Albums Your Parents Instilled In You?

Motown. All of it.

 

One of my dad's all-time favorite albums.

My mom never really got into popular music after her high school fascination with the Beatles.

The rest of my dad's musical tastes were split between stuff I love to this day (Dylan, Springsteen, Van Morrison, Let it Bleed-era Stones, Elton John) and acts I never liked (Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Barry Manilow).

 

Both parents would be 100+ years old if still alive.
Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, Glenn Miller, Mills Brothers, Ink Spots, Tony Bennett, Burl Ives, Phil Harris.

 

My parents are in their early 70s, and their collection of 1960s rock and pop was thoroughly sampled when I was young.
Among the not-yet-mentioned LPs in their collection: Paul Revere and the Raiders, whose cheesy uniforms I found cool as a kid. My dad was in various wedding and rock bands and they used to cover songs like "Hungry" and "Kicks."
Don't think they wore the Revolutionary War uniforms, though.

 

My mom was deep into things like the Lettermen, Elvis and the Statler Brothers. I … wasn’t.

But once upon a time she failed to send back the RCA Record Club monthly card back and ended up with an LP copy of that greatest hits package by Waylon Jennings that was everywhere in mid-1979. I know she took the plastic wrap off but I’m not sure if she ever actually played it.

I’m also not sure if she knew I pilfered it for my own record collection, but 11- and 12-year-old me played the hell out of that record.

 

Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond.

 

Love Me Tender On The Rocks ...

 

I was belting out "Song Song Blue" at the tender age of 4.

 

Try "After the Lovin'" at 4.

 

This is the first time I have felt OK about having “Elvira” as my 5-year-old jam.

 

My dad has some definite opinions about Neil Diamond. And Sweet Caroline. (He loves the former, hates the latter.)

 

So much Elton John, on LPs, owned by my mom. I remember replaying "Madman" and "Burn Down the Mission," over and over, trying to hit the mark just right with the needle.

I was proud to, as a college kid, take her to an Elton show at the Dean Dome, from the third row. Stood in line at Ticketmaster in an NC ice storm to buy to tickets months before the show. ("The One" tour, and it was my treat. Still proud I did that.)

I have missed her for 15 years now.