ILM Parents: your kids are going to have great taste in music, aren't they?

I'll still give it a shot though. Just in case.

that said, I am curious how, say, Cibula's kids will turn out, taste-wise.

This feels very 20th century to me. But maybe I'm wrong.

"You know, dad, I think Averil Lavigne's second album is calmer than her first, it's not as ROCK..."

at least he didn't say rockist!

peepee is right, you have to let childrens' taste evolve on its own. easy for Averil and No Doubt, less so for (gasp) Train, Maroon 5 and Hilary Duff.

Well, not entirely. I'm still scarred by multiple afternoons of Sade, Paula Abdul, Seal, etc. from my mom and The Manhattan Transfer Christmas Special from my dad... but they had and played all the Beatles albums--so that compensated... The last time I was home, I found a Josh Groban CD in my mom's car stereo..... i never should have left her unsupervised.

do you guys ever make your parents/kids mixes? I've thought about it, but i can't see my parents listening to them or actually enjoying listening to them.

Enjoy that while it lasts. My daughter was liking everything I played but now at 9 months old she's starting to get picky. She still has pretty good taste though. Eno (Warm Jets), Perry & Kingsley, and MIA all make her dance.

She sort've bops about and waves her arms around indiscriminately when she sees me enjoying something (I too bop around and wave my arms around indiscriminately). That said, there have been certain songs that she's clearly enjoyed more than others (she's responded most favorably to -- oddly -- Troublefunk). Actually, the one song that NEVER FAILS to get her laughing and bouncing and arm-waving is the "lottery' song on NY1 in the morning (the jingle they play as they announce the winning lottery numbers). Sure, I'd love her favorite song to be "We Are the Road Crew" by Motorhead, but that'll just have to wait, I'm afraid.

*door slams as Miccio flees to see the 2025 'Harder Than Ever' Fred Durst/Jonathan Davis tour*

(x-post)

if my kid doesn't listen to good music i will beat him mercilessly.

And I'm sure that my lifelong ambivalence about classical music comes from my parents' attempts to force-feed Beethoven, Bach etc.

that is so great.

"Dad, don't you ever listen to rockin' stuff? Yes, see all these vinyl records-Iggy Pop, Minor Threat, Ramones, the Jam, the Rolling Stones, I say. "But how come you don't have many rock cds," he responds. "And the Notwist doesn't count, they're too quiet."

"Dad, don't you like any rock that's like, known, you know on the radio and stuff not just on that stuff you read on the internet."

"Hey dad, this 8th grader at school couldn't believe I had met Ian Mackaye and knew what Dischord records was." I had taken my son to a free outdoor Fort Reno Park concert where we saw the Evens, and I had introduced him to the various Fugazi guys whom I known.

I've taken him to see Oliver Mtukudzi, and some other African acts, and put on Spanish-language pop radio in the car, but he's not interested in it. He sorta likes the bluesy soul and oldies I sometimes put on. Actually he likes listening to rap less than I do. He's into Good Charlotte, Green Day, the Clash, Ramones and U2. Many of which he did hear from me(or from his mom). He used to listen to Now hits collections. We just got his 11-year-old cousin Kelly Clarkson and Now 17 for her birthday.

Hahaha

Anyway, I agree with the above sentiment that it's a losing game to try to indoctrinate your kids to your tastes. I've met plenty of punk rockers with Deadhead parents. I'm sure the Deadhead parents expected to raise little Deadheads, and I'm sure they were surprised to see their children reject their whole scene. So I know better to think my daughter's going to obsess over Beat Happening and Young Marble Giants just because I did. As long as she's a good person with a decent set of morals and priorities, she can listen to what she wants.

This was the same for me. My parents stopped taking notice of the outside world in 1971 (my mother) and 1976 (my father) respectively, so any moves I made into music were off my own feet, which I think is what's led me to be extremely cautious of whatever the accepted group opinion is at the time.

That's not odd at all to me. They're infectious, especially on the live album. Chants, intricate instrumentation, audience participation... I'm sure she'd respond favourably to dub-inflected songs, too, provided that they're not creep-outs.

18 year-old daughter: Alt-country (she has little shrines to Jeff Tweedy, Ryan Adams, Rhett Miller, Gillian Welch, and Neko Case in her room) and smart-kid indie rock (e.g., The Decemberists, The Weakerthans, Spoon, Ted Leo, The Reputation, Sleater-Kinney) and semi-folk (Sufijan Stevens), with other certified cool things tossed in (M.I.A.). She decided to like Bright Eyes unapologetically this winter. She listens to classic Dylan (mainly Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks), Joni Mitchell, and V.U. She likes some off-the-radar pop, too (Emm Gryner, Stretch Princess), but not much dance music. Her friends like the indie-rock stuff, but tend to swing a little weirder (Melt Banana, Deerhoof) and twee-er (some English groups whose names I can't remember). All of them are dutifully into 80s stuff right now, real (The Smiths, New Order) and faux (Bloc Party, Interpol). When their iPod batteries run down, they listen to their parents' AAA radio station.

16 year-old son: All over the lot -- a core of pop-rock (Weezer, Blink 182, Green Day, Beck, Jet, The Zutons, Ike Reilly), but also poppy electronica (The Postal Service, The Chemical Brothers, M.I.A, the Animatrix soundtrack), some Britpop (Oasis, The Music), opera, Tom Lehrer, and selective world music (Cafe Tacuba, Puffy AmiYumi, Khaled, MC Solaar). He also really likes U2 and The Clash (London Calling is probably his single favorite record). He has trouble finding friends to share music with. His second-closest music buddy is a girl who mainly likes Christian rock. He has been migrating a bit to his sister's tastes in the past few months (Bright Eyes' Digital Ash -- not anything else -- Ted Leo, and The Weakerthans). He used to listen to alt-rock Y100 radio; when that changed format, he switched his radio to NPR.

My daughter's taste overlaps about 90% with half of my taste. If she likes something, it is almost certain I will, and if I like something in a category she likes, it is almost certain she will. We trade CDs constantly; it's a little embarassing to both of us. One of her New Year's resolutions was to stop sharing our CD collections, but she hasn't implemented it.

My son got a fair portion of what he likes from me (we go to the opera together, and all his non-English language music is mine, and his mother gave him Tom Lehrer), but he was also heavily influenced by commercial radio, movies, parties, and babysitters. He always makes me listen to new stuff he likes, but I tend to like only about 1/3 of it and to not mind another 1/3.

I didn't do any "training" of them, but I was always playing and talking about music while they were growing up, and they certainly knew what I and their mother liked. Some they picked up on and some not. Sometimes I lecture, because sometimes I do that. (There was one memorable session that began with my daughter - then 12 - asking "Why do boys like punk rock?") Neither one has ever liked any type of African-American music much -- r&b, soul, hip hop, blues, jazz -- something I tell them is a moral failing. Other than that, I respect their taste a lot.

ILM Parents: your kids are going to have great taste in music, aren't they?

hope so. my 9-year old daughter's favorite act ATM:

http://www.crispinsartwell.com/graphics/blondie.jpg

my (almost) 3yo's favorite music:
The Ramones
King Khan & BBQ Show
Broadcast
Dolly Parton

fave song = the Chordettes "Lollipop"

My daughter got into a lot of film scores and Japanese pop in her teens. Discovered Yo La Tengo a couple of years later. I have no idea what she listens to anymore!

My 16 year-old boy listens to Gucci Mane and Sleigh Bells and Vampire Weekend plus other new and old rock and rap.

My 7 year old daughter and I joyously shared a Taylor Swift concert together and everything else is pretty much irrelevant after that, isn't it?

Our Amber went to see Taylor Swift recently.

Alice has moved through Ramones, Busted, Green Day, I remember her cheering for the Foos during one Brits award ceremony, um...

They both like Gaga,etc, and she likes Lily Allen probably because she's the same height and has similar hair.

Music policy? I play odd things they may like or not like but find intriguing/funny/whatever. One time, apparently, they both drove everyone mad at shool by singing "Oooo LOOK! There goes concorde agAIN!" and that one about "I'm happy and I'll punch the man who says I'm not"

The other things, yr N-dubz, etc, you know...

I'm still trying to get mine to like The Fall. "It's like rap but slowed down" (Jude, 8)

Never tried the Fall, beyond "Ghost in my house"

Did try Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, famously : Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's "Trout Mask Replica"

My 6 year old son likes robot dancing to "The Robots" by Kraftwerk. Good enough for me.

My kid mostly likes songs he's heard in movies, tv shows and commercials, which is cool I guess. It's not that he likes Black Sabbath - he likes IRON MAN, but I used that as a springboard for him to listen to Supernaut and War Pigs, which I could tell that he dug. So I snuck in Number of the Beast, to which he said "turn it up." I'm psyched because that KIA commercial with the hamsters opened up the door for me to introduce him to rap.

Oh, that reminds me

One of those Wii dance games has the usual Abba/eyeofthetiger/Girls->Fun/etc, but there lurking inthe middle was the Trashmen's Surfing Bird!

Whoa! that one! says I,to puzzlement. Until I MAKE them play it and show them *how*.

After that, that's the one they show people at parties, etc.

It's not that he likes Black Sabbath

(trying to keep up)

I dug up an old Vertigo single of Paranoid. Alice picked it up, looked at the reverse label, and just smiled.

Ava (now 5) loves The Fall. One of my proudest moments as a dad was hearing her singing the riff from Deadbeat Descendant over and over again in the car. Yes, "Ghost In My House" and "Hit The North" are the most popular.

She's had a Blondie phase and a Love phase. Watching Ava and Lulu dance to Kraftwerk's "Robots" and Orbital's "The Box" will never get old. Ava does hilarious jerky stuff to Autechre. She's said extraordinary things about the music I play in the house...

AGF + DLAY (Antje Greie-Fuchs and Vladislav Delay) "The Return Of Us"
Lulu (3): "Why does she sing like that?"
Ava: "Because she has electricity IN HER EYES!"

Pan Sonic: Säteily
"This is music made by sad ghosts." (She was 3 at the time)

Lulu definitely does not have her big sister's tolerance for discord and noise though - she runs out of the room in tears if I put on Penderecki or the like. Ava loves the big percussion (turned up LOUD) at the start of Copland's Fanfare FTCM. She once did a long interpretive dance to one of the movements of Janacek's Sinfonietta which completely amazed us.

They like nursery rhymes and Disney singalongs and Schoolhouse Rock and Sesame Street songs and CBeebies tunes too, but Ava in particular seems thrilled by anything weird. I expect she'll be exclusively into High School Musical VIII by the time she's 10...

Oh man, the neighbor kid (whose father is way less restrictive about tv than I am) came over singing Surfin Bird because he heard it on family guy.

Our kids now mostly have terrible taste due to the pernicious influence of what my wife plays in the car when I'm not around.

They do like 'The Robots' though.

My younger child was dancing around to Depeche Mode's 'Just Can't Get Enough' in the back of the car the other day. When it was done he said 'Daddy, what's a nuff?'.

xp: re wives and cars. He went through a Kesha phase for a while earlier this year.

We've been playing the same handful of C90 comps in the car for about five years - and they themselves were hastily dubbed off MD comps we made between 1999 and 2002. So it's been a constant diet of Arto Lindsay, Mama Cass, Gal Costa, Beach Boys, Josef K, Scott Walker, Rain Tree Crow, Orange Juice, Milton Nascimento, etc, with a few actual charity-shop pre-rec tapes thrown in (Bee Gees' debut, Bowie's Hunky Dory, Who compilation...).

why isn't there a thread called:i.l.m. kids:your parents have good taste in music,don't they?

oh,and i like rock n' roll.

My 7-year-old upon hearing MIA's "Teqkilla" in the car last night:

"Dad, is this Merzbow??"

"Dad, is this Merzbow??"

hahahaha

3 yr old Julia's favourite song right now (aside from the soundtrack to the Heffalump Movie) is Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl. it's on Rockband and if she's in the room we're hardly allowed to play anything else. ...enhhhhh. but her singing of Blondie is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

upon hearing the opening sounds of Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" (rainstorm, thunder, church bell):

"uhhhh dad, what is this...?"

upon hearing the opening guitar chords:

"whoa-- this sounds like a GUITAR HERO song!"

when the guitar picks up a bit later:

".....like a really good guitar hero song!!!"

my 2 1/2 year old loves loves loves when daddy plays the Budos Band. "dance time" as he says

did not go for Super Roots 7 last night. : (

Haha "Black Sabbath" would be one song I'd actually get a good score on!

(At least the first half)

i am failing with educating both of my kids.
old kid, 14, refuses point blank to try out anything from the extensive archive(old/new - same response), and young kid is too busy doing his math(s) homework.
sigh.

tell them they aren't allowed to listen to it

it'll become irresistible

also, tell the young kid that math homework is a total waste of time.

yeah.
that could be the best way forward.
suspect though that the reality is that both will reach adulthood having never listened to an album (any album - i aint fussy) all the way through.

xpost : its not a waste of time. i get access to the tv when he is doing his homework.

There's a certain amount of overlap between me and my 21 yo daughter, but we're hamstrung by formats: 99% of what I have, I have on vinyl, and she is beyond CDs, nevermind LPs.

We overlap on Dylan, Nick Drake, the Kinks, etc.

She likes loads of nouveau folk stuff, and college indie: next to no interest in Jazz, Soul, Reggae, or any dance/ electro stuff - whereas the only stuff this century that I'm interested in is all in that area.

Had a little used music shop from when my Ella was about 7 until she was 16. She heard a ton of stuff and remembers scads of it even if there's no Buzzcocks or Soft Machine on her playlist at the moment. Now she's teaching us: she has become a pretty fine young mezzo-soprano and has us listening to whatever choral music or lieder that's currently blowing her mind. That's a pretty long way from going to a Backstreet Boys show in a limo when she was 8 or so. Used to have customers who'd scarf up whatever difficult or avant-garde CD I'd bought used from somebody but would never buy whatever boy band/pop star thing was hot at the time when asked to by their young children. You can make a music listener out of someone fairly easily if you don't get too rigid about what they listen to. Was fairly sure Ella wouldn't be listening to Backstreet Boys forever.

I’ve found to my dismay — but not to my surprise — that very little of my musical taste has rubbed off on either of my sons. The younger one (14) recently started a band and so far is going the Led Zep/AC/DC covers route (not that there’s anything wrong with that). He listens to very little current music — some Strokes but not much else. The older one (17), who wants to be a game designer, is interested only in videogame soundtracks and some orchestrated/classical music.

she has become a pretty fine young mezzo-soprano and has us listening to whatever choral music or lieder that's currently blowing her mind. That's a pretty long way from going to a Backstreet Boys show in a limo when she was 8 or so.

don't worry, i'm sure she'll come back around eventually ;)

Well, we will always have "I Want It That Way" and "As Long as You Love Me." :)

why isn't there a thread called:i.l.m. kids:your parents have good taste in music,don't they?

― rufusmagufus, Thursday, August 26, 2010 12:46 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark

Veronica (turning 3 next week) is really REALLY into the White Stripes now. Also Cheap Trick. and T. Rex.

oh and Suzi Quatro (altho I suspect mostly she just likes saying the name SUZI QUATRO)

My daughter very much has her own tastes and doesn't need or want my help in pursuing them, but once in a blue moon she'll comment on something I'm listening to. I was listening to "Endtroducing..." the other day and it startled me when she asked about it and said she liked it.

I remember how tiresome I was in my late teens/early 20s trying to get my friends to listen to stuff I liked, so I made a point of not being that way and trying to push stuff on her when she started being really interested in music.

and T. Rex.

my daughter likes T. Rex because the name reminds her of this giant stuffed t-rex that we have

http://www.squishable.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/t-rex.jpg

Hi,

I have no further stories to relate at this time.

Maybe further down this thread from here.

Regards,

That squishable site is awes. I love squishable Cthulhu

http://www.squishable.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/cthulhu.jpg

Also, the Narwhal

http://www.squishable.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/narwhal.jpg

hahaha so glad i am in the company of a fellow squishy fan

I wondered if there might be a thread along these lines. It's funny, when this thread was created my oldest son wasn't even a year old. Now he's going on 16.

Of course as music geeks we all hope for the best from our kids, but unless yours are much different from mine, our influence only goes so far. I've found that when I deliberately play things for him, he'll listen politely but only occasionally really responds. But playing a wide variety of things and just staying out of his way has led to interesting things.

He's always loved music (unlike his younger brother, who mostly notices it only insofar as it scores his video games and anime series). When he first started listening to contemporary stuff, it was a lot of EDM of the Avcii variety. But in the last 3-4 years he's built up a definite aesthetic -- he likes things that are sonically and musically a little abrasive and complex, and he's interested things that sound weird. Among his favorites, which have all come from his own exploration: Death Grips, Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Brockhampton, Car Seat Headrest. Recently he's been jamming Remain in Light. It's been fun to watch him click with things.