

And I remember not liking NIN and Nirvana when I was a freshman in HS-- they were just screaming noise to me. But by the time I got out of college, it seemed a lot more relevant to my interests. And by the time I was in my mid 20s with a couple of youngish kids, all the punk and metal and angst-i-ness that I liked so much seemed that much less relevant again. So another axis of preference could be ones' personal situation in the world.

 

And another axis could be the context of how the music is being used. It wasn't until I sat down and analyzed why dueling piano bars work so well playing brown eyed girl over and over and over again; it is a kind of social lubricant that allows everyone to be "in the know" about the music, and much like alcohol this breaks down interpersonal barriers and makes people less standoffish (if they are open to it).

 

My belief is that there are a whole lot of more specific reasons why folks beyond just a "general gap", which is why you're seeing "kids today" liking old-folks music.

 

Off to play some bluegrass!

[Ernest Buckley]

I was fortunate to grow up with my grandmother living right next door to us. She never told me what to listen to but she loved music. She listened to mostly opera & classical. My parents listened to Elton John, The Beatles, Billy Joel, etc... My parents never forced any music on me either so I pretty much listened to whatever I wanted.

 

As I get older, I find myself getting bored with most rock and pop. I listen to more symphonic work/instrumental works these days from the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, etc...

 

The last several months I have turned to listening to mostly Beethovens string quartets. These works are so profoundly deep, I find something interesting every time I listen to them.

 

I can see a day when I will eventually stop listening to pop and rock, even The Beatles. Sorry folks, I know that will annoy the heck out of some of you but I just don`t get the same kick out of them as I do with Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, etc...

 

EB

[Lee Knight]

 

I was fortunate to grow up with my grandmother living right next door to us. She never told me what to listen to but she loved music. She listened to mostly opera & classical. My parents listened to Elton John, The Beatles, Billy Joel, etc... My parents never forced any music on me either so I pretty much listened to whatever I wanted. As I get older, I find myself getting bored with most rock and pop. I listen to more symphonic work/instrumental works these days from the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, etc... The last several months I have turned to listening to mostly Beethovens string quartets. These works are so profoundly deep, I find something interesting every time I listen to them. I can see a day when I will eventually stop listening to pop and rock, even The Beatles. Sorry folks, I know that will annoy the heck out of some of you but I just don`t get the same kick out of them as I do with Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, etc... EB

 

 

I completely relate.

 

I would add though, that the journey isn't always linear. It can be cyclical as well. And when it is, when you revisit things, you see them with new insight and frequently from an entirely new perspective.

 

Not to say that we miss things the first time around as much as they mean different things to us the second time around.

[blue2blue]

But today, the music of the 1960's-- or much of it-- still sounds very hip and relevant to teenagers born in the 90's and Oughts. Can you remember a musical "Generation Gap" as you were growing up?

My dad's folks were born in the 80s and 90s. My mom's grandparents, who raised her, were born in the decade or so after the US Civil War.

 

I don't recall my great-grandmother on my mom's side (who was my frequent babysitter/nanny until I she passed away when I was 12) ever going out of her way to listen to music. My dad's folks mostly listened to your Mantovani type easy listening -- mostly because my grandfather was a technofile who discovered that he could hear commercial-less versions of some regular broadcasts by listening to the then-little known FM band (in the 50s and even into the 60s, some stations sold 'background music' to restaurants and stores, leasing them what was essentially an FM receiver).

 

But both my parents were big music fans, my dad into classical and big band and contemporary 'adult pop' and my mom mostly the latter. (But she and I share season tickets to my local symphony these days.)

 

Nat Cole was huge in my household, as well as a number of other mainstream artists like Nancy Wilson (not the Heart sister); Harry Belafonte was also big in their collection as well as some exotica like Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman -- and we had the tiki torches around our tilt-up swimming pool to go along with it.

 

Growing up in the 50s, I wasn't much into the latter-day big band of that era, but, in the 70s, looking for gifts for my extremely-hard-to-buy-for ol' man, I hit on the idea of big band collections, since all his big band records (as well as his classical collection) were on 78 rpm shellac. There were a few miscues on that, since I just sort of hit on the big names like Glenn Miller.

 

When, maybe my 3rd such gift, I gave him a collection of Benny Goodman, he really lit up. The lavishness of his thanks clued me in, and I finally asked, so you like Benny Goodman better than Glen Miller? The answer was that while Miller was a fine musician and a hero for giving his life while entertaining the troops (in an air crash over the English channel), he was... what was the nice word for kinda boring? After that, I hit on Goodman, Lionel Hampton and the harder swinging end of things and everything was cool. He still had some issues with Billie Holiday but I got the impression that he had really liked her but found her spiral into drug abuse and ill health too depressing.

[blue2blue]

My Grandma wanted me to listen only to bagpipe music. She'd run over to her "Hi-Fi" and play her Scottish pipe band records. She'd stand there, eyes misty, looking up and say, "Listen, Lee. Look! You can almost see them march over the green hill into our valley. It's... it's beautiful... and she'd bust a move. Or a jig. You know that cliche arms up twirl around Scottish dance? Like that. Tears streaming, eyes closed dreaming of her beloved Edinburgh and dancing. "Listen Lee! Play like that, son." Never liked the pipes much but loved my Grandma Rae. Other than that, there was never a music gap for me with my parents. I loved it all from the beginning with the exception of my dad's watered down Musak style Montovani style cover stuff from the 60's, which really doesn't count cause that was just wallpaper. I'm sure those arrangers would agree. He'd put that on the the car. But everything they shared, I pretty much dug if it was of any musical value. 20's pop, big band, swing singers... show tunes... country, folk... I loved it all. Of course the favor was not returned. They didn't go in for rock, hard jazz or classical so much.

So you have a Scots grandmother, too, huh? Explains so much. (My dad's mom was born here to Scots from Newfoundland -- but she was a full McIntosh. The Scots counsel came to her funeral in the mid-80s and there were three pipers. It was quite a ceremony and celebration of her life. She and my grandfather had lived in San Diego most of their adult lives and lived in Mission Beach for the last 2-3 decades of their lives and had made a lot of young friends.)

 

 

My dad really liked Harry Nilsson's first album -- really thought he was something special. And my mom liked -- of all things -- Jefferson Airplane, or at least their more folk-rocky side, a la Surrealistic Pillow. Like a number of other women her age, she also really liked Neil Diamond in the 70s, and a spot of Tom Jones. Thinking back to her acceptance of the Airplane, I bought her a copy of the first Go Go's record -- I figured that was the closest to the mix of no wave and punk I was listening to that she could dig -- but it never really lit her up and she ended up giving it back to me a few years later. I'd seen the Go Gos when they were cute, rolly-polly little day glo punkettes who couldn't really play, but I can't say they moved me once they changed the lineup and started doing the mainstream thing.

[Geoff Grace]

But today, the music of the 1960's-- or much of it-- still sounds very hip and relevant to teenagers born in the 90's and Oughts.

I think it all comes down to change in listening habits as technology developed.

 

Before the ascendence of FM radio, young people generally listened to hit radio and older adults generally listened to oldies stations. Other than classical music, news, sports, and plot-driven radio shows, there wasn't room for much else on the AM dial. Variety back then meant that if you didn't like the hit on one station, you could try your luck with the other Top 40 station.

 

FM radio offered broader playlists. There was room for album cuts and artists who didn't have hit records. There was also room for stations catering to minority tastes like R&B, Latin music, progressive rock, and jazz fusion. DJs had the freedom to choose what they played. But still, the older generation tended to stick with AM radio and FM primarily catered to the younger generation.

 

As the younger generation evolved into an older generation, FM playlists tightened; and in addition to oldies stations that played former hits, there were classic rock stations that played the old album cuts and older artists who weren't part of the Top 40. Gen-Xers who were coming of age had a choice between the hit radio of their era, stations that catered to minority tastes (which by this time included new wave/modern rock), oldies stations, or classic rock. Many of the classic rock stations of the time had shock jocks like Howard Stern, who appealed to teenagers and drew them in as classic rock listeners. As a result, Generation X became the first generation to widely embrace the music of an earlier era.

 

Fast forward to the Internet era, file sharing, and iPods. Today's kids are pulling content more than having it pushed at them. They listen to the files their friends send them. When it was recorded doesn't matter as long as they like it. As a result of this chaos in organization and separation of music styles, today's kids are all over the map when it comes to music taste. This may result in them having eclectic taste or it may result in cliques who gravitate toward a specific style of music that their group likes.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Anderton]

Very insightful, Geoff. Not that I'm surprised

[philbo]

My grandparents never recommended anything to me musically, except my paternal granddad gave me my first guitar book when I was 10. It was published in 1911 and taught classical guitar technique. It's falling apart now but I still have most of the pages.

 

My parents loved music. My mom loved polka with lots of yodelling and accordian, my dad was partial to country (he never missed an episode of the Johnny Cash show when it was on years ago), and really like the music from the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, etc).

 

To this day I'd rather pick peanuts out of Snicker bar poop than to hear polka or accordian music.... Except maybe Al Yankovic

[veracohr]

I don't think they ever suggested anything.

 

My mom's parents just cared that I had long hair and WASN'T listening to Merle Haggard or something like that.

 

I don't think my dad's mom ever listened to music. I don't really remember his dad.

[DigitMus]

My grandparents didn't have too much influence on my musical taste, with a couple of stand-out exceptions. My grandmother would play her 1880s era pump organ, and sing her 2 favorite songs: Waltzing Matilda and Scarboro Fair (long before Paul Simon updated it). My grandfather hated cold weather and used to travel to the Caribbean, where he loved the steel drum Calypso music - so much so that he financed one of the 1st (he said it was the 1st ) recording of that style (ca. 1951, if I remember correctly).

 

My parents listened mainly to classical and Broadway showtunes (my father was a "proto-audiophile" who had a stereo in the 50s), and music was constantly on in the background. They were both folk music fans as well, and the Kingston Trio songlist is still engrained in my memory. Later, they were very much into Simon & Garfunkel, and by the time I was a teenager they were embracing such as Blood Sweat & Tears, The Who, Emerson Lake & Palmer and even David Bowie.

 

I also recall harmonizing Beach Boys songs with my mother (her on guitar, me on piano) in the 60s...

Not too sure about who influenced whom.

 

 

Scott

[Geoff Grace]

Thank you very much for your kind words, Craig.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[veracohr]

Scarboro Fair (long before Paul Simon updated it).

 

I'm gonna pretend I never thought for a second that Paul Simon wrote that song.

[techristian]

My dad was an electrician and dabbled with electronics in the 60's. I could hear oscillators in his test equipment. We also liked science fiction and I also heard much "spacey" electronic music from that. I think what we hear in our "formative" years will shape our musical tastes. That is probably why I'm so big on electronic music these days.

 

Dan

[UstadKhanAli]

 

Fast forward to the Internet era, file sharing, and iPods. Today's kids are pulling content more than having it pushed at them. They listen to the files their friends send them. When it was recorded doesn't matter as long as they like it. As a result of this chaos in organization and separation of music styles, today's kids are all over the map when it comes to music taste. This may result in them having eclectic taste or it may result in cliques who gravitate toward a specific style of music that their group likes. f

 

 

I really appreciate you writing this. As you know, I work at a high school, and have been posting for years that kids are all over the place with their musical tastes. Some on this forum think that kids only listen to hip-hop, but this is so completely wrong.

[UstadKhanAli]

My parents didn't really suggest anything. My mother listened to primarily classical music and show tunes. My father listened primarily to mostly country and western, a little bit of Motown, or old rock (think Chuck Berry, Elvis, Fats Domino). I was classically trained on piano, but besides this, my parents were not passionate about music at all...sort of ironic to see how I turned out.

 

I discovered rock late in elementary school. I loved it. It was fun and exciting. I got into Led Zeppelin. Later, either in high school or college, I finally heard '70s and '80s funk. It was like music from another planet to me. In my little town in the Midwest, I hadn't heard funk. But in California, we had people who were bused in from the inner city. They listened to funk. I'd be in auto shop and be hearing this incredible stuff. What a revelation!

 

And in high school, I got into jazz, fusion (then reacted to fusion by listening to folk in college), reggae (which of course led to dub), experimental, indie rock, gamelan (the first time I heard Javanese gamelan, it was transportive, beautiful, like what I thought a babbling brook would sound like if it were to morph into a music ensemble...I thought surely this is what sort of music they must play in heaven!), African field recordings, Can, punk, New Wave, Brian Eno (my jaw dropped the first time I ever heard "My Life In the Bush of Ghosts"), Steve Reich ("Music for 18 Musicians" changed the way I heard music as well as listening to Eno), and so much more.

 

All of these were discoveries that my parents never influenced. It was always friends or, quite often, discoveries in the used record stores. Often, I'd just buy something because it had a cool cover. I discovered a bunch of cool albums this way, whether world music or the whole Touch And Go or industrial stuff or The Cure or Einsturzende Neubauten.

 

This exploration continues to this day.

[blue2blue]

 

Fast forward to the Internet era, file sharing, and iPods. Today's kids are pulling content more than having it pushed at them. They listen to the files their friends send them. When it was recorded doesn't matter as long as they like it. As a result of this chaos in organization and separation of music styles, today's kids are all over the map when it comes to music taste. This may result in them having eclectic taste or it may result in cliques who gravitate toward a specific style of music that their group likes. Best, Geoff

Smack on, Geoff.

 

I think we've been headed in this direction for a while, though. The cassette allowed people to casually sample music from their friends, public libraries, and other sources, snag stuff off the radio, as well as casually distribute those finds hand-to-hand (and then, of course, to discard, keep or supplant those often highly compromised cassette copies with the actual product), and I think that had a lot to do with the cutting of the umbilical to the music promotion triumvirate of labels, radio/TV, and music press, greatly diminishing the influence of the hit-making machine and its tyranny of supposedly disposable music-of-the-moment marketing.

[Dingoist]

Interesting thread. My grandparents had little direct involvement with my music. I was pretty disconnected via distance from one set (and my grandfather there passed away when I was quite young) and on the closer side, though my other grandfather taught band in the school system (while being a minister -- before retiring from that profession to take up farming) there was little discussion of music. Most notably he kept the sound off on the tv to watch his baseball games because the volume annoyed him.

 

So no, my grandparents had little to do.

 

But I'd attribute a lot to my father, listening to Leonard Cohen going to grade school, a variety of folk, bluegrass and traditional music. I do think that is where I got it from.

 

 

Blue -- did I read it right? You have ties back to Newfoundland? So yer part Newfie, eh? (Not there is anything wrong with that... of course, I'm an ex-Newfie myself).

[Lee Knight]

Blue -- did I read it right? You have ties back to Newfoundland? So yer part Newfie, eh? (Not there is anything wrong with that... of course, I'm an ex-Newfie myself).

 

Coincidence OT: I just spoke to an old friend living in Cape Cod. A tramsplant from San Diego. He says he just bought a beater, fixer upper vacation home in the sticks in Newfoundland. It's beat but is totally operational. Heating's fine, etc. Please would I stay a week and enjoy a writer's vacation. I'm thinking solo. He warns me to rent a 4x4.

 

Wow! I am so ready to head out! The contrast of San Diego and Newfoundland? Yeah!

[Ernest Buckley]

Hey Lee,

That sounds awesome. I would definitely take him up on that offer.

Nothing like a little solitude and silence to gather your thoughts.

I had an opportunity to get away from everything a few years ago, just me in a tiny room in the middle of the desert.

Funny thing is, while I was there, I wrote nothing but read a lot and revised some ideas.

When I got back home, the creative juices flowed.

Strange how that works sometimes...

EB

[blue2blue]

Interesting thread. My grandparents had little direct involvement with my music. I was pretty disconnected via distance from one set (and my grandfather there passed away when I was quite young) and on the closer side, though my other grandfather taught band in the school system (while being a minister -- before retiring from that profession to take up farming) there was little discussion of music. Most notably he kept the sound off on the tv to watch his baseball games because the volume annoyed him. So no, my grandparents had little to do. But I'd attribute a lot to my father, listening to Leonard Cohen going to grade school, a variety of folk, bluegrass and traditional music. I do think that is where I got it from. Blue -- did I read it right? You have ties back to Newfoundland? So yer part Newfie, eh? (Not there is anything wrong with that... of course, I'm an ex-Newfie myself).

My dad's mother was a full McIntosh. But, honestly, right at this instant, I can't remember if her people settled in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland when they came to the new world. Newfoundland, I think. (I'm more than a bit ashamed to be hazy on that.) Newfoundland. I... think.

 

 

PS... I forgot above that my grandfolks on my dad's side were big Lawrence Welk fans. I liked the show a lot when I was a little kid -- because they often wore western style garb like my then-hero Spade Cooley. My folks, who were a bit hipper, tolerated my Lawrence Welk thing and actually watched it with me but I noted that as I outgrew it, so did they.

[Lee Knight]

 

Hey Lee, That sounds awesome. I would definitely take him up on that offer. Nothing like a little solitude and silence to gather your thoughts. I had an opportunity to get away from everything a few years ago, just me in a tiny room in the middle of the desert. Funny thing is, while I was there, I wrote nothing but read a lot and revised some ideas. When I got back home, the creative juices flowed. Strange how that works sometimes... EB

 

 

Oops, I meant Nova Scotia. South of Halifax on the southern tip.

[Ernest Buckley]

Wherever... just go!

[UstadKhanAli]

Yeah, that sounds GREAT!!!!!!!