Can you shape your children's taste in music?

[Tiki Torches]

From the BBC:

Can you shape your children's taste in music?
By Robin Banerji
BBC World Service

[surfpirate]

That kid is NOT gonna be so calm
in about three seconds when
AC/DC's "Highway to Hell”
kicks in at volume level 11 ....

[sonofabeach]

Probably not but you can give them tinnitus.

[Tiki Torches]

My parents never tried to "shape" my taste in music but they did encourage my love of it early on. Never once was I put down for the music I liked. The worst that ever happened is they might have hollered at me to "turn that sh!t down!!" but that was pretty much it. The early building blocks for me was the stuff my siblings and our friends were listening to, plus what was on the radio. That music consisted of stuff like Alice Cooper, Johnny Winter, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Goose Creek Symphony, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, etc. My parents' album collection was a lot of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Mathis, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, movie soundtracks, etc. I would come to like a lot of their music eventually but it was something I came to on my own terms, not theirs.

[Staredge]

To some extent I think you do. My oldest son listens to a lot of what I do. He also introduces me to some of his bands. Some I like, some I don't. I disagree that it's my job as dad to hate his music. I don't like a lot of it, but I'm sure to say that I don't like it. I don't demean the music. (well.......boy bands are excepted from that rule) All my kids like the Beatles at this point. I think good music transcends age.

[sonofabeach]

I've gotten my son into 70s/80s hip hop.

[pair8head]

I've gotten my son into 70s/80s hip hop.

Isn't that child abuse?

[Hockey Mon]

I've gotten my son into 70s/80s hip hop.

Isn't that child abuse?

That strikes me as funny. Sorry.

I need to get my older son into some good music. He said a few months ago, "Katy Perry is known as one of the best song writers of all time." I am obviously failing in my musical responsibility.

[pair8head]

I've gotten my son into 70s/80s hip hop.

Isn't that child abuse?

That strikes me as funny. Sorry.

I need to get my older son into some good music. He said a few months ago, "Katy Perry is known as one of the best song writers of all time." I am obviously failing in my musical responsibility.

You may need to run an intervention there.

[Hockey Mon]

I've gotten my son into 70s/80s hip hop.

Isn't that child abuse?

That strikes me as funny. Sorry.

I need to get my older son into some good music. He said a few months ago, "Katy Perry is known as one of the best song writers of all time." I am obviously failing in my musical responsibility.

You may need to run an intervention there.

Yeah, I know. He got an mp3 player over the summer and while I put on some Beatles and Eagles, some other stuff slipped in there.

[Tiki Torches]

I know next to nothing about Katy Perry but no less an authority than the Wilson sisters of Heart speak pretty favorably of her in an interview I saw with them for Yahoo Music recently. I think the crux of it was that they see where she could grow into more than just a teen idol. Some turn out to be just flashes in the pan but others mature. As an example, I recall Mandy Moore doing an album of covers several years back that included stuff like Joni Mitchell. They can't be teen idols forever and that was her first step towards distancing herself from that perception.

[citcat]

My son knows the words to almost every 50's, 60's and early 70's song.
He likes it, but has his own taste.

[Tiki Torches]

My son knows the words to almost every 50's, 60's and early 70's song.
He likes it, but has his own taste.

I don't have children of my own but I do have nephews and nieces. I think it's cool to watch what they discover on their own rather than to try to alter their musical tastes to what I (or their parents) like. As I've watched them grow up I've also seen their musical tastes grow and mature. I may not be into all the same things they are but that's quite alright. I would really resent it if one of my parents had tried to force their music on me or put me down for what I liked (which they never did).