What was the background music of your childhood?

Fleetwood Mac: The Dance and Rumors
Pink Floyd: Animals
The Who: Who’s Next
Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and Firecat

Mostly classical, some jazz by my parents. I had older brothers so I heard contemporary stuff, too.

I remember being about 4 or 5 and playing with my dolls while listening to “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.

Mantovani or 101 Strings recordings were always playing on the stereo. This was my dad’s interpretation of classical music.

Benny Goodman, Kenny Rogers, Elvis, Glenn Miller and Barry Manilow. My parents always watched The Lawrence Welk Show too.

When we were driving with my father he always had a baseball game on the radio.

Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, and Barbara Streisand were the big three followed by, in no particular order:

Simon and Garfunkel
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Styx (I know, right?)
Billy Joel
The Carpenters
The Kingston Trio
The Box Tops
The Four Tops

@Blondesjon I forgot Simon and Garfunkel.

My parents played a lot of ‘60s and ‘70s rock music. I heard a lot of The Beatles, Neil Diamond (my mom’s a Neil Diamond fanatic), Carole King, all kinds of soul/R&B music, even Santana. They also played opera and musicals and it was through opera that I became interested in classical music. It wasn’t until I was 8 when I discovered I liked other music by hearing two songs “Upside Down” by the A*Teens and “Butterfly” by Smile.dk. Sparked my interested in pop and dance music. My mom also liked Enya and she apparently used to play it a lot for me when I was a baby and a toddler. Apparently I liked it and it made me happy…haha. I don’t really remember it much, though. I got interested in new age mainly when I was 8 and my 3rd grade teacher played Enya. (My interest in R&B/hip hop and other rock came when I was in middle school. Now I pretty much like at least some music from every genre).

Edit: How could I forget Kidsongs?! I loved Kidsongs and Disney Sing Along (my siblings did too). I had all kinds of kids’ music, even cassette tapes with Christmas music, goofy music, and just general children’s songs. My brother actually watched a scene from Kidsongs on YouTube…man that brought back a ton of memories…the ‘90s had excellent kids’ music.

70’s music and a lot of it. The BEST decade for music EVER.

Classical music, show tunes, Mahalia Jackson, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Burl Ives, and when I was visiting my friend who lived across the street, Top 40. Since this would have been 1956 or so, you can pretty much guess – Everly Bros, Elvis, Big Bopper, Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, Ink Spots, Little Milly Small, Doo-Wop, Rockabilly, Ray Charles, Little Richard, etc. etc.

Two that immediately pop into my head are Fleetwood Mac (I was partially named after their song “Sara”) and CCR. There were many more, but I remember those bands most vividly.

I remember hearing a lot of Led Zeppelin.

Mom: Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Broadway tunes.

Dad: Old Motown, Blues

Bro’s and Sis: (all around 8 years older than I): Zepplin, Queen, Stones, Supertramp, The Who, Floyd, Billy Squire, Jethro Tull, Jimmie (hey, @J0E), Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Eagles, Journey, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Frank Zappa, Rush, Peter Frampton, Grateful Dead and The Beatles.

Almost anything from the 50’s and 60’s, but especially Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond and CCR (although, pretty much everyone on @Blondesjon‘s list was in there too). That’s still my favorite music – I listen to some more contemporary stuff, but my parents’ music is what really makes me feel at home. And I always have my car radio tuned to the oldies station!

Uriah Heep
Savoy Brown
10 Years After
The Moody Blues
I know I keep posting, but the list is so long.

Billy Joel – Uptown Girl

Nice answers, everyone. Looks like I have some new music to check out. Couple things to add: re-posts are welcome in this thread, to me at least – this is the sort of thing you’ll remember more of as your conscious mind stops thinking about it. And an extra sub-question: do you think what was played for you back then has influenced your subsequent music choices?

I still like all those artists and the genres of music they represent. I will be eternally grateful that my parents took me to see David Byrne play in London when I was 13, because it was a grey show, because I was universally hailed as the coolest 13-year-old ever by the oldsters there, and because I got to lord it over all my frends in college.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_16g0OnIdIk

Love Love LOVE!

Still gives me chills.

The Police, Sting, Phil Collins, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Dire Straits, Annie Lennox, Heart, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Enya, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Journey, Santana, Gloria, Estefan, etc. (All my dad’s music)

Dad- Beatles and classic rock.
Mom- Country.

We have every Beatles record made, so that was pretty much all I listened to.

Anything that was played on KEARTH 101 in L.A. But at home it was Simon & Garfunkle, Niel Diamond and the 60’s era Bee Gees from my mom. With my dad it was the Doors, Fleetwood Mac and Journey.

@Beta_Orionis I’m sure I’m older than your dad, but I consider all that to be “my” music too, along with Run DMC and Wu Tang Clan and Maria Callas and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and Django Reinhardt.

My sister’s Wham album (on tape) and Greatest Hits 5!!
Also my first tape- Greatest Hits of 1988!!
and I loved listening tomy mum and das LP’s – Cat Stevens Carol Carpenter, Joni Mitchell and T Rex FAB!!!

Well, I guess I must be old… I listened to the kind of music you mention! My parents liked Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, etc as well as having soundtracks to many Broadway musicals.
@wildpotato -I am so jealous!

@ccrow How could I forget Sinatra! My parents listened to him all the time.

@pdworkin It’s probable. He’s still fairly young. At the same time, I’m positive that I’m much younger than both you and my dad, but as they were an integral part of my childhood and personal formation, I too consider it my music (along with my own additions.) Can’t say I Identify well with any of your other choices though. :)

Hopefully one day it will also belong to my children. I consider that one of the most powerful aspects of technology these days.

Enya and Enigma; any and all songs. They bring me back to such good memories <3 – LB

Oh God please help me, it was Boxcar Willie!

Abba, Toyah Wilcox B52s. Housemartins, BeeGees and many more….

At first, I heard a lot of The Beatles, Parliament/Funkadelic, all the Motown stuff, and a lot of pop country, like The Eagles, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and Mac Davis. Because my aunt ran an R&B record shop for a while, I also heard a lot of gutbucket, really Southern and bluesy sort of R&B, like Johnny Taylor, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, and the like. I didn’t care for it and I still don’t. I couldn’t dance to it.

Then she lost the shop, got fundy religion and it was Shirley Caesar, The Staple Singers, The Reverend James Cleveland, Andraé Crouch and The Hawkins Family all the livelong, bloody day. The only Aretha we could listen to was the Amazing Grace record and her other gospel album. I still love Amazing Grace, though, and I’ve gained an affection of and appreciation of the music itself, though I no longer subscribe to the beliefs of the performers.

By the time I was 10, I was sneaking with a little transistor under my pillow to listen to pop stations late at night (Hall & Oates ftw!), but once I was 12, I had a cheapo Walkman knockoff and was discovering what’s now called Classic Indie, like R.E.M., The Smiths and Lene Lovich and people like that. Still had my transistor, though, and listened to a radio show called Rock Over London every Sunday night on WRKR out of Racine, Wisconsin.

Wow, I’ve been listening to indie rock for 28 years!

50’s and 60’s music mostly. My parents love music and dancing. My dad loved the Beatles, and my mom loved Elvis and the Beach Boys, but they listened to much more…Simon and Garfunkle, Joan Baez, Frankie Valli, Harry Chapin, Paul Anka, and more.

I feel like an idiot: I just asked Fluther a very similar question – two seconds ago. Great Flutherites, think alike.

My mom was really into classical opera, the blues, and “oldies” from the 50’s and 60’s. My dad was really into folk, like the Kingston Trio and Gillian Welch, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, and traditional English/Irish/Scottish music. My oldest brother used to listen to a lot of the Grateful Dead and the Doors, and he had a phase where he listened to a lot of Jewel, but since he got married, he started listening more to the country and Christian rock that his wife likes. My other brother, who is also older, listened to the Beatles, the blues, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Allman Brothers, and Weird Al Yankovic. He also randomly got into the Vengaboys for a little bit…

I managed to take all of that into my likes, but I expanded A LOT beyond it.

I was the youngest in the family; by the time I became old enough to remember, mom was subject to whatever my older sisters and brother were listening to. In fact, mom took to my sisters’ taste of music. I remember mom bringing us to a Duran Duran concert and a Pink Floyd concert.

John Denver, The Mama’s and the Papa’s, Queen, The Village People, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Johnny Cash, there was so much, I can’t even remember it all. I know there where lots of MO Town artists too, like Frankie Lymon, the Platters, and many more.

My parents listened to a local radio show on Sunday afternoon called “Happy Polka Time,” featuring such polka greats as Frankie Yankovic (Wierd Al’s dad), as well as other contemporary (1950–1970) polka groups. My parents also listened to Lawrence Welk, and my dad was a big fan of Basie, Goodman, and big band in general. My older sis and bro listened to Top 40, which at that time included Perry Como
Mario Lanza, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Jim Reeves, Cliff Richard. I remember rock-a-billy being a dominant genre, although I didn’t know that’s what it was called.

I’m sorry, @Yetanotheruser, but Frank was not Al’s dad. Al’s father was named Nick.

@Yetanotheruser @aprilsimnel is right. Frank Yankovic is not related to Weird Al.

My father was always very into “classic rock” so whenever he was in control of the music, it was Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed…and then he was also into a lot of obscure punk music, which introduced me to a whole other realm of music.
My mother was more of an “alternative” music fan. She likes early 90s music, like ummm REM, Stone Temple Pilots, Blind Melon, Nirvana. I listened to all that stuff when it was actually popular and not played out like it is nowadays. I can’t think of more specific bands, but she did like not so popular music as well. The names are slipping my mind.

Ez listening. Lawrence Welk, Harry Mancini. Stuff like that. But my Dad had a Janice Joplin tape (Pearl) that I loved.

My father listened to classical music in the car, unless he was driving long distances – then it was country. He also had a t one time 22 Disney albums with him at all times (they were stolen). My mother listened to NPR and folk-rock, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, etc.

What I remember the most, though, was the Harry Chapin memorial concert. They’d taped it off of PBS, and when we’d drive from Joplin, MO to northwest Ohio to see my grandparents, my mom would listen to it as she drove through the night. I couldn’t sleep in the car until I was 12, so I used to hear it over and over again.

Does anyone remember that concert? Bruce Springsteen, The Smothers Brothers, Pat Benatar. I’ve never been able to find it anywhere, and the tape wore out long ago.

@zephyr826: I grew up in the New York area, and WNEW did a lot of work with Harry and Tom Chapin… sadly, the radio station is now defunct

Is this the track list? Harry Chapin Tribute
Amazon says it’s been discontinued, but it has copies for sale

@aprilsimnel @eponymoushipster No need to be sorry. I stand corrected. Thank you!

@hearkat, that’s it. Thank you so much.

@zephyr826: Glad to help! Enjoy!

Nooten and Brook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dr38zjulH4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZahM5Hzt0U

Basically anything by Pearl Jam, R.E.M. Fleetwood Mac, The Supremes, and Smokey Robinson.

Cat Stevens
Janis Joplin
Miles Davis
Johnny Cash
Freddy Fender

Dixieland and ragtime!! My dad is a phenomenal piano player and was always playing the jazz, Dixieland and Scott Joplin. Now I do too!! Great memories!!

The Mulkay’s , Lawrence Welk show, Sons of the Pioneers, Willie Nelson but mostly Jackie Gleason records.
How did I end up with zero music playing? Seems sacreligious.