Friday, July 14, 2006

Music and parents.

I am thinking about this lately because I sent my mom a couple CDs -- a copy of Ben Folds Five's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner and a mix of Neko Case songs I thought she'd dig -- and she called me from the road this morning to say she did like them. Which filled me with warm fuzzies.

There have always been a handful -- but only a handful -- of things we both liked, and a laundry list of things we disliked immensely in each others' stereos. There was always the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Cat Stevens. She has somewhat recently gotten into U2, of all things, and while I'm not especially into U2 (no hate, no love), it's made me think she might be more open to new stuff now than she might've been when I was a whiny teenager who loved the Smashing Pumpkins. (Though she readily cops to enjoying some Radiohead, even then.)

Then there was the time she was asking me how to go about finding one particular mp3 online, and it didn't occur to me to ask which one, but it turned out that she wanted Jeff Buckley. I mean, really?

So while I'm sure I'd never try to get my mom into Deerhoof or spend an evening listening to Slint's Spiderland with her, I wonder how much music we might manage to have in common now.

What do you and your parents both like? What would you try to get your parents into? Or are you and your parents completely at odds when it comes to music? (Becky, I already know the answer in your case; your mom is special and I love her anyway. I also owe her email. Now what did I do with that business card....)

3 comments:

Paul Cannon said...

Mom also claims she "wants" to like Italian opera. But every time I put it on, she winces.

emily said...

mom has always been into pop music. it's hard to turn someone like that, dude. plus opera is, like, REALLY hard to enjoy if you just don't have it in you to enjoy it. i speak from experience.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Opera Buffa rather than Opera Seria would be a good way to start her off? I'm not sure if it's italian or not (I can assume..) But the music to the Marriage of Figaro was lovely, and even I enjoyed it.