Music: family rivalry & rebelry
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Topic: Music: family rivalry & rebelry
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Subject: Music: family rivalry & rebelry
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 15:55
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I find myself often thinking about this subject matter and therefore I felt it was time to elucidate some more about it in written form. Do feel free to give feedback but it is not essential and I do not mind if I receive no replies whatsoever. However, do bear with me here, as there are no questions to be answered, just some observations on my part. If somehow else has experienced similar, then it would indeed be very pleasing to hear from you. Anyhow, to the point of this web blog post. Even though I have a quite varied music taste and I have music from many genres in my collection, I can still trace my musical lineage back to my parents music tastes. I will fully acknowledge their tastes as influential on me, from the Rolling Stones and the British Blues boom, through to forays into more progressive music, such as The Moody Blues and Barclay James Harvest. I can even remember the first full prog track I heard Yours is No Disgrace by Yes, from their The Yes Album. However, I only ever heard it on a cassette tape and mostly whilst travelling on a car journey with noisy siblings. It was also on a mix tape, rather than being on The Yes Album. Anyhow, I digress from the above wittering and will now get to the point of this web blog post. I find myself now still liking much of my parents music taste but I never delve into it and play anything in their collection. The question I keep asking is, why? A lot of what they listen to does not appeal to me (because their tastes have "matured") but much of I still can appreciate. So why do I never take anything from their collection and play it? I feel as if I am rebelling against them, or maybe it is some form of elitism. As a slight aside, the same phenomenon happens in regards to my two elder siblings. The eldest is a Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield fan (as well as many others), yet I have had no desire to ever purchase music by either of them, even though I inherently do not dislike either artist. Indeed, I actually enjoy much of Pink Floyd's music. I have never even borrowed any of these albums. Again, why? Maybe there is some form of rivalry going on here, because I cannot really justify why this is the case. Why do brothers and sisters, parents and uncles and aunts have such rivalries? My siblings have good music tastes, yet we do not really share our music collections. My middle older sibling has a closer taste in music to myself and generally prefers jazz and blues and really does not listen to much progressive rock. His music tastes are lighter than my own. Yet again, I like much of what I hear of his music, but when he brings albums round for me to listen to, I never really touch them, let alone play them. I have lent some of my albums to him and he has listened to many of them, so this apparent "rivalry" is not reciprocal. So in conclusion, I am therefore a bit confused at this apparent philosophical gesture on my part. I am having difficulty understanding why I do not really share my families music tastes, when I actually do not mind most of it. Will this attitude change when and if they go? Will I suddenly have a craving to want to listen to their music? Personally, I believe it is just because I try to be as individualistic as possible and this extends to my family as well. I guess some inferiority complex dictates that I must be different to not only the majority of people (I am extending this not to just my music taste) but also to my family. Comments are welcome. -------------   
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Replies:
Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 16:15
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My only observation is that my father has been a huge influence on my taste in music. I started listening (seriously) to music quite late and thus I lacked a clear direction and defined taste. I think that fact made me very influenced by the thing played at home. Melodic power/prog metal, Neo-Prog, AOR (mainly Toto, late Kansas and Journey), Deep Purple and Rainbow was constantly playing, and my father was an active musician when he was younger, which perhaps was what I needed to pick up the bass guitar. That passion for music was contagious and I still listen to a lot of those things he played. But I've never been passionate about anything but DP and Purple. I took those influences and developed them. I quickly knew more Kansas and Rush than my father did and constantly delved deeper into progressive territory, which represent my PERSONAL development and taste. I moved off in a tangent way, so to speak. I do think that, at least for some of us, our parents' and siblings' tastes are important in building the musical ground you will have as an individual. But I've never experienced that rivalry you're talking about, James  . Only great fun in being able to enjoy things together and discuss it. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/LinusW88" rel="nofollow - Blargh |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 16:21
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Maybe rivalry is the incorrect term to use. We do not envy each others tastes. My middle brother is the one who tries to get me into the music he likes and I know for sure sure that I will like it, because he knows my tastes, but I simply very rarely, listen to much he lends me and it just sits on the table until he reclaims it. So it is not a rivalry really.
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Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 16:28
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That is something that I've experienced with friends. We all try to get each other interested in our own musical tastes, but the result is "sure, very nice, but not really for me..." I dislike very little of what they send/lend me, I even like some of it, but never enough to be seriously interested. And that might be a way of defending our individualities. One of my closest friend once stated: "Yes, I really, really like Rush. But it's no fun since they are your favourites". Odd, but an example from reality. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/LinusW88" rel="nofollow - Blargh |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 16:36
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Thanks for the feedback, Linus, it is much appreciated. Maybe I am looking to much into this and it's a more common phenomenon than I first suspected. As I stated before, I do not believe it is a rivalry, because I really have nothing to rival about. I try not to be elitist. I like what I like after all, whether they are popular or completely unheard of. -------------
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Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 17:20
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Hm. My own experience with this: Parental influences: My dad doesn't really listen to music, except casually and rarely. He's not really been any influence at all. I usually don't mind the 80s stuff he'll rarely play, but I've never really been struck by it enough to go and hunt it down. My mum was responsible for my introduction to ELP [even if I like almost all of it, when she only really likes the softer songs and Fanfare] (labelling it 'intellectual rock music' and lending/donating to me her Works Live and Fanfare anthology albums), and consequently prog rock. She also introduced me to the brilliant 10cc. I don't mind some of the older and more artsy things she plays (such as Van Morrison or Peter Gabriel), even if we disagree on the specifics. What's interesting is that she really dislikes some of my musical tastes [to a lesser extent, vice versa, though in my case it's usually apathy rather than dislike], especially Maneige's 'Les Aventures...', lots of Yes and anything heavier by Crimson. I'll occasionally check something she's mentioned or recommended, and usually won't love it, but won't mind it either. I think the difference really was that I've been much more interested in the heavier and experimental forms of progressive music, and have developed a lot independently and with recommendations from others. I go for atmospheres, musicianship and textures, where my mum goes for songs. The interesting difference, really, is comparison with my sister, who's more into modern indie/emo/metal music (and got into music a couple of years before I did, even if I'm a couple of years older), though open to just about anything. She's expressed interest in Steve Hackett's guitar on Shadow Of The Hierophant, and admired a couple of Mahavishnu Orchestra solos, but that's it. I don't mind a couple of the things she plays (though rarely enough to check them out, I'm probably lacking Led Zep and Hendrix collections mainly because she likes them), even if some others really annoy me. The biggest difference, really, is listening style. She'll only listen to things she likes, and often skips tracks partway through, so atmospheric intros or contrast are really lost on her. Probably our single biggest overlap is on Rush, which she likes, but doesn't really know at all. Both my uncles on my mum's side (one's a drummer/musician) also listen/listened to Genesis and Yes (though they're both more diverse listeners than me), and I've discovered a couple of interesting things from them (Simon and Garfunkel, ELO and Genesis when younger, now things like Renaissance, The Who and The Primitives). I tend to agree with a lot of their tastes rather than my sister's, for some reason, but I think that the difference is just that 70s/80s rock is generally more my thing that recent music. |
Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 17:26
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The interesting difference, really, is comparison with my sister, who's
more into modern indie/emo/metal music (and got into music a couple of
years before I did, even if I'm a couple of years older), Probably our single biggest overlap is on Rush, which she likes, but doesn't really know at all. Spooky. Exactly the same for me and my sister. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/LinusW88" rel="nofollow - Blargh |
Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 17:30
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Hard to draw any conclusion from one example though. But still fairly interesting considering that our families have at least a comparable background in music. My mother has always been more into artsy pop/rock.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/LinusW88" rel="nofollow - Blargh |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 20:15
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I forgot to mention that I discovered one of my cousins like some noisy stuff like Sunn 0))), Melt-Banana and Boris and that was a nice surprise. My mother's brother (therefore my Uncle), was into Pink Floyd and other prog back in the 1970s, whilst my father's younger sister used to like Yes and now seems to like Prince and other bizarre stuff.  -------------
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Posted By: CCVP
Date Posted: May 04 2008 at 22:35
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You know, this probably is the need of all human beings to set its own symbolic self in order to build its personality. In order to do that many people choose the opposite side or choose not to follow some steps followed by parents, friends or relatives. For example, me and my brother were raised listening to prog rock, blues, classical music, jazz, pop rock, among other kinds of music, coming mostly from my father, who was a genuine audiophile guy (was because he don't have time to listen to anything right now and, to top that, the hi-fi stereo is f**ked up). I followed many steps of my father and like prog rock, classical music and jazz (although i don't have any jazz or classical cd) wile my bother listen to rap, hip hop and brazillian funk (some kind of rap created here). -------------   
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Posted By: Sckxyss
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 02:54
I've experienced something similar, but opposite. My father was a huge influence on my taste and got me into a lot of classic rock, heavy metal, and even some of the more popular prog bands (Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull). But, in the last couple years I've done my own exploring, and have tried to recommend him some similar prog bands from the 70s that he'd never listened to (KC, Heavier Genesis, etc.), and he said it was boring and didn't "rock" enough - in spite of him frequently listening to Pink Floyd and others. So, then I whipped out some stuff by The Mars Volta, and he admitted some was pretty good (some was still boring), but he never asked to listen to any of it again; much in the same way James was referring to.
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 11:00
King Crimson not rocking enough? 
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Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 11:20
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My dad was a significant influence on my music tastes. He played a lot of Jean-Michel Jarre, Supertramp, Vangelis, Mike OIdfield and Pink Floyd in the car and at home when I was a little kid. I especially loved Supertramp (and still do) but dig those other bands as well. Notably Supertramp got me more interested in music and my music teacher in 5th grade introduced me to King Crimson and Genesis (he's a progfan as well), before getting me into Gentle Giant, Yes, ELP and even those more obscure and harder bands to acquire (VDGG, Henry Cow, Can, Gnidrolog). I can greatfully thank my dad and my music teacher for getting into prog and music in general.
My brother likes country, and some hard rock. Other than that, he's very close minded. My mother is very causual to music as well.
Im not very updated on the rest of my family's music tastes otherwise.
------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! http://www.last.fm/music/Exerior" rel="nofollow - EXERIOR Experimental tech/death/progmetal from Norway! |
Posted By: Sckxyss
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 16:38
Yeah, I think it was more a matter of him not giving it a chance, since it was music I was recommending him rather than that which he discovered on his own.
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James wrote:Posted By: Poser
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 17:23
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It seems to me that my dad tones down his prog and classic rock when it comes around to my mom. On the other hand, my mom listens to disposable pop and watches American Idol and such and that influence clearly struck me, at least as a child. She raised me listening to the expected 'girly' music: Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears...horrors. My sister and I had nearly the same tastes until a few years ago but now I enjoy tormenting her with what I love and she hates. I guess that's where the musical rivarly comes in. Although occasionally I try to pick out what she would like from my albums, wishing she could connect somewhere.Thankfully my parents put me in piano lessons at a very young age, so I've always liked classical and orchestral. Also, I'll admit that my dad's vinyl records standing proudly, gathering dust in my basement made me feel a little more at ease taking a dive into prog (My discoveries haven't really brought my dad and I closer together, weirdly enough). But it's not like I've totally abandoned the pop impression I was brought up on. I find I'm always immediately attracted to strongly melodic and piano-based music.
I think that the psychological side to it is that when you're young and vulnerable, you take in whatever surroundings and establish basic musical tastes. Then come teenage rebellion, or whenever your rebellion takes place, you feel more of a need to differentiate. You branch off moderately. So while staying parallel to what you know, you are finding an unfamiliar common ground. (Please excuse the massive oxymoron.) ------------- 
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Posted By: Valdez
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 19:49
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My Dad (now 78) was as musically open minded as anyone could be as a young man... He embraced the Pacific Jazz (koonitz Baker et al) bunch in the 50s, he caught on to The Beatles and Dylan in the 60s but in the 70s he fell into a musical purgatory of Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand, Kenny Rogers and John Denver... The 80s found him listening to almost no music at all and the 90s he came back to life via Paul Simons Graceland and started listening to Clifton Chenier and that kind of zydeco stuff.... Today at 78 he has been re-living the music of his wartime experience which included Sammy Kaye and some of the big bands, Sinatra and Crosby. You can go back! ------------- http://bakullama.com |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 21:15
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Thankyou for the input, everybody. I think it is an age thing too. I am 27 years young (or old) and so I suspect my tastes will mature, in so much as I will most likely want to hear melody over avant-gardeness. Also, the more I explore, the less interesting stuff becomes in many respects, because it is treading familiar ground. That is why Battles were such a welcome surprise, because they were doing something different, the same with the Math Rock of Ahleuchatistas and Upsilon Acrux. They also have melody, unlike a lot of the stuff I listen to (like Ovary Lodge, for example). I just hope that I do not plunge into easy listening territory. I went to University with a guy who used to be into metal, like Metallica and in his final year, I asked him how he was and whether he was still listening to metal and suchlike and to my horror, he was liking pop music. I guess people do change. I have also read that Colin Moulding from the band XTC not only has stopped composing music, but has also pretty much stopped listening to it as well. I guess people burn out. Because of my recent mood and life experiences, music recently has not had the affect it used to have and even my beloved Van der Graaf Generator does not seem to appeal in the same way as it used to and that is not due to saturation on my part, because I have consciously decided not to play them that often, so I did not get sick of them. I am sure I will rekindle my love of them properly soon but at the moment, it seems I listen to new stuff once or twice, put it on the backburner and then find something else I've not heard. I find it extremely difficult to play an album more than a certain amount of times in a week. -------------
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Posted By: Mikerinos
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 21:54
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My dad (and mom to a lesser extent) used to be into a lot of good stuff, mostly Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, Yes, Focus, etc. Now they are typical, only-purchase-greatest-hits-cd type parents which is kind of annoying, as I always tell them it's better to not have their music dictated by the masses, but of course taking advice from someone a generation younger is basically an insult so now I don't even say much. My brother listens to crap, like 99% of teenagers. ------------- 
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 22:05
Yes, the amount of Best Of..., Greatest Hits type albums my parents have is shocking! Most of them are cheap supermarket buys and some of them are even mislabelled. They bought a Creedance Clearwater Revival album the other week and it turned out to be a covers band.  They have since brought a proper Best Of..., but still, that's parents for you.My father gets annoyed with my mother as well, because he buys a CD for her and she never plays it. Then when he puts her CD on for her, she wanders upstairs and sits on the computer all night. So basically he rarely puts on CDs for her now. I also never want to sell any of my CDs but I do know people do, yourself included, Mike. I guess when I'm older I'll change my mind and decide some awful dissonant avant-prog I liked when I was 27, is just not for me at ages 60. -------------
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 22:10
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I have to say it's weird to like an artist but to not listen to them by rebelling against your brother.
------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 22:19
| One weird sub-tangent to this type of thing is that my father is now into (umbrella-term) classical music in a huge way, in that I think he only very, very rarely listens to any rock or pop music of any sort now. I've liked some of what he plays when he visits and I happen to be in his car, but my bizarre attitude is that I'm too young to listen to that sort of thing, that I'll be like him and gravitate to it when I'm older - even though I really enjoy some of it right now. Quite odd. |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 05 2008 at 22:23
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Well I'm the opposite. I've been listening to a lot of Classical music whilst driving (on a radio station called Classic FM) and I know my family don't listen to much classical, except for my father, who has Holst's Planet Suite on vinyl, plus my eldest sibling had "Big War Movie Themes" on vinyl too. Apart from that, we're not a classical music orientated family. -------------
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Posted By: song_of_copper
Date Posted: May 06 2008 at 04:54
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I'm an only child, and my parents didn't really listen to a lot of music (except on Radio 2!), which is weird really because the previous generation (on both sides) was very musical. I don't (obviously) have anyone to rebel against, but I do notice that normally it's the music I discover myself that is the most important to me (rather than the stuff that gets handed to me by well-meaning folks trying to educate my taste!). That element of personal discovery is very important to me. That might be one reason why recommendations from friends sometimes fall a little flat, despite our ability to appreciate the quality of their suggestions! I really wish my Dad was still around - I'd love to share some of my current favourites with him. He was a pretty open minded listener - various types of jazz were his favourites but he would listen to almost anything, from classical to reggae! My mum is a 'compulsive CD buyer' now and will buy the most random stuff, from annoying 'classical boy bands' to Stevie Wonder's greatest hits. (I keep meaning to steal that one...) I go through phases of listening to *no music whatsoever*. Sometimes that's because I'm more interested in working on my own stuff, or because I'm in a 'reading' phase... Curiously, I'm currently in an 'everything' phase: listening to all kinds of new (to me) music, reading, writing and composing. :-) |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 06 2008 at 09:49
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M., you make some good points there, re: discovering music yourself. I think that is indeed similar to what I am experiencing. The thing is though, sometimes I "discover" a band and then tell a lot of people on P.A. and sometimes I keep them to myself; it depends on the mood I am in and also what type of band it is. Zeuhl bands for instance most people know already, because it's one of those genres that people keep tabs on a lot. However, lesser known bands, like Nuit Caline a la Villa Mon Reve and Kandahar I tend to not wax lyrical about quite as much (although most people know I like them). I guess I not only like to be as unique and individualistic with my tastes as possible but I also tend to want to discover as much as possible by myself. However, I am normally impressed by P.A. friends' recommendations, because I know their taste is similar to mine. At the same time, I am also a completionist. If I buy an album by a band or artist I like who have a large discography, I then try and buy all of their discography, even the not so good stuff. I must stop doing this! That is why I have yet to officially buy any Magma, because it could take me some time to finish buying it all. Addendum: the funky keyboard riff in Superstitious is great, it's a shame Stevie went a bit weird in the 1980s onwards -------------
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Posted By: Sckxyss
Date Posted: May 07 2008 at 13:52
But Magma's one of the few bands where it would actually be worth it to get the entire discography!
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Posted By: song_of_copper
Date Posted: May 07 2008 at 15:57
Eek, that sounds familiar... but with my musical taste, I seem to concentrate on just a few things that really interest and captivate me, rather than buying the whole back catalogue of everyone I think's halfway decent... so I guess that's not too extravagant! And watch yourself with that Magma music! I'm finding them seriously addictive. 
The 1980s seems to have done that to a fair few people...  |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 07 2008 at 16:19
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Donna, Well I'm over halfway now with my Peter Hammill CD collection, which is excellent. I'm not sure exactly how many of his solo albums I still have to get though. As for Magma, well I need to get them on CD but I've got so much other excellent music to get, some will be replacements for MP3s, which is actually more important to me in many respects as I always prefer the real deal, rather than digital files and others will be new music to me. Unfortunately, most of what I desire CD-wise I get from the U.S. via mailorder, so I do a bulk order every couple of months. I also have a vast amount of unheard of CDs which I need to get through. As for the '80s, well, most artists of repute suffered it seems, even Peter Hammill and Robert Wyatt but they suffered a lot less than the likes of Collins, Wonder and others. -------------
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Posted By: Mikerinos
Date Posted: May 07 2008 at 18:05
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Are any of Hammill's 80s albums post-punk esque? For some reason, I think that would be an interesting and yummy combo. I have Moving Targets and one song gives me a post-punk vibe (Breakthrough I think?), and the rest is okay, even if My Experience is pretty cheesy. :P And does anybody else get mad when their family disrupts music? It's usually annoying, sometimes awkward if what I'm listening to is weird - and most people think it's weird that I like jazz. -------------
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Posted By: song_of_copper
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 03:56
Hahaha, this is often happening to me! I live with a 'serial interrupter' who also has rather different taste in music to mine. But as I usually do the cooking, I can play whatever I want in the kitchen. He knows that interruption of cooking may result in interruption of food (oh no!), so I get left in peace! |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 11:14
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I didnt listen to much music as I grew up at all, despite the fact that my dad was a jazz musician (tennor/alto sax), there just wasnt any being played in my house. It wasnt until my late teens that I started getting interested with music, firstly a brief period with mainly indie and some prog (mostly Floyd/ DT) and then diving in head first to world of prog, of which I still have no intention of surfacing from yet. Though my dad doesnt really listen to my music he does appreciate plenty of it , especially Floyd and Genesis, but I'm clearly the only avid music listener in the family. My brother and sisters tastes have grown very differently from my own, my sister is inot R&B mostly and my brother Hip-hop, rap and speed garage(  ). Because me a nd my brother have to share a room I think there is some kind of rivalry between our musial tastes, but I think we tend to just try and ignore each other in this case.------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005  |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 16:21
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I'm an only child and my parents music tastes had no bearing whatsoever on mine. As a child I dont remember my dad listening to music at all. I din't have a 'record player' until I was about 8. It was a mono Dansette (type) player which my father brought from a junk yard for 78p. BTW, James I'm 12 years older than you.. He knew I was showing a interest in music, and he acquired from jumble sales, and charity shops a load of old LP's for me; everything from Mud to Neil Sedaka. He encouraged my interest in music, although by the time I was 13 and listening to heavy metal, he was getting pretty fed up with the sound of Lemmy and Bruce Dickenson screaming the house down. My mother listened to Foster & Allen, Barbara Streisand, and Daniel O'Donnell. For my parents, who were nearing 40 when I was born in 1969, the 60's were just a non event. So there may have been an element of rebellion on my part. My musical inspiration came from one of our neighbours kids, who was about three years older than me. I remember leafing through his record collection in 1980. He was 13 and had albums by Zep, Sabbath and Genesis among others. I remember looking at 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' four years before I bought it, and being intrigued by the sleeve artwork. It was he who suggested I listen to a late night rock show on Radio 1 every Friday night. Thats when I really took to metal and first heard progressive rock. The rest is history as they say, but my influences were nothing to do with my parents thats for sure. No point whatsoever to this story. Just a jaunt down memory lane, I guess.. 
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 17:41
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There doesn't need to be a point, Andy. Any anecdotes are welcome in this thread. I guess it often helps to explore your past. It may make you a better person in the future too. We should all step back look at things from a different perspective sometimes. -------------
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Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 18:02
The phone. I hate the phone. If the phone goes off at a bad moment when I'm listening to something developed, I have been known to get angry. |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 08 2008 at 19:30
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My parents always come home from work at the most inopportune moments whenever I have an album on. The thing is, we have a stereo in the lounge with decent speakers and well, all I have is my PC, so I naturally want to play music on a proper stereo occasionally. I put a CD on and it's usually halfway through, or near the end and one of my parents comes in or something and just ruins the moment. And yes, the 'phone does seem to ring when I've got music on too and you have to remember, I rarely get 'phone calls. -------------
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Posted By: acelxpro
Date Posted: May 09 2008 at 19:56
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I don't rebel against my family when it comes to music, unless I don't like what it is they're playing. For the most part my father was a huge influence in my music taste. Ever since I was a little boy he would throw on a Yes or Genesis album whenever there was nothing else to do. For the most part I didn't start listening to music (of my own will) until about 3 years ago, and when I did I remember going over to my parents album rack and grabbing a bunch of Phil Collins Genesis albums (I didn't know Peter Gabriel was in Genesis at the time and grabbed only ones with songs I knew), my dad then walked up and pulled out every album from Trespass to The lamb and handed them to me and walk off. Needless to say I listen to everything from Pink Floyd to Magma now. My Brother had decent taste Tool, Megadeath, Metallica, Dream Theater. But after my dad converted me to the prog side i got at my brother, and now he has many King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes(I think that was my dad again though), ELP, Camel and others. My sisters music taste consists of pop and emo crap. NUFF SAID! My mom likes some of my dads stuff, my sisters stuff, and the stuff she listened to when she was young like Duran Duran and Def Lepard. So there is a (mostly)nice mix of Music in my house. I just wanted to share!
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Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: May 15 2008 at 07:41
I am a parent; I've got three daughters aged 15, 17 and 18, and it's THEM that buy the 'greatest hits', not me! |
Posted By: Mikerinos
Date Posted: May 16 2008 at 18:04
It doesn't cost much at all to buy above average audio equipment, and for decent stuff it's even less. -------------
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: May 16 2008 at 18:08
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I know that, Mike but I literally have no space for it in my bedroom. Not even my PC is in there.
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Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: May 25 2008 at 03:19
Great post James. Answers you will no doubt never find! Your point highlighted indicates that you are so passionate about your music that it is part of the thrill to complete some artist collections as well. I reckon that level of intensity perhaps is unmatched by some siblings, parents etc so maybe having ownership of your collection yourself is half the fun. Also PA allows all members to be as intense as they want without offending ( cos you can leave anytime
 ). This is Cyberspace afterall but our musical journey whilst shared and enthused and enjoyed with others, is a very( IMO) very personal 'relationship'. In itself a bond that not even siblings or parents will truly understand?Great topic ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: June 08 2008 at 10:11
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Very interesting theme this and quite refreshing from the habitual 'DT can play faster than ELP any day ' etc juvenile banter that litters the site. I have always been of the firm conviction that profound musical experiences are solitary affairs i.e being moved or inspired by artists really ain't a shared team game at all. Perhaps the most sublime work can only touch us on a very individual and subjective level and your reticence to engage in communal musical passions might betray this feeling ? John Updike's line from his 'Rabbit Trilogy' has always haunted me: 'We contain chords that others must strike' ------------- 
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: July 02 2008 at 08:47
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Thanks for the responses, everyone. There's some wonderful insights here and I guess I am not alone, which is good to hear. Chris, you are correct with what you say, re: owning albums and especially collections is where I get the thrill. I also get a thrill out of owning albums few people have heard of or own. I do not purchase them for the sake of it either, I enjoy the albums in their own right but if the album happens to be a rare one, I get even more of a thrill out of knowing I am one of the few privileged to hear it. I also happen to have an Alamaailman Vasarat MP3 ringtone on my mobile 'phone and I often wonder if I am the only person in the world with this? But of course, that's a question I will never be able to answer. The likelihood is small but that does not mean there are others with the same ringtone as I have. At the end of the day, I want to be an individual but not for the sake of it. I do not want to own or play music I hate or dislike just because it is unpopular. I listen to music I enjoy and some of it just happens to be hard to come by, -------------
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 02 2008 at 19:06
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I've never given this subject any thought until just now...
My only sibling, (my sister... I have to be careful here - she has started visiting this site, for reasons that will become evident by the last word of this sentence), is a couple of years younger than me so when we were growing up we were poles apart... I was into Floyd, VdGG and all things Prog and she was only into Bowie. Being musically curious I started listening to her albums and found some liked and some I didn't. So in 1973 when our Dad told her she could only go to Earl's Court to see Bowie if I took her, it was no big chore and off we toddled. Conversely, she took no interest in my record collection at all, until I went off to Uni and came home one day to find all my Moody Blues albums had vanished. Ho-hum - by then I'd grown out of them, having been sorely disappointed in Seventh Sojourn, so I though nothing of it and moved on. From then on our musical paths never crossed, her only brush with Floyd being See Emily Play on Pin-Ups (and much later - the 'duet' Bowie and Gilmour performed recently).
Fast-forward 30 odd years - we have both (obviously) flown the parental nest and have families of our own - my daughter (18) [James: you've got 30 seconds to name her ... starting now...
 ], followed my taste for female-vocalled rock and metal so large portions of my collection can be found strewn across her bedroom floor ( ) as she sings along (very loudly) to Kate Bush, Switchblade Symphony, Nightwish and Siouxsie Sioux, but only knows the words to Run Like Hell because Kittie covered it. My nephew (19) now accompanies my sister to Bowie gigs and (to his credit) has acquired a respectable taste for Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd  ps: I've since replaced all my lost Moodies albums, all be it only on CD. ------------- What? |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: July 02 2008 at 21:25
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Her name is Alex not Sam. See, I have remembered this time! It is strange though how siblings go their separate ways musically when they're young and end up crossing paths later on in life. I was lucky though, as both of my siblings like music I consider "decent". All three of us have gone in different paths though. One was always into Jean-Michel Jarre, Oldfield, Floyd, Dire Straits and a few other bands and artists whilst the other was into Indie in the 1980s (Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene and that sort of thing) but has always liked blues, so he's still a blues and jazz fan. He also likes Klezmer music like I do. So all our tastes overlap and infact when the sibling who likes "generic" prog was over last, they heard me playing Guapo and liked what they heard. They also like some King Crimson now too (actually, said sibling copied me In the Court... and therefore started my proper prog journey). Whilst the other one has attended a few jazz and blues gigs with me. Maybe one day we will all play a tune we like. -------------
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: July 02 2008 at 23:43
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never had siblings and didn't want to rebel against my parent's music, but my mom listened to great jazz and my dad great classical, so I guess I figured why rebel |