The music you grew up with

[J]

A few weeks ago I was dragged into a high-end audio shop by my fiancé where we met a bunch of stereo weirdos and listened to music on equipment which costs more than my car. But that's besides the point, we talked a lot about music that day and shared stories on all the music we grew up with when we were little kids, and it turned out we had quite a lot in common. We ranged in age from 26 to 46 yet we'd all heard a lot of the same music at various points in our lives.

My parents played a lot of records (for those who aren't 20 yet, a record is a black 12" diameter vinyl disc) when I was young and I was exposed to a lot of great music. There was the classical stuff, Mozart, Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven, along with Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza, Joan Baez, Neil Young and other favourites from my parents' generation. Others I remember from back then were The Nylons, Simon & Garfunkel and some Cat Stevens, these tunes were vividly imprinted in me at an early age, and though I hadn't heard some of the songs in almost two decades they came back to me crystal clear as soon as I heard the first notes played.

Which leads back to the beginning, what are songs & music you can remember hearing from before you could walk? Ok, maybe not that far back, let's say when you age was still in single digits.

[Uraniun235]

My parents used to play tons of Genesis when I was a kid.

[Rye]

When I was very young, my parents occasionally listened to Sinead O' Connor, the Beatles, Queen (probably the most played, explains a lot) and Pink Floyd, or whatever was on the radio at the time. Other than those, I can think of the xmas singles that are played every year. I only really discovered music for myself when I was 11 or 12 and I really got into the Prodigy, who I still love.

[darthbob88]

Mostly bluegrass music; my parents met at the local Bluegrass Festival, and the odds are good that that music was playing while I was gestating. The whole family goes to the festival, every year, and everybody volunteered up until we had a disagreement with the Powers that Play.

Queen also made an impact on my musical development; we had a tape with Queen on one side and the Doors on the other, and I used to listen to that tape while I mowed the property. One day I'd mow the back yard and listen to Queen, the next day I'd mow the airfield and listen to the Doors.

[Surlethe]

My parents listened to NPR, mostly, though my dad listened to old rock (? I don't even know the genre). I was raised on classical music -- I remember talking with my mother about the music on the radio in single digits -- but I also remember some of my dad's songs. "West Virginia ... mountain mama ... take me home, country road."

[Howedar]

"Classic" rock, mostly. I'd identify it as classic now, I don't know what it was called then. Pretty good stuff.

[Pick]

Mother's piano music and "Kids' Songs Jubilee" casettes from our very young years.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I grew up with classical music and hated pop (Barring the Beatles & David Bowie but they came years later).
Heck I was going to classical concerts before I was hearing much non classic or non classic rock/pop music (I started getting interested in other forms of music after I got an iPod when I was 16)

[Mobius]

by my mom: Mainly Classic: Chopin, Bach, french radio, Cesaria Evora, and Laurie Anderson
by my father: Jazz: mainly Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Coltrane and a lot of turkish jazzmen.

The first CD i bought was the Blade Runner O.S.T. when i was 12

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

My musical development's been rather odd. I wasn't exposed to much as a kid, and was particularly insulated from modern music (modern music at the time being later thrash metal, alternative crap like Nirvana, Spice Girls, and so on).

My mom exposed me to a fair bit of 60s oldies, which I still like: the Drifters, the Rolling Stones, Strawberry Alarm Clock, etc.

My dad was a bit more varied, with stuff ranging from Beach Boys, the Doors, to classical.

What has this yielded? I maintain I was born ten-fifteen years too late, because I primarily listen to 70s and 80s metal.

[General Zod]

My family was never very big on most music, strangely. But my mom played the Beegees and Michael Jackson ceaselessly, which I hate with a passion now. Otherwise, I listened to a lot of hair bands and rock. Ozzy, AC/DC, Guns & Roses, Sabbath, etc.

[Tsyroc]

When I was really little I remember my parents listening to Jim Croce, Peter, Paul & Mary, Elton John, Eric Clapton, and Simon & Garfunkel. The funny thing is that we had a Greatest Hits album for Elton John and that was the early 70s.

My dad also liked listening to Rochmananoff and Tchaikovsky.

When I was about 8 I started listening to the Beatles a lot on my own so I really don't recall what my parents listened to at that point.

When I was a teenager my mom pretty much liked a lot of the then current Top 40 that me, and my sister listened to at the time, although I don't recall her ever listening to New Wave. She would watch Solid Gold with us.

[aerius]

-- but I also remember some of my dad's songs. "West Virginia ... mountain mama ... take me home, country road."

John Denver, yeah I grew up with that too and I'm roughly 10 years older than you give or take a couple years, I actually have a John Denver LP lying around somewhere.

My childhood music was very similar to my fiancée's, no Joan Baez but quite a lot of Beatles instead. One of our radio stations did this thing called "The Beatles Brunch" when I was a kid, they'd play a bunch of Beatles songs in a row every day, I don't know which station it was or if they still do it. I also remember hearing The Bangles a lot when I was in junior school

[Bertie Wooster]

Mostly Beatles, along with a lot of other late 60's rock. My mom also played a lot of Bach and Beethoven too.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

My parents really didn't listen to anything outside of classical music, which bored the young me, so I really never picked up any music listening habits (or learned to appreciate classical music until I took a course about it college)

[Mr. Coffee]

I grew up on 50's, 60's, and 70's rock. I grew up on 40's, 50's, and 60's country. I grew up on 8o's and early 90's rap. I grew up on 80's and early 90's metal.

Thanks to that, 90% of all music made past 1994 sucks ass.

[NeoGoomba]

A lot of Bob Segar, Bruce Springsteen, Zappa (later in my childhood), Cream, and a LOT of Iron Maiden and Van Halen, as my father loved them. And a ton of Journey as my mom was practically a Journey groupie.

[2000AD]

The music i grew up with was mainly the music played in the car. Half my dads tapes/CDs seemed to be Andrew Loyd Webber stuff, like The Best of Andrew Loyd Webber, The Soundtrack of Joeseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, The Best of Andrew Loyd Webber Volume 2 and Michael Ball sings the Best of Andrew Loyd Webber. I now have a pathological hatred of Andrew Loyd Webber music (apart from Music of the Night, that song rocks)

The rest was mainly pre-80s country and western. The same sort of reaction has now developed.

Luckily my brother managed to get hold of all sorts of music to play at home ranging from Chuck Berry era rock and roll to Metallica, so i ended up with a nice rounded taste in music.

[Gandalf]

Lots of 70's and 80's rock for me.

There was Genesis, Dire Straits, Screaming Jets, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin and Eric Clapton.

[RedImperator]

There was a lot of 70's rock on my dad's turntable. My parents married in 1974 and didn't try to have kids until 1980, so they had six solid years of partying in the second half of the 70's and accumulated a huge record collection. No disco: they hated it and so did all their friends. They were marijuana people, not cocaine.

My dad got into New Wave in the early 80s, and for a period he was listening to techno. My mom, unfortunately, discovered country, and not good country like Johnny Cash, but awful country like Billy Ray Cyrus. Overall a huge step down from Led Zeppelin.

[Col. Crackpot]

LED ZEPPELIN!

My father had a crusty old 8-track player in the garage and he would listen to Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Who, the Beatles and Clapton as well as some other stuf from bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Bob Seiger and the Silver Bullet Band, Springsteen while "working on stuff".

My mother listened to Simon & Garfunkel, Billy Joel and the Beatles as well as godawful crap from Anne Murray and a ton of Irish folk music.

needless to say i'm more like my dad.

[Losonti Tokash]

The very first song I ever remember hearing was Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other than those guys, I grew up with Nirvana, Metallica, Sound Garden, Rage Against the Machine, and the big one: Guns N Roses. What can I say? I live in a huge family where half of my relatives are ex-cons.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Mozart, Strauss, The Greatful Dead, Stones, Beatles, Cat Stevens, Cream, The Band, Led Zepplin, etc.

[Edi]

I don't remember my parents ever playing anything for themselves, but mom taped a ton of children's songs and programming from radio when I was a little kid, so it was that. When I started listening to music myself, it was 80s rock and pop (hell, I was born in 1976, so I grew up in the 1980s and very early 1990s).

My favorites then were Bon Jovi, Queen, Alice Cooper, AC/DC, Skid Row, Dio and Belinda Carlisle. Lots of other stuff where I liked maybe one or two songs from a particular artist, but that was it.

Edi

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Sorry for being late to the party. I've wanted to post in this thread when it started but got hanged up on other things.

I personally didn't really start actively listening to music until I was about 13, but as a kid besides what was heard on the car radio I would listen to mostly what my dad did. In particular he had Pat Benatar's 1983 concert album Live From Earth that I really enjoyed.

"Hell is for Children" is an awesome song when you're only five years old.