BY MIKEY MIGO
As a small child you're not too picky on your musical tastes. You listen to whatever the adult around you puts on and eventually you'll know the words, the solo, or at least the melody. I have never met a child that didn't know at least one song they could be embarrassingly forced to sing in front of company. I even a know a poor little girl who's mother has taught her ICP lyrics. Yeah, great parenting there, huh?
From there, the child gets older and goes to school. The game of "keeping up with the others" starts to happen as you're exposed to whatever is popular on the radio, whatever is popular in your grade, and whatever you think is "cool".
Even in High School this stuff keeps going on. You're either forced to "keep up with the others" by listening to whatever is popular among your peers OR you start rebelling and listening to things that are out of your normal spectrum. Some teenagers go through phases. I remember being around 10 or 11 when Kriss-Kross came out. People in my neighborhood DID actually wear their clothing backwards. In junior high AND high school I recall many of the guys starting to grow their hair out longer in conjunction with the popularity of "grunge" music. Then there was the backwards red baseball cap people who reaaaaally liked Limp Bizkit, the preppy boy band kids, and the dozen or so kids in my class who dyed their hair blonde in attempt to channel Eminem. My friends who went to college started listening to indie rock and dressing in "thrift store clothing". In reality, it was just Abercrombie's random bullshit from a season or two prior. I think everyone fell into some sort of "musical trend". I did and I'm sure many others did.
Once you're out of this type of environment, which many never get out of, you start to really appreciate your "own thing". What happens now is that you start to realize that your parents were kind of right on some things. Not perfect themselves, they did actually have some good taste in music. Even if you liked something they did, you discarded their liking as "not understanding it" and kept it in your headphones away from their ears.
In my case, I lucked out. My parents were not and still don't judge my musical tastes. They may not like it, but they respect my decision and support my pursuit of happiness. Growing up they'd buy me the cassettes, CDs, shirts, and concert tickets when ever they could afford it or in some cases not. Looking back now, I can spot their influences on my current musical likings from a mile away.
From my grandfather I picked up on the classic singers like Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Como, and others, but here are a few bands I picked up from my parents:
The Jackson Five
Both of my parents are around the same age as the main group of "The Jackson Five" and grew up in the same area as they did. One of the folklores I grew up hearing is that my grandfather actually worked with Joe Jackson at the mills and that my dad actually used to play basketball with Tito, Jermaine, or whoever the oldest ones were. Outside of the connection of sharing the same hometown, I was a huge fan of Jackson Five as a kid. My parents were fans and it wore off on me at an early age. Even now as a 25 year old "adult", I've grown to appreciate The Jacksons and a lot of the Motown stuff my mom had on old 45s.
The Blues Brothers
I was a charismatic little guy. I remember dressing up in whatever I thought looked like a "suit", probably just random layers of clothing with a tie, black sunglasses and a fedora, and then dancing to and reenacting the stuff from The Blues Brother's movies. I was such a huge fan that my dad ended up giving me his old LP of it. I think that was his first mistake, as I'd go on to be very unreliable with his records at a young age. Case in point…
Aerosmith
I really liked the "Walk This Way" version with Run DMC. So much that I "remixed", basically scratched the fuck out of, the "Toys In The Attic" album because I apparently thought I was a DJ. At this point, I really took a liking to the band and had a few "Greatest Hits" cassettes that I wore out. This is another one of the bands I never really grew out of. I don't listen to Aerosmith nearly as much as I did when I was a pre-teen, but I appreciate and for the most part enjoy their music and will someday see them in concert.
The Doors
This is another vinyl incident, but it's not nearly as bad as the Aerosmith debacle. I still have "Morrison Hotel", the self titled, and "LA Woman" all safely put away to only on the very rare occasion play on the turn table. I have the CDs and I don't want to destroy them. It's probably a issue I picked up on after the tragic events that occurred thanks to "Walk This Way". Another huge influence of "The Doors" was the Oliver Stone movie. Until I was about 13 I thought of Val Kilmer whenever I thought about Morrison. I think it's safe to say that I listen to The Doors more than my parents do now. That's kind of weird.
Pink Floyd
You're starting to "get the idea" about what my parents were and still are into. My mom bought me the "Echos" collection back in high school for Christmas and I have no idea where it is. The last time I saw it, my dad had it and I'm going to assume safely that he still does. Pink Floyd was a bit complex to full take in as a kid. I remember being overwhelmed. As I got older I appreciated their work more as I could understand it and start relating to music on a personal level.
It's kind of cool now a days when my parents come to me occasionally and ask about a new band or CD. It's a ritual. We're passing on our culture to future generations and the most common way is via blood relations. Once you take a break from rebelling against authority figures you'll realize just how much of an influence your parents have.
What favorite bands/musicians/artists did YOUR parents or legal guardian pass on to you?
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