My mum is a classical music fan, mostly orchestral but also likes Gershwin, musicals etc. She can listen to music on a Hi Fi or a tiny radio in the garden and enjoy both equally. My mum is a very good pianist and can sight read bloody hard classical stuff.
My dad had no concept of music growing up, but he ended up listening to my mums tastes, although he has never been a big fan of music. He was keen on Hi Fi when I was growing up and had some expensive gear, but these days he doesn't have anything. Music at the parental home is just the tiny radios now!
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Mom likes some pop stuff.
We never owned a HiFi, it was either a tape/radio boom box thing in the kitchen (always on Classic FM from what I remember) or the car stereo until we got a home computer when I was I guess 10 or 11.
These days mum listens on a Bose sound dock thing and dad tends to like to listen on a pair of headphones. They go to classical concerts fairly frequently - these days if they go on a short holiday to Europe they usually arrange it around going to see some live (classical) music.
My mum was/is a huge John Denver fan so that was where I got my love of harmonies from in particular. Both were also huge Beatles fans in the early 60's so my earliest memory is listening to "Help!" from the original vinyl.
My mum doesn't take a huge interest in music these days, but was a Beatles fan as a youth.
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He also loved country music- some of it was good, some of it was shit.
I have many, many schmaltzy country lyrics ingrained in my psyche.
I cannot get the words 'Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys' out of my memory, no matter how hard I try.
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Mum on the other liked rock'n'roll, her absolute favourite being Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets.
They both saw AC/DC a year before they got married which is cool, however I don't think they've been to another concert since.
My mother basically likes smooth voices - Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, some choral singing. She went to a few big band and other concerts in her youth including going to see a young Shirley Bassey booed off stage in Dudley ( pretty much they hadn't known she was black when they booked her).
They did once go together to the Oberammergau passion play ( maybe 30 years ago)which, I believe, has a lot of choral singing. It was also my mother's only ever trip outside the UK. Pretty much the most out of character thing they did in their whole lives and my mother has yet to stop complaining about the hotel food.
Dad = The Incredible String Band and Neil Young
We had a couple of tapes that were knocking around - A Cliff Richard one I have no recollection of ever hearing, though I can remember the cover clearly, plus my dad liked Crystal Gayle (Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Somebody Loves You, Talking In Your Sleep) and I think he had a tape of her hits.
Mostly though it was Christian tapes in the car - Ray Bevan, Helen Shapiro (she is of Jewish background but became what they call a "Messianic Jew" i.e. a Jew that believes in Jesus as the son of God and saviour of the world) and a few others I forget...possibly deliberately.
My folks never owned a single record by any of the obvious bands of their era: Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, Floyd...nothing, nada.
I remember getting into the Beatles in my early 20's and remarking to my mom that when she was that age, she would have been able to hear Revolver the day it came out. She had no idea what Revolver even was, never mind the fact she didn't buy it. She was 20 when the Beatles broke big in 1964, but never owned a single one of their records.
Didn't help that my Nan regarded it as the Devil's Music (hence why my uncle went out and bought a Rolling Stones record at the first opportunity...!) Hell, my Nan even disapproved of the cinema. "What would you do if you were sitting in the cinema watching a film and JESUS CAME BACK?!"
My mom plays piano, not to concert level but well enough to have played at church on numerous occasions, and she is a confident singer.
My dad, however, and he would say the same himself, is the worst singer you will ever hear. Everybody I say that to says "Ah yes, but you haven't heard ME sing" or "You wait til you hear so and so sing.." ..until they actually hear my dad sing. It really is as bad as I make it out to be, bless him.
So, in a nutshell, my musical discoveries are all my own work.
Most of it was easy listening (oxymoron) Gilbert and Sullivan and musicals on't telly. The funny thing is that they'll listen to any music style in a musical, Elvis movies, Mama Mia, whatever.
My Mum currently has an Ipod with a wide range of 'softer' music, swing, jazz, ballads, Beatles etc. My Dad wont listen to anything by choice but likes comedy songs, such as When Im Cleaning Windows.
So my own tastes were a direct and cynical reaction to their upbringing and I listened to Led Zep, Deep Purple, Motorhead etc and played it loudly in the family home. Now I'll listen to anything.
Apparently, I used to sing along with 21st Century Schitzoid Man when I was two quite merrily...
My parents were both born in 1934 so maybe they were just a little bit too old to get into the early days of rock and pop.
They had a cabinet full of LPs but I don't remember anything ever getting played much, apart from the Big War Movie Themes etc which they bought when we were kids. The records were nearly all classical, the nearest thing to contemporary music they had was Nana Mouskouri and I don't think there was anything else from any other genre - no jazz, folk or even easy listening.
After my mum died and my dad remarried, my stepmother brought some of her own stuff - again mostly classical and some James Last things. There might have been an Acker Bilk album. Or maybe Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.
The only record I remember hearing regularly was The Pearl Fishers by Bizet, which was played nearly every Sunday as the roast was cooking....
It's odd now that I think about it, there were five kids in the house, we had Radio 1 on a lot and ultimately we all started buying and listening to favourite bands (me especially), but I don't remember my parents ever really commenting on it or showing any signs that they could even tell one pop song or artist from another. Almost like it was a dog whistle and they couldn't hear it.
My dad isn't a typical dad rocker - he's always liked Queen and Bad Company but probably loves his Motown and soul/disco more if anything. My request for a guitar for my birthday at the age of 8 wasn't met with huge enthusiasm...
Mum, classical, country, 50's and 60's pop
Mum used to play violin, and occasionally dabbles with piano. Dad occasionally gets his harmonica out (not a euphemism), but I don't remember him playing it in a very long (at least 25 years) time.
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Mum (69): Guns n' Roses, Disturbed, New Model Army. She used to be a Stones fan back in the day.