The Beatles, The Eagles, CCR, and Bob Dylan were the main artists in my dad’s collection. I also have strong childhood associations with:
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
The Who - Pinball Wizard
Randy Newman - Short People
Bob Marley - Legend
Bruce Springsteen - went to a concert for his Born in the USA tour with the 'rents when I was six
As far as non parentally-administered music, I remember Thriller era Michael Jackson, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Tiffany, Escape Club, New Edition, U2, True Blue era Madonna, and Faith era George Michael.
I have a huge affinity for the music I listened to on the radio from 1992-1994, when I was 8-10 years old.
Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Counting Crows never fail to make me think of that time. Of course, I wish I could say it was limited to good music. I get the same feeling from 4 Non-Blonde’s “What’s Up,” Lisa Loeb’s “Stay,” and, Og forbid, All 4 One’s “I swear.”
Going a little later, The Offspring’s Smash was the first album I really got into. That and Dookie were pretty much the soundtrack of 5th grade.
Since I can go up to 13, I’ll stick 6th grade in there, too. Some really bad stuff ahead. “Peaches” by the Presidents of the USA? Check. How about “Ironic” by Alanis Morrisette, “Amish Paradise” by Weird Al, and “California Love” by Tupac and Dr. Dre? All accounted for. And let’s not forget Skee-Lo with “I Wish.”
Ah, and 7th grade. Cranberries - “Salvation.” “Long December” by the Counting Crows, “Lady Picture Show” by STP, “Van Halen” by Nerf Herder, and all of Sgt. Pepper. Oh, and didn’t Meredith Brooks release “Bitch” around 1997? Yeah, that’d be in there, too.
I mostly listened to my parents vinyl collection before I was 13. Lots of the Beatles, Jethro Tull, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash (and Young), Cream, the Kinks and other 60’s and 70’s rock. Also some assorted 80s groups like the J. Geils Band and Wings. And Willie Nelson.
I loved Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers but I didn’t realize it then because I was too young to read(!), and didn’t rediscover them until I was about 12 or 13. Now they are my all-time favorite band.
The stuff my parents listened to during my formative years included lots and LOTS of New Jersey rock – Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, stuff like that. My mom is a hardcore NJ native. I think the Billy Joel Greatest Hits I & II set has been played in my childhood house over 5,000 times.
There was lots of late 70s country like Waylon & Willie, Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard, and The Oak Ridge Boys.
Other random 8-tracks and LPs I can remember around the house:
Simon and Garfunkel
The Honeydrippers
Bob Dylan
John Denver
Saturday Night Fever sountrack
Fame Soundtrack
Grease Soundtrack
Carole King
My own tastes centered around my parents’ taste for years. However I got wrapped up in the Cyndi/Madonna/Boy George/Michael Jackson pop warp of the early 80s, went through an “oldies” phase for a while, then obsessed about hair bands until my mid-teens when I finally saw the light.
My parents (especially my dad) are huge music afficionados, so I grew up listening to their stuff mostly, and didn’t really develop my own taste separate from theirs until I was a little older than normal. I was maybe 13 when I started buying my own CDs, most of which now I think completely suck (like Mariah Carey).
Anyway, I grew up listening to a pretty wide variety of music - a lot of the stuff my parents listened to when they were teenagers, especially Motown and Phil Spector stuff, and when they were in college. My dad is the World’s Biggest Jimi Hendrix Fan, I swear to you. So there’s that. Other stuff that was constantly playing in my house as a kid were: Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Elvis Costello, the Talking Heads, the Cars, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon.
When I was about ten, my grandparents had their 50th wedding anniversary, and my dad was put in charge of making the soundtrack for their party, so he bought tons of big band music to make mixed tapes. He really started to like it, so I may be the only 24-year-old around who grew up listening to Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters.
I started playing the flute when I was nine, so my parents bought a bunch of classical music featuring the flute to be supportive. Then they really got into it. My dad became very fond of playing Wagner at top volume first thing in the morning.
It is a rare moment that there is silence in my parents’ house. They have hundreds and hundreds of CDs, and some pretty eclectic stuff (more recently, my dad decided his favorite band ever was Chic. You know, like, “Freak Out”? I don’t know what’s up with that).
You’re not the only one digs. I find it amusing, sorta, that there are people posting who had PARENTS that grew up on Billy Joel. Sheesh.
My parents didn’t listen to any sort of pop music while I was growing up. My dad always had the classical station on, especially while working on projects around the house (hunny-do stuff).
My own musical beginnings: I remember being hooked on Gilbert & Sullivan, although I can’t guess my age at the time, and moved from there to Man of La Mancha and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
About age 14/15 I found Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath and life hasn’t been the same since. Hmmm…time scale is a little off–I seem to be missing 2 or 3 years. Oh, well, you get the idea.
Senile demenita, it’s not just for breakfast anymore.
Right behind you NoCool…. Sadly, I grew up at the wrong time. My parents listened primarily to AM and classical. The things I remember most are Don McLean’s American Pie album, Endless Summer, and God help me, a lot of Barry Manilow. It’s a wonder I made it through to 13:p
I listen to much of the same music I did at 13. I still love the cromags, yot, agnostic front, social distortion, 7 seconds, dk, circle jerks, iron maiden, metallica(ok, old stuff)…I’ll narrow it down, hardcore and punk…
Before that, I remember posing in 79 or 80 with kiss records my brother got for xmas…I loved them. I also started listening to rap in the early eighties, even before lots of black kids in my school. I’d name off groups and they would be like, who? I find that hilarious when I look back…
Other than that it was whatever I could pick up on the radio. I guess the turning point was in the mid eighties when I was introduced to hc and punk, then it all came together later…jazz, world and much anything in between…
I listened to Michael Jackson until I was seven. But then, I was introduced to the Beatles and Pink Floyd (Abbey Road and Wish You Were Here). I was forever changed.
when I finally saw the light.