ok then -- What Music Do Your Parents Listen To These Days?

My mother's probably still listening to the same classical stuff as always.

for his birthday last year, my farhter dropped a hint or two that, music wise, he wouldn't be disappointed if he got a Demis Roussos cassette. which he sure did get, eventually.
not much of a surprise, that. or so i think.
he's 70 as of this May (tho' noone'd guess that by his looks, i bet). and he'd've as much enjoyed some Abba or Smokey, i'm sure.

on the other hand, my mother - who'll be 72 in a month - is more difficult to figure out as per her current taste in (pop) music. though she's been the one to more frequently discuss musical topics with me over the years. (and to make me rehearse playing the accordion decades ago - to hardly any avail).

both of my parents have taken certain interest in the music shows that i've done on the radio during the past dozen of years - but what they've actually made of the music they've heard on thess shows, remains pretty unclear to me. strangely enough.
in general, i'd say that they at last seem to've warmed to some of the ("more melodic") music that i got into as a teenager, 'bout a quarter of a century ago.
...which doesn't bother either me or them much.

anyhoo, what about you and your folx?
(Curtis? mark s? Aja?)

1. my dad watching the news during dinner, bits of 'Nam of crashing into my delicate psyche while trying to eat.

2. visiting my mom's first cousin and them taking off to see Elvis because my cousin had surprised her with tickets, leaving me behind with my third cousin and her Rod Stewart and Kiss collection.

3. back then my dad listened to big band music -- stuff like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. I've learned to appreciate some Benny Goodman, but Miller still sux. Now, though, Pa don't listen to music. I got him a Fletcher Henderson CD for his last birthday and last time I was over it was sitting unopened. It's the news and staring into the fire for him.

My dad is easing nicely into "old guy music geek" mode -- '40s/'50s doo-wop and R&B, jazz vocalists, bluegrass and American trad-folk, British revivalist folk stuff like Steeleye Span and Pentangle, not really as much rock as before but a surprising amount of pop music.

Mom might listen to Elvis or Roy Orbison in the mornings. She puts the TV on the "MusicChoice" TV-radio thing, in the 300-range cable channels, when there's company. Usually to golden oldies or hits of the 70s. Oh and she likes my TNT by Tortoise and she keeps a casette tape of Simon and Garfunkel's greatest hits in the car.

Great thread.

My mother doesn't really listen to music. She's one of those people that uses it only as background music, played at volume level 2.

Mom, b. 1950
Dad, b. 1948

(me a uselessly half-good son, obv: i did get rid of Third Step, though not before i'd recorded that instrumental on a little reel-to-reel tape; the tape's still somewhere in the house, but for a very long time there hasn't been anything to play it on)

My mum relies on me to get her into new music...she doesn't follow what her old idols (Lou Reed, Ozzy Osbourne, Brian Eno) have been doing much anymore. She luvs Trip-Hop, Beck, The Au Pairs.

Mom's first record were the Brandenburgischen Konzerte, and to this day she can't be arsed to listen to anything but Bach. The Goldberg-Variationen played by Glenn Gould have been on her car stereo since like forever.

(i'm sure i started a thread on this same topic long ago but i can't find it, so maybe i dreamed it)

There are several levels of pathos to this that I don't want to divulge quite yet -- or even want to think about just yet -- other than to note that there are several levels of pathos to this.

mom listens to lots of funk and soul. prince, james brown, sly, some disco, pavement, norah jones, and she just started listening to pop/hip hop radio again.

she likes the nivea/r kelly single a lot.

My dad's 60 and he doesn't really like to listen to much of anything now. Sad. He was always the most open-minded when it came to music. He wouldn't get into artists such as Metallica or Megadeth, of course, but he said he liked some of the Duran Duran and Simple Minds songs I played for him when I was 13 and wanting him to like what I liked. But he doesn't feel well enough to really listen to anything. He just lies down in front of the TV, staring at the picture. :(

mum likes classical. they both quite dig on persian classical.

Mom's Itunes:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/momtunes.jpg

my mom met james murphy (and the rest of LCD) the other day and says she's a big fan

My mom heard LCD Soundsystem and asked why I was listening to Kermit. :(

(that's a true story)

I think my dad mostly listens to Sibelius, Hindemith, Mozart, early music, maybe some Elliott Carter.

My mom probably still listens to Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan a lot, although I don't remember the last time I noticed her listening to anything.

My mother is anxiously awaiting the new R.E.M. and Aly and AJ albums.

dad's over r&b now. he listens to one-drop reggae stuff CONSTANTLY, like he's always playing anthony b, richie spice, jah cure, ini kamaoze, etc etc ... drives me crazy, and he thinks i'm down because i listen to reggae

my mom has listened to Talking Heads, Kate Bush, Backstreet Boys, Fairuz and Zeppelin... pretty cool 4 ur mom, i guess =P

but my aunt and uncle who are really my parents: uncle's heavy in opera phase. aunt is like, i dunno, world music/classical/whatever phase

she was all buyin me camera obscura and some stuff last xmas, sweet :-)

My dad still listens to all the same shit he did when he was young except he is a bit more focused on guitarists than other jazz horn stuff.

He is very into Johnny Smith (as am I!) and Segovia. we both like ourselves a bit of Red Norvo, Lenny, Stan, Lee, Warne etc. he is also very into Jobim. He likes the Basie band a lot but doesn't listen as much as he used to. I loaded him up with all the Bird boxes but I suspect he doesn't listen to them much. He really seems to prefer Prez nowadays, which actually wasn't the case when he was younger. I don't quite understand the particulars of that. He loves Johnny Hartman and Trane (not too late-period!!!) and of course the stuff they did together. I have actually taught him a thing or two about appreciating the later Blakey band crowd (that Timmons, Shorter, Morgan and Merritt are maybe his best band ever!) and he is not a Grant Green convert just yet but I am still working on that (actually, that isn't going as well as i would like). LOVES Clifford Brown and Bill Evans (who is my mom's favorite). Crazy jazz parents. Crazy-ass music household.

Pops taught me about "the music". He is 82. He now plays mainly a 7-string guitar.

He is dope.

When I was growing up my parents listened to the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Velvet Underground, the Beatles and Neil Diamond. They sold all their records about ten/fifteen years ago and I don't think I've caught them listening to music since. But last time I went home I found a Bob Marley cd that my father had just purchased at Starbucks. I didn't know he'd ever gone to a Starbucks let alone started on reggae.

Ween, Bo Bice, Drive By Truckers, The Rolling Stones, The Deadstring Brothers, Bucky Covington, Keith Urban, Guns N Roses