Music and Family

 As mentioned in my first blog post, my parents helped shape a large portion of my music taste. Growing up, my dad shared a lot of his music with me, and it’s something that he and I share together. He and I are planning on seeing Rage Against The Machine next August, we both rap N.W.A and sing Limp Bizkit on our car rides together, and really bond over the music we love. 

How Would You Describe Your Music Over The Years?

My dad was raised here in the south by southern small town folks. As a result, he was surrounded with country music. Growing up, he listened to artists like, “George Jones and George straight. But somewhere along the line, I was exposed to pop music of the time like Michael Jackson.”

It wasn’t until his teen years that he started to listen to the music that he still enjoys today. In his teen years, he said, “I listened to a lot of rap, because of the people I was friends with. My favorites at the time were N.W.A, Dre, Ice Cube, 8Ball, Too Short, and Snoop Dogg. I really remember ‘The Chronic’ being a huge breakthrough album.”

“In my high school years, I remember Nirvana’s first album ‘Bleach’ was a huge breakthrough album. I started to listen more to Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but I still listened to a lot more of Public Enemy and Ice T. Unplugged was another amazing album. I guess high school is when I really started to wean off of country music because of all the good modern music.”

“In my early adulthood I really remember Limp Bizkit being big for me. They were a big deal because I was living in Jacksonville, and they were people from the town making it big. I felt the same about Lynyrd Skynyrd. I started listening to Eminem when he released his album in ‘99. I really remember listening to him a lot when we moved to Cali in 2000.” 

“Overall I don’t really think my preference has changed too much. I don’t care for country anymore, unless it’s from the 80s/90s. I really appreciate classic rock and 90/00s rock more now. Rage Against The Machine really turned me onto rock when I first heard about them in 1996. They were very instrumental for me. Oh, and the Smashing Pumpkins! And Beck! They showed up around the same time.”

Do Any Musics Have a Strong Meaning to You? 

“One of the big reasons I like Rage is because of their strong view on the corrupt world. They touch on that a lot, and I really like that.”

“I do have a love song too. ‘The Race is On’ by George Jones. I used to sing it to your mom all the time.”

“I really just love listening to any music that makes me feel good. I want to enjoy hearing it and singing along, even if I don’t know all of the words.”

Have You Been To Any Concerts?

“I saw Alan Jackson once, that was a good one. Hank Williams Jr. was a pretty good one. I saw Lenny Kravitz with your mom. That was a great concert. Buddy Guy and BB King in Simpsonville was a great concert. The night I met your mom we saw Buddy Guy at a jazz festival, which was really neat.”

Were Cassettes Really as Bad as We Hear About?

“Oh my goodness yes. Cassette sound quality was terrible. But at the time you didn’t really know any better sound. Oh gosh, when your tape would get caught in up in a bad player it ruined your day. But making mixtapes off of recorders and radios was great. And yes, I did have a big boom box in the late 80s. My favorite music technology are still CDs though.

What Are Your Top Stand Out Songs?

I don’t really know how to put this one in quotes. He and I had to think and listen to a few seconds of some songs, but here is the list he ended up coming up with.

- “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog

- “All Apologies (Unplugged Version)” by Nirvana

- “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie

- “Novacane” by Beck

- “Faith” by Limp Bizkit

What Are Your Top Stand Out Albums?

I also am just going to list these off for you. This was an easier list for him to make.

- “Mellow Gold” by Beck

-  Rage Against The Machine’s Title Album *Note: we both agreed that Rage has released nothing but “No Skip” albums.

- “Ten” by Pearl Jam

- Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged

- “The Chronic” by Dr. Dre

To conclude, I think my dad has a great music taste. It was really fun having this conversation with him, especially since we really connect over the music.