So I just bought the new Alanis Morrisette album today. Actually, I pre-ordered it from iTunes like any self-respecting fan would. So far it's angsty and fun, which is pretty much par for the course.
My purchase got me thinking about the role music has played in my life. My parents were always into music--my mom more than my dad, maybe--and several of my childhood memories revolve around music or have music playing in the background. For instance:
Saturday was cleaning day at our house. Mom would either put on American Bandstand or turn off the TV and listen to the radio. I particularly remember listening to Laura Branigan's "Gloria" while helping mom dust. We'd sing and dance and clean and giggle. It should be noted I still do that. It's easier to clean out a closet when you can toss crap into the trash in time to the Chicago Soundtrack.
Mom listened to all sorts of music, but she especially liked country. Kenny Rogers, Anne Murray, Crystal Gayle. Dad liked music from the '50's and early '60's. Think "Leader of the Pack." My cousin (who was around mom's age) liked rock like Led Zepplin. I think she'd listen to music as she cleaned, too, and she'd wear a red kerchief over her wild blond hair.
I got a record player in third grade. I listened to mom's 45's--Jackie Robinison's "Tears of a Clown" had a heavy rotation--and Jack Wagner's "All I Need." My first full-length vinyl album was Michael Jackson's Thriller. I played and played and played that thing. It should be noted I've tried to buy the album from iTunes several times, but I can't bring myself to do it. I don't want to help pay his legal fees, ya know? Maybe I'll go to a used record store and try to snag a copy. I get a copy and support the local economy without giving any to Wacko Jacko that way.
Mom is currently on a Big Band kick.
Last time I was at Dad's I saw Abba's Greatest Hits sitting next to his CD player.
I have everything from Kenny Rogers to Kanye West on my iPod.
We all evolve; music's presence is the constant.
3 comments:
Growing up my mom was into country - Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton, etc. I also remember SuperTramp.
As for Michael Jackson, someone at work had his 25th anniversary album playing and we were having so much fun dancing and singing around the lab. Let's just say I had to "borrow" it.
Music is VERY important to me. I search it out. I get crabby when I can't "discover" anything new that I like.
I think I get this from my dad. He was one of the guys who got a CD player when they first came out. He claimed he "discovered" Squeeze and Sinead O'Connor before they hit it big. He'd get into other no named bands and think they were the greatest thing ever. One of them was named "Cock Robin" and there is now some other band using their name. I remember him listening to ZZ Top, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Timbuk Three, Captain Beefheart.
My mom liked David Bowie and The Rolling Stones and Gordon Lightfoot and opera.
Now my Dad is hardcore into Americana Folk Music.
I guess I'm proud to say my parents NEVER EVER censored my music. I think I was in 6th grade when I realized I couldn't even PRETEND to like The New Kids on the Block, so I'd just go home and listen to The Cure and Depeche Mode in secret while my friends drooled over Joey at the concert.
Bridget: you and my mom, two peas in a pod.
K8: I hear what you're saying. I've always said my mom was over protective, but neither she or my dad censored my television, books, or music. And I can so see you dressed in black listening to the cure while the rest of us listened to Tiffany. :)
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