Things Your Parents Say/Said About Music

DAD: "I'll say it's easy."

He is very pleased w/this and repeats it a lot. Also anything shouty then gets "Is this that its so easy band?".

I took my father to see a performance of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" in a fairly intimate setting. During the intermission, he commented: "I like piano music." I noticed someone sitting near us look at my father with a confused expression on his face, like where did this guy come from.

'this is really lovely'

[derek starts improvising]

'and this is noise'

also, my mother and brother (SOUNDLY) tried to discourage me from buying an ace of base tape because "they're nazis"... only one reason i should have saved my allowence...

"He doesn't tie up women does he?"

----------

Circa 1987, in the car, my uncle driving, with my cousins and my Black Flag Who's Got the 10 1/2? cassette in the stereo.

Henry Rollins: "...Can you help me? Can you help me? Can you help me? Can you help me?"

My uncle: "I CAN HELP YOU!"

(ejects tape and throws it at us in the backseat)

My Mum, walking into my bedroom while I was playing "Atmosphere" by Joy Division.

related: my husband and mom-im-law were driving somewhere and "Conduit for Sale" came on the college station (WREK!). She says, "He's sure trying, isn't he?"

sure, but I bet they're FUNNY!

my mom: "the Beatles were okay, but we didn't listen to that. We were into Motown. We liked to dance."

"I'm sure the 'A' stands for anus!" - My mother upon seeing a video by the long-lost "punk" band, The A's.

"Listen to that harmonizing...wow." My mom, re the Beatles.

My friend Rob's dad upon hearing Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr", reaching breaking point and then forcibly removing the vinyl from the stereo.

"Slut!" -- My father, strangely, upon flipping channels and catching five seconds of "The Barbara Mandrell Hour"

My mom would always say something like "Ugh, how can you listen to this funeral parlor music?" to just about everything I used to listen to in high school, from Depeche Mode to REM. She may have had a point.

My father on my request for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust for my 12th birthday in 1972.

I don't know what was worse: the disappointment at being denied this strange but beautiful thing, or the knowledge that he'd put himself through going into Berg's and asking them to play the whole flipping thing while he stood there trying to discern lyrics likely to corrupt my fragile adolescent mind.

But the best bit was a look of unbearable pride when she asked me what the top three were going to be. I guessed spot on (1. Bohemian Rhapsody 2. Angels by Robbie Williams 3. Imagine).

She was amazed and I don't think I've ever seen her look so happy to have me as her son.

But Depeche isn't funeral parlor music it's a marvellously balanced artistic combination of beat and arrangements and... *wibbles further, is beaten*

after that, he just called him that, even when un-drunk. which didn't happen very often in those days.

*Unsurprisingly, my dad looks like Alan Alda, except with a bigger nose, broken in several fights.

she's right, you know dean. dangerous stuff.

my mum - "what's wrong? why are you always so depressed?" - whenever i listened to Joy Division or Bauhaus.

"how can you dance to this stuff? it's not even music!" - comment whilst dancing to Doc At The Radar Station.

but that said, my mum likes Bread and the Carpenters. if she can handle the absurd comedy of "Calling Occupants" you'd think she'd be a bit open minded about Beefheart.

sadly, Harry Pussy wasn't around in my early record-buying days, but Foetus was. I remember desperately trying to convince my mom that Foetus was in fact a whole different entity than, well, 'fetus'. She almost bought it but was then irritatingly distracted by a Butthole Surfers EP and I had to get the first Del Amitri album instead, sigh

my stepdad (jazz/afrobeat/Latin aficionado), while watching SNL with me and my mom back in '93 or so, was endlessly amused by the performance of Cypress Hill. For the next five minutes he would remark "crazy insane, got no brain" to himself and chortle. I think he approved.

I talked with my mom recently about the things she would've listened to more often in the late '70s (Iggy, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, the Cars) if she could've afforded more records and my dad wasn't spending all the LP budget on the Moody Blues:
her: "Another guy I liked back then... something Newman... I think Randy..."
me: "Yeah, he's a good songwriter, 'Baltimore' is a really great track, etc."
her: "No, not him, that other guy... he did more electronic type stuff..."
me: (pause, dumbfounded expression) "GARY Numan?"
her: "Yeah, that's it! I had a tape of his, I used to play it in the car for you when you were four."
me: "That explains everything."

In one of his OTM moments (and perhaps one of Mom's lovingly deluded moments):
After I put on a Django Reinhardt disc,
Mom: "Is this something you did?"
Dad (in Tamil): "Hell no, this is good!"

On Journey's "Walks Like a Lady",
"Ah, this is jazz."

"I don't understand how someone who can create such beautiful music could be that depressed" - Mom, while listening to Bryter Layter, upon hearing of Nick Drake's demise

My dad, upon hearing Kurt Cobain had killed himself: "Now there's a guy who had a lot to be depressed about."

Is your dad Alan Partridge?

(Luna was playing)

(I did write "Pogo Sticking", but that was some years before...)

On hearing the Smiths: "That singer sounds like he's falling asleep every time he opens his mouth".

Weirdly, she is a fan of the Cowboy Junkies.

oh so very wise, that one!

"Does anyone in this car actually like this shit?" -- My mom, after I put in a mix tape with "Summertime Rolls" on it.

to quote "Walking and Talking": "do we have to listen to this vagina music?"

(I'm sure I've used that and the others on other threads already.)

'Cheese and wine for me, cheese and wine for me, cheese and wine for me, cheese and wine for me'.

(Confusion ensues for several minutes until we figure out that he's under the impression that there's a song called "Dirty Deeds, Thunder Chicken.")

Hah! You should hear my girlfriend's diagnosis of Don Van Vliet!

(We often had this sort of disagreement. She would always focus very heavily on the words of things I listened and think that I must like them because I "relate" to what's being said, but usually I didn't think that was all that important to me.)

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
Iggy Pop, Blah-Blah-Blah (she got off the bus when Instinct came out, though)

My Dad: Geez, that's a terrible noise, Scott! It sounds like they're all just making it up as they go along.

Me: What do you mean, "all"? It's just two guys.

My Dad: ...Really? [Still repulsed, yet impressed despite himself]

That was kinda funny.

(There was also a performance, though my parents skipped that. David Tudor practically made me jump out of my seat when he unexpectedly swung a slinky around a microphone.)

"God, they should by called the "Crying-berries" - my Dad in the car, aas the Cranberries chick warbles on the radio.

-My uncle to his son, who was listening to guess-what, c.1983

One more: A Christmastime family & friends card game. Everyone in varying stages of drunkenness, which is the only reason my Dad doesn't object to my sister's Cypress Hill disc.

Dad: I dunno how you guys can sing along with that stuff - I can never understand a word they're saying.

Voice of B-Real (from boombox): Just to stay alive, yo, I gotta say "Fuck it!"

Dad: I understood THAT!

[Epilogue: Later, after the card game degenerates into drunken silliness, he comes to the conclusion that rappers are the modern-day pirates, because they all wear earrings and bandanas "and they're always going 'Yo! Ho!'" These observations are well-received and are therefore developed into a mini-comedy routine, to be performed on at least two future occasions, even as he comes to discover and genuinely like Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing." The family that drinks together...]

Your dad should post on ILX!

"Oh my, he's even uglier than Mick Jagger."

My mom said this too!!

- My mother on practically everything I listen to, regardless of genre, if it's not 1) overplayed on the radio, 2) ever exceeds 10 dB, or 3) was created after 1975.

And who said that noise can't be music?

My mom said this too!! >>

Oh my GOD, mine too.

So let me give this a try:

TURN THAT CRAP DOWN !!!

Actually, that felt pretty good.

playing some eugene chadbourne last week: ''can I break this record?''

*record store puts on the copy of Number of the Beast that I had just sold them*

"You shouldn't have sold these Iron Maiden cds, they sound pretty good."

He also taught me to hate the Who and the Beach Boys at an early age, fer good or worse.

Hah! I still haven't myself, so good luck! All time most played music around the house: three-way tie between ABBA, Santana, and 'Euro Pop'. Lots of disco when they still threw all-night bangers too.

And I've been thinking about the record store/Iron Maiden debacle a bit more and I'm pretty sure my 13-year old self bought that first Biohazard album with the trade-in cash I got. ARRRGH.

I've played Mom some of the stuff I listen to and she seems to be weakening her resistance to Duran Duran. She's actually said that some of their songs are "pretty good", which fills me with delight. On the other hand, I can tell she's dead bored by David Sylvian because when I played Secrets Of The Beehive for her and she looked as though she was in pain from trying to keep awake. And she chooses to have no comment about pretty much all the New Wave/New Romantic music I love. Oh! She DOES like the Human League's "Love Action" and "Don't You Want Me", though.

There was a time I was living on the family houseboat (long story) and she commented that the night before I was playing really lovely music. We could never figure out if she was referring to the My Bloody Valentine or the Nick Drake (Pink Moon, no less.).

2. Playing the Interpol album in the car. My Dad says - "this reminds me of the Levellers." I think I was more shocked at the sheer wrong-ness of it than anything else.

Six months later, same situation - "this reminds me of The Smiths".

Huge sigh of relief - he hasn't gone mad after all...

3. Bro is listening to Jeff Buckley in the living room, probably Eternal Life or one of the other louder ones is on.

Mum - "that's just noise!"

And yet it is so appealing.

mum: "is that a man or a woman ?" (a shorn annie lennox doing "sweet dreams" on top of the pops)

dad (on me buying "some candy talking"): "aren't these lyrics about drugs ?" [thinks] "and isn't the name of the band slightly blasphemous ?"

i kind of attempted to deny both, which didn't help.

ooh, and boss (sorry but this is related): "what are you listening to ?"

me: "the jesus and mary chain".

boss: "ooh, reggae".

(the fact i think he meant "gospel" possibly made me enjoy it even more).

at a different time i was listening to fear is a mans best friend by john cale and she said "this guy is obviously influenced by the smiths and the beatles." haha. the reason for the smiths is because she felt very proud of hersel fyears before in discovering that morrisey says everything 3 times in a row. cale was just repeating the final line at the end of the song.

on another occasion i had to explain to my mom the line "shake it like a polaroid picture" for about 10 minutes before she understood.

one time in the car i had the new rahsaan roland kirk live album playing and iwas zoning out listening to it after a point before we pulled into a gas station and my stepdad something like "youre going to have turn that shit off" and storming out of the car angrily.

"wheres the MELODY?!?!!?" my stepfather on my now-regretted 7th grade hardcore band.

"see son, you could do something like this and get all the girls and money" or "write me a song like this" stepdad on anything from "urgent" by foreigner to the backstreet boys to the beegees.

im sure theres hundreds of other humourous events i could try and remember...

Well, it was career advice and all that.

"People like Justin Timberlake becauase it makes them feel post-modern."

man, i had forgotten about this

"see son, you could do something like this ..."

This was one of my dad's favourite sayings as well...

Particularly "Bicycle Race" by Queen, suggesting that it was a big hit because lots of people ride bicycles. Ignoring the underlying, um, metaphor..

Although I had written "Pogo Sticking" back in 1975 or so, that didn't count...

My Dad's take on the Streets a few years back. I caught him watching the video for "Dry Your Eyes" on TV, and he said something along the lines of it being more evocative than Keats.

That said on a separate occasion he did a Mike Skinner impression that went something like: "So I called up my mate Clive and said 'D'ya wanna score some brown?'/He said 'nah I'd rather just fuck around down town'".

hahahaha

Dad's are only supposed to *think* they're funny....

(exclusion: Me. I'm damn funny.

Although, walking kids to school, was saying about how Eleephants couldn't wear poppies as they couldn't get the pin in, and our Alice says "No, they have to use a ruddy great gun to do it! POOM!" (floored the lot of us!))

"I see Oasis are back in the charts with a boring song about a bird" - My Dad.

your parents are awesome, although i have no idea what mark g just said

uk references.

" "If my music sounded like that I would also keep my identity a secret" -- my dad on The Residents"

this is actually genius

hahaha

"garth brooks is just a big fat hog" - my mom

oh yeah

"when that shorty got low song comes on i just have to pull over!" -mom
"haha, how come?" - me
"cause it makes me get low and im already short! soon enough i cant see over the steering wheel!!" - mom

omg

My mother talking about David Bowie: "He's that Alvin Stardust guy, isn't he?"

My father, while watching any band on TOTP: "They're just a one hit wonder!"

not a spoken remark, just the pained look on my dad's face when tom wait's voice finally comes in on Small Change, after a long sax intro lulled him into a false sense of MOR

I asked for a copy of Poison's Look What The Cat Dragged In for christmas or my birthday or something,

Dad: So how was everybody's day?
Mom: Oh, we went to K-Mart. Doug bought a tape by a nice looking group of girls called Poison.
9-year-old me: They're not girls! They're guys!
Mom and Dad: Uh-oh...

This thread is a joy to read

After patiently explaining what Joy Division was, Busted came on (it was some weird clip show) and my mother says
'Oh so you like music like that then?'
NO
Mum: 'That Alicia Keys is just as slutty as the rest of them'
Dad: 'Puff Daddy is sinful. You can't watch that, turn it off' (Word for word, and this is about the I'll Be Missing You video)

Sorry I forget to say how brilliant this is;
'"when that shorty got low song comes on i just have to pull over!" -mom
"haha, how come?" - me
"cause it makes me get low and im already short! soon enough i cant see over the steering wheel!!" - mom
GENIUS.
I adore this thread

or even:

'Oh so you like music like that then?'
http://www.neworderonline.com/Gallery/WaitingForTheSirensCallFront4News.jpg

i played "kids" by lou reed and as the kids started screaming "MOOOOMMMMY!!!" my mom was in the other room she started nearly crying and saying "WHAT IS THAT?>? THATS TERRIBLEE"??" she had tears in her eyes. she later told me that she could almost feel herself start lactating she felt it so viscerally. the maternal instinct rules.

my dad, after hearing "Great Balls of Fire" on the radio:

"so, is this Jerry Lee Lewis the hot new rock combo?"

THIS WAS IN 1978!!!

Dad, circa 1985, on exposure to The Smiths: "There's no way that guy is celibate"

On hearing Dsvid Sylvian..."He sounds like Vera Lynn"...

My mother on The Beatles: "I liked them, until they started doing all that psychedelic stuff"

The only Bowie song my father likes is "The Laughing Gnome"

About 10 years ago, my dad, when I was listening to Sub-Culture:

"In the end you will submit New Order speak a load of shit"

;_;

dad zing

listening to the soft bulletin, and "the observer" comes on

Dad: "i bet this goes over real well in concert"

I'm so glad this thread exists!

My mom: "My son listens to loud, noisy, obsessively repetitive rock music" (referring to the Pet Shop Boys).

She has never let me play one full album (of anything) in her presence, complaining that "it's like a torment". The only vaguely positive thing she had ever said about anything is when I played "The Kissing Things" by The 6ths.

on the other hand, my mom likes crooked rain

My mum told me this week that she'd got a Dr Hook love songs CD from the library and "ripped it off onto the computer"

When Governments talk like your parents....

Powers to remove persons attending or preparing for a rave (1) This section applies to a gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more persons (whether or not trespassers) at which amplified music is played during the night (with or without intermissions) and is such as, by reason of its loudness and duration and the time at which it is played, is likely to cause serious distress to the inhabitants of the locality; and for this purpose—
(a) such a gathering continues during intermissions in the music and, where the gathering extends over several days, throughout the period during which amplified music is played at night (with or without intermissions); and
(b) “music” includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.

“music”

I was in my room listening to Billie Holiday. Enters my mom, looking puzzled and glacing around. "What is it, mom", I ask.

Her reply: "Well, I thought I heard a cat's meow in your room!"

glaNcing around

My mother on The Beatles: "I liked them, until they started doing all that psychedelic stuff"

My parents say the same.

"It makes me think of pissing" - my dad regarding the sound of violins.
― Elliot (Elliot), den 3 mars 2004 21:58 (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol. this thread is great

related: my husband and mom-im-law were driving somewhere and "Conduit for Sale" came on the college station (WREK!). She says, "He's sure trying, isn't he?"

My mom's response to "Conduit for Sale" was "Well, keep trying pal!" Also both my parents have, independently of each other, asked "Is this the Kinks?" while Wowee Zowee was playing.

Rumours is my dad's favourite album, but as far as I can tell its the only one he's ever heard. This is where my insane love of FM comes from.

My dad, thankfully, would never, ever try to be hip. Ever. My mam has only ever seen James Last in concert.

My mom, upon hearing the worst song of all time, composed by myself using Cakewalk in 8th grade:

"This sounds like Yanni!"

I wish I still had all my old cakewalk songs

my mom, while listening to radiohead's "nude" in the car.
"this song makes me feel like i'm floating on a cloud, looking at another cloud"

on sigur ros
"why would you want to listen to this?"

on white mice
"turn this off...they're not even singing"

xpost

About a year ago I found my "album" of cakewalk songs from 8th grade, filling up a 45 minute cassette tape. I think one of the songs was titled "Isengard".

I cried.

haha

my dad --

on hearing "sex machine":

"what... is this? is this a song?"

on hearing "blue moon" (elvis)

"is... is this a woman? who is this?"

on hearing "get low"

"this is... this is some kind of rhythmic chanting. they're just shouting back and forth at each other over and over again."

my dad loves death metal band names so much that when they're in town, he cuts their ads out of the newspaper to show me

'look! winds of plague! toxic holocaust! bwaaahahaha!'

listening to the soft bulletin, and "the observer" comes on

Dad: "i bet this goes over real well in concert"

my dad said the same thing about fantomas' "delirium cordia"

My mom in the 90's: "Meatloaf can turn anything into a song!"

Her and my dad also ask me "where do you find this stuff?" with a tone of utter mystification about most music I listen to.

"I can turn anything into a song!" is on "Bat back out of hell IV"..

I thought it was on "Mr. Aday Following The Bat Back Into Hell Again Part V"

Circa 1986, "Rap is just a fad."

Geir is yr dad?

(xpost no doubt..)

This thread is beautiful.

My mom walks in as I'm listening to J. Coltrane's Ascension.
Her: "What is this? Is this jazz?"
Me (sullen, 19): "Yes."
Her: "Well, it doesn't sound very relaxing."

same era, my 13 year old sister walks in as I'm playing Astral Weeks. "Beside You" is on. She makes some kind of face.
Me: "This is one of the most beautiful songs ever sung."
Her (completely ingenuously): "What's so beautiful about it?"

A couple years earlier: I'm watching some coverage of the Reading Festival on MuchMusic on Saturday morning and my dad sits down in his housecoat with coffee and toast. The Butthole Surfers come on and at the mention of their name my dad simultaneously spews his coffee out of his mouth and spills the rest that was in his mug onto the toast and ruins it. It was very gratifying.

My kids are into all that girl-pop crap. I'm sure they'll be contributing some gems to this thread in a few years.

My mom, lifelong atheist, on whatever bad U.S. hardcore band I was listening to at the time: "This is devil music."

My dad on The Fall: "This is the kind of music that musicians enjoy playing but no one wants to hear."

My aunt recently divulged that my mom really enjoyed some songs by The National that I listened to while I was home this summer, was afraid to say anything in case it scared me out of liking them.

*but

that remark on The Fall is actually quite insightful

My mom on LCD Soundsystem, "I like it until he starts putting annoying noises on top of it."

My mom was particularly OTM about the Melvins/Lustmord collabo: "This sounds like a robot haircut."

Also, Brian Eno gives her headaches.

My only real memories of my mum saying anything about music were:

* her disparaging Robert Smith on TOTP circa Kiss Me x3 cos he looked like a girl led to me subsequently hiding the fact I liked the Cure for several years
* she actually gave me a talk about homosexuality cos she misheard the lyrics to Purple Haze (this is 100% true)

All I can think of regarding my dad is that he had a 12" of Ride On Time. And my step mum liked Simply Red. And they regularly go and see UB40 live, while my dad professes to wishing he could vote BNP but they don't field a candidate in his constituency.

Mom (in 1983): Michael Jackson is creepy.
Dad (in 2008): I don't understand music.

I played Money Jungle for my all-classical dad once and he enthusiastically said something like "This has all the best elements of modern music!"

Oh, I misread that as "things your parents say/said about YOUR music" though. My parents say quite a lot about music.

The only 12" LP my dad owned was a Des O'Connor record. Cue "criminal record" jokes from UK ILXors...

My mom walks in as I'm listening to J. Coltrane's Ascension.
Her: "What is this? Is this jazz?"
Me (sullen, 19): "Yes."
Her: "Well, it doesn't sound very relaxing."

hahahahhaaa

My mom on Spiritualised, Ladies and Gentlemen: "This is making me agitated. It's too noisy."

"I have seen the Rolling Stones too many times to put up with this bullshit" - My Mom in '96 re: Pavement. We walked out after two songs. (We were there to see the opening set from Geraldine Fibbers which was, of course, excellent)

awesome.

nates mom otm

Holy shit, Nate's mom wins the world.

my mom on secret chiefs 3, "book m" - 'this sounds like it can't make up its mind'

nates mom is such a mom

One of my favourite threads ever. More words of wisdom from moms and dads than the average music blog/column. Also, Nate Carson's mom is 100% correct.

I am very proud of my Mom. She saw the Beatles, Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin with Grand Funk, etc.

We saw Korn open for Ozzy in '95 and she was complaining about them. My younger brother was in a sort of proto-metal-core band called Gunpro (think Bloodlet, Deadguy, Today is the Day). After two Korn songs, Mom says "this sucks. Why didn't they get Gunpro to open?"

Oh--also I recall being about 16 and playing Einsturzende Neubauten really loud on the home stereo. My dad walked through the room and paused for a second to say "great drummer". Then he headed outside.

You seem to live the life of a Wes Anderson movie that's actually good.

Yes, a very low budget Wes Anderson movie.

Just recalled another time when my dad mentioned how he liked the new Smashing Pumpkins single. "Rat in a cage. That's me!" he says.

The Clash - "The Guns of Brixton"
Mom [voice dripping with disappointment in me]: "Oh dear..."

i have too many of these to name. anyone who has met my father understands my obsessive musical geekiness a lot more. so, my father.

-Dad: You know, I'm glad that we're listening to ABBA right now. I was wrong about them all these years. (during cross-country road trip)

-Dad: Who is this?
Me: the Gang of Four.
Dad: This is great. (pauses). But except for the girls, it's too white.

-Dad: So guess what happened today?
Me: What, pops? (i do call him pops)
Dad: I was listening to that disco mix you gave me, and that really long version of 'Get Down Tonight' came on, and I was sitting in the parking lot blasting it. And my secretary walked by, and just stared at me as if I was crazy.
Me: Rofl.

my dad is a lawyer. hates the beatles, loves the stones, has an abiding love for disco, soul and juke-joint music. really great.

on the other side, my mom.

*blasting Lucio Aquilina in my room*
MOM: This is quite entrancing. People dance to this?

driving her to work when her leg was broken:
Mom: Who is this?
Me: They're called Low. The guy and lady singing are married.
Mom: I hope they're in counseling.

On Gorecki:
Mom: I just want to drift into nothing when I listen to this. (languishes drammatically on the sofa)

My dad never appreciated rap until I played him Buck 65.

Also, one time I was playing Aesop Rock in the car and he asked me if he plays live because he can't imagine anyone memorizing all those words.

i was home the other weekend and my 66-yr-old dad (who plays guitar, piano and a little accordion and a few years ago sent me about 50 burned cds of pre-1960 roots rock, blues and country music) said, "i don't listen to music anymore."

but then he mentioned that he'd probably buy the latest dylan bootleg volume. so i don't believe him.

(oops, he's only 64. sorry dad.)

My mom has asked me several times which rapper it is that does "the mama song," in reference to 2Pac's Dear Mama. She also experienced a heightened respect for Snoop Dogg when she learned that he also recorded a song for his mama.

Whenever I'm in a car with her playing something and ask if she likes it, she'll often say, "It's pretty mellow/It's not too crazy" which is a positive response. But I thought she would like TVOTR's Family Tree and she said it "sounds like Pink Floyd." She hates Pink Floyd.

If Justin Timberlake ever comes on TV, my stepdad will start making "gay fag" comments.

My dad once described something as "like a heavier Jesus Jones(!)" I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I love this thread. Totally forgot that I posted on it five years ago!

my aunt says that people like to copy bob dylan

like, everyone

Your parents' comments are all so dear.

driving her to work when her leg was broken:
Mom: Who is this?
Me: They're called Low. The guy and lady singing are married.
Mom: I hope they're in counseling.

^how did this go unappreciated

Dad, on Basement Jaxx's 'The Singles': David what is this *crap*?!

on David Bowie's 'Let's Dance: easily on my top songs list, easily

I turned to the internet/older first cousin for my musical education.

Last night we were talking about bands/musicians that ate in my parents old restaurant. He said "The Kiss" when he really meant New York Dolls and then announced that "Meatball" had been there too.

"what the fuck is that?"

"this is slit your wrists shit, this, son"

"fuck's sake turn it off it's doing my head in"

"keep it down son your dad is trying to sleep"

"what a racket"

"is there any need for that" etc

My parents have been pretty great at keeping their opinions to themselves, although my dad did give a very literal face-palm upon seeing me rent some Kurt Cobain bio VHS way long ago.

upon hearing a mashup I did, mom asks, "so where are you in here?"

My mom was conservative but when I went out she always asked if we would be dancing. Her view was that dance music was better for kids than other kinds of music (angry, depressed, crabby) and that it was good to go to a dance club or a dance concert, even if it was some place where people dressed funny or had weird hair.

my mom just sent me her xmas list and asked for a "Pete Seeger CD (one with "Old Fashion Rock n' Roll" on it)"

<3 my mom

Mom: "What's that song, that one that reminds me of David Lynch? Something about never falling in love? Isaac Hayes, isn't it?"
Me: "Chris Isaak, mom. 'Wicked Game.'"
Mom: "Oh, you didn't have to tell me, I'd have got there in the end!"

LOL @ "Meatball"

"Pete Seeger CD (one with "Old Fashion Rock n' Roll" on it)"

For a split second, I thought "My gawd! Did he really cover that??"

a few years ago I had to drive my dad to and from his workplace for 90 days (draw your own conclusions...) and I normally played my own CDs/iPod while driving. these are some of his most memorable comments:

[some Biosphere track with a jazzy drum loop...maybe "Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings"?]

dad: "where is this from? it sounds like it's from somewhere tropical!"

(I had to explain to him that Geir Jenssen lives some distance north of the Arctic Circle)

---

[Neil Young - On the Beach]

dad: "is this one of the Beatles?"
me: "no, it's Neil Young"
dad: "oh, I thought he sounded familiar!"

(he was a huge Neil Young fan in the '70s)

---

[The Sundays - Blind, about halfway through the final track "Wild Horses"]

dad: "is this Jewel?"

(Jewel was just about the only singer he listened to between 1995 and 2005)

---

[the opening seconds of Cornelius's "Mic Check", where it sounds like someone is opening a soda can or crinkling a candy wrapper or whatever]

dad: "what's that sound!?"

(he thought there was something wrong with the car)

---

[some Colleen track with sampled wind chimes or music boxes]

dad: "is this a church bell choir?"
me: "uh idk, I guess"

(he went off on a tangent about how much he loves church bell choirs)

My 70-year Dad trying to recall if he saw Bob Dylan live in New Brunswick NJ, circa 1964, "Would he have had a harmonica around his neck." Yes Dad.

Now he is really, really into electronic music, he listens to the Sirius XM BPM station exclusively, and he is trying to get me to listen to Armand Van Helden. I played him Robyn's Dancing On My Own the other week and he said "I like that a lot. Are there any remixes? They're usually better."

Strange, but awesome.

wkiw your dad

Today my dad told me I should set up my drum set on the sidewalk and lure people to come closer with a lemonade stand.

"I don't like rap. It doesn't have any rhythm." -- My mom, today.

^peak mom

In high school whenever I mentioned the Doors my Dad would say "Never heard of them. I've heard of Diana Dors though." He found himself hilarious
u_u

My niece was super into the Jonas Bros - her grandma could never remember their name & called them "The Framas Brothers"

still a family joke to this day

Upon hearing anything I was listening to "Ah but it's not as good as my old Johnny Horton record is it?"

^ my dad

My parents and I have never really talked about music much because we're from completely different worlds on it, but there was one time when I was a teenager that I was having some friends over for a birthday party and among the things I'd rented at the store was the Every Breath You Take: The Videos vhs compilation of videos by The Police. My dad gave me a frown and said "I'm not really comfortable with you kids watching those heavy metal videos."

He said "The Kiss" when he really meant New York Dolls and then announced that "Meatball" had been there too.

I am cracking up at every part of this sentence.

i just read this whole thread. A+++¥¥¥¥•¥

My father, on William Basinski's Disintegration Loops: "you wait 40 minutes for fookin' nothing to happen"

Can't say I disagree. My Dad probably has a more respectable taste in music than me as far as most people are concerned, but he's totally OTM with this

My mom:

RE: David Axelrod: "This isn't. . . cohesive."

RE: Kid A: "It's so dissonant and that singer is so whiney."

RE: John Lennon 'Mother': "Did you pay for that CD? You got ripped off."

RE: Bitches Brew: "This sounds like a bad hangover."

"...Locust Abortion Technician? Is that really necessary?"

RE: Kid A: "It's so dissonant and that singer is so whiney."

Mom OTM

he is trying to get me to listen to Armand Van Helden

kornrulez6969 you should listen to your father

My mom, walking by as "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" was playing:

"What's this jerk's problem?"

My dad, hearing me listening to a CD of Fred Frith solo guitar stuff:

"This music is depressive... MANIC DEPRESSIVE."

After an interminable Yes concert in 1984 (that my brother and I dragged our dad to since we were too young to go on our own), dad said, "You know...they just didn't swing." He was right.

My Dad doing an impromptu impression of the Streets circa '04: 'Then I called up my mate who said do ya wanna come around / I said no, I'd rather jus' fuck around dahn town'.

Although he also once said that Dry Your Eyes was the best song he'd heard, lyrically, since Dylan, so