Do people from dysfuntional families make better music?

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How much do you think somebody's upbringing influences their 'muse'? Does it make a difference if one's parents are dead (Lennon, Madonna)abusive (Jackson, Wilson) or absent (Cobain, Gallagher)? We all know Elvis was a happy mummy's boy, but what about the progeny of 'cultured' upper-middle-class nuclear families (Jagger, Iggy, Morrison, Nick Cave)? Does it matter that Ice Cube and Chuck D come from professional, 2-parent units but Tupac's mom was a revolutionary intellectual/crack ho? Nature v. nurture?

― tarden, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You answered the question in the question! AND, your last question about taste basically equated to 'what is man's relationship to being?' Not that I care, I think these are excellent questions. The one about being's a bit difficult but.

― M.S., Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

BTW by "middle-class" I meant in the American 'professional' sense, not the Brit 'old-money' sense.

― tarden, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can't speak for the rest of them, but Iggy Pop did *NOT* grow up in an upper-middle-class environment.....unless of course living in a trailer park falls under some new classification of wealth that I'm not aware of.

― alex in nyc, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Is this a question about class, or is it a question about dysfunctional families?

― Kerry Keane, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is largely an American-culture analysis, but: I get the feeling that people who grow up with large amounts of personal freedom (i.e., lack of parental supervision) and lowered expectations for success (i.e., no one cares whether they finish high school or not) tend to approach rock music in a different manner than people whose upbringings were more sheltered, structured, or what-have-you: the former group tend toward music that is up-front, urgent, and emotional, while I'd say the latter tend toward music that is more stylized, analytical, and reserved. Obviously, that's not meant as a blanket statement, but I think it holds as a general trend. I don't know how significant it is, though, as one could make the same argument about personality as a whole: it comes down to saying that the latter type of person tends to be more "polite" or "mannered" and the other doesn't. Which usually isn't a surprise to anyone.

As one of the mannered, polite folks---which is to say, a kid who always felt vaguely uncomfortable among the other kids who listened to the same rock music he did---the continuing insistence of some people that rock is somehow "all about" the former type has always, always bugged the hell out of me.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have yet to find evidence that it has any significant impact either way.

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wonder if people from disfuncional families make better music critics?

― Sean, Thursday, 14 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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