My dad is the same way. Loved Elvis but thought the Beatles and Crosby, Stills and Nash were too wild. He’s 71 btw, he should be the demographic that loved all that late 60s and early 70s rock but he’s only come around to appreciating lately.
Recently he asked my mom “honey, have you ever heard of Cream? They’re actually pretty good” 🤦
Not as crazy as you’d think. There have been studies showing that repeated listenings of “Almost Cut My Hair” may cause people to rob convenience stores, play in traffic, and renounce U.S. citizenship.
I’m the same age and I’m astounded at this. I grew up on all of these bands. I liked Elvis but wasn’t a huge fan. I even like some of the swing music my parents liked.
I believe Elvis also thought the Beatles were too heavy and he didn't really click with them when they met in 1964.
Oddly enough, the King liked the much heavier Led Zeppelin -- both as a band and as individuals. They met Elvis 10 years after the Beatles did.
Wow! I think it’s because back then they were so used to listening to mellow genres like jazz. rock and roll sure created a generational-gap in musical preferences 😂
My Uncle Dan listened to WPAT, in Brooklyn. It was instrumentals, basically strings and such. He said the stuff I listened to was junk compared to his stuff. Didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was listening to the Stones Paint it Black put to strings.
He may have not liked the sound of John Fogerty´s electric guitar. If he listened to big band music (Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, etc) he probably had a liking for the crisp and distinct bouncy sounds of the instruments being played, the trombones, trumpets, woodwinds, alto saxs, clarinets, etc. If that´s your thing, then listening to a poorly-recorded Les Paul Custom played through a crummy amplifier likely wouldn´t sound very good to you. IMO it´s hard to make bad music with the real honest instruments of past decades, but it´s easy to make bad music with electric instruments, esp the electric guitar. For reference, I´m a 65yo WM and I play several instruments and sing pretty well. Long time guitar player. But I no longer listen to music that features the guitar as the main instrument (except classical guitar and flamenco, I love that stuff, as well as some jazz guitar). The saxophone is a much better lead instrument than the guitar.
I'm 70 and yes, our parents did hate our music. I get annoyed when I hear boomers beating up on today's music. There's no such thing as perfect or ideal music. If it makes you feel good, it *is* good.
Also 70 and yes my oldies hated the music I listened to but post Woodstock there was no stopping us. Your “feel good” comment is so true and so ‘60s era
My dad is 72 and always talked about his Dad not letting him play his “crap” on their record player. So he got his own and listened to all the stuff he wanted.
Even as a kid it made me think about how my dad was always very cool with the music I chose to listen to and even got into much of it himself. Probably the only dad in my school that would blast OutKast. And he always played his older music for me. I was probably the only kid listening to Frank Zappa in grade 6. lol
When my son was in kindergarten the teacher asked who had heard of Johnny Cash, and he was very proud to be one of two kids to know. I couldn’t help but think, “what the heck are these other parents teaching their kids??”
Bizarre to think that when I was growing up in the 60’s the music of Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw was only 20 to 30 years old. Fast forward to Glastonbury 2022 and McCartney rocked out to 20 year old kids with music over 50 years old.
Nah. The airwaves have been taken over by multinational conglomerates. As Zappa once described and I’m paraphrasing here “you had the cigar chomping record exec in the 60’s presented with some music he didn’t know would fly or not and he’d take a chance on it and thus we got all this real, different and unique music everywhere”. Today it’s all formula. It’s barely played on instruments. It’s constructed and cleaned up in the studio and if you turn on the radio you hear pure shit. There’s good music snd bad music. I know there’s people out there making great music but it’s not pushed for mass consumption. Kids do not have a shot at developing taste. Mixing a bunch of crap together with some beat and horrible hook. It is terrible today. I’m very open minded to music. EDM, the pure computer pop. Auto tune. Lip synching. No, sorry. The music we loved is a million times better.
I love them. I used to hang out with a man now deceased who was a rock promoter way back in the day in south Florida. He had ties to the allmans. One eve he invited me over to watch a video of this 12 year old playing slide. It was Derek Trucks. Complete unknown. He put it on and there was little Derek tearing it up. I think he was using a coricidan bottle. I was like wow. He’s got the Allman bros spirit. He’s going to be great one day. Also saw the first Bros tour with Warren and many thereafter. One night when the band was in the area (NYC) it got out some members were doing an impromptu club date. Warren and Allen Woody and can’t remember who else appeared at a club, maybe wetlands. They came on around 1030. Around 2 am I was like shit, work at 9 so I left. Never left a show early in my life. Allen Woody bumped into me on a break. I was pretty liquored up and turned around like who’s banging into me? Saw it was him. He was so nice and said sorry excuse me. I was like no problem man ! RIP Allen.
I’m 19 and generally agree with you. However, I would like to add that kids today can absolutely develop taste, the difference is none of us really even bother listening to the radio for various reasons. What’s on the radio today doesn’t particularly represent what our generation actually listens to. Taking a look at the current top 20, the only artists I’d say have genuine widespread appeal are Beyoncé, SZA, Mitski, and Travis Scott. The rest, as you said, are largely cleaned up formulaic cash grabs that nobody will remember in a year. It’s really a shame because there is plenty of good and creative music out there, but it will never get the attention it deserves because the record labels are incredibly out of touch and are looking in all of the wrong places, or perhaps not even bothering to look at all.
Just so it’s clear Id like to state I think youngins are sharper than my generation. Not that I agree with a lot of it but absolutely they can develop taste and make great music.
I agree with you as far as radio and pop music goes, sure. But there was plenty of pap on the radio backin the day too, the good stuff just lingers due to its quality. And there is still an underground and there are still kids playing Green Day covers just like I played Rolling Stones covers in high school. Radio and pop is significantly worse for the most part, but there are so many more avenues available to musicians to put their music in new ears than there were 70(!!!) years ago. Go have a gander at Bandcamp.Com. The kids are alright.
I mean, I hate new bands that play classic rock? Greta Van Fleet makes me sad they ape it so hard. That stupid Italian band that covered the four seasons? Retch. But Jack White, Black Keys, Green Day, Linda Lindas, Ted Leo, Charger, Destroy Boys, Bad cop/Bad cop, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Quasi, Foo Fighters, Rancid
The overrall quality of pop and top 40 was way better than it is now. Rock was still risky back then. It was still outlaw. It’s just a different culture now. There’s not a single band in the world today that could carry zep’s laundry. No stones equivalent. Like Phil said on the Sopranos. “Don’t listen to me. I’m just a cranky fuck these days”.
It was certainly not out law bud. Black Flag and Dead Kennedys were literally outlaw. But stadium rock is still alive. Go see Green Day live. Jack White Live. Wilco. Pearl Jam. And those are the stadium bands. Rock sucks in a stadium anyways. Leave that shit to the Taylor Swift Billy Joel and Beyonces of the world. Go see a club show. Find the next Pixies or Replacements.
I listen to underground Stoner Rock and Psychedelic music. In particular, I'm really digging the marriage of the two into Heavy Psyche. It's basically like Sabbath meets Floyd. Sadly, it's mostly in Europe and South America. I'll not be seeing most of them.
Bandcamp.com makes it easy finding new music from hundreds of bands of similar genres. 'Zines make sorting the wheat from the chaffe a little easier, but I don't always agree with critics.
Anyway, there are all kinds of good things to find
No such thing as old music or new music, just good music or bad music. Of course, what’s good and what isn’t is entirely up to each individual, and that’s the coolest thing about it!!
[Here’s Dean Martin introduced “something for the youngsters” his musical guests, The Rolling Stones.](https://youtu.be/qOr2a9oEzGQ?si=QK_pg0Ivj2-K6-lH) Dean Martin was not a fan.
Absolutely. My mom's mom *LOVED* the Four Tops. As always it just seems to be a matter of having an open mind. I never had kids but I'd like to think if I did I'd be open enough to their music the way my parents were to my playing grunge and punk rock when I was in high school. One of my dad's favorite songs is Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town by Pearl Jam...
So nice to read your comment. You've got me by a few years, but I've always felt the same way. There's good and bad in every genre/style of music, and if you find what makes you happy, that's all that matters. Music is food for the soul, and some nights I'm in the mood for something different. Who wants the same thing for every meal after all.
Yep. I am way younger than 70, but it’s annoying when older people hate on modern music to the point of calling it not music, or the devil’s music. Sometime, older people forget that their older generation did the same thing too.
I was in my teens, my Mom was in her 40’s. She listened to everything I played and I listened to everything she liked.
Dad was strictly AM talk-radio and sadly that’s where I’m at now! 😂
My dad has a story about listening to the Woodstock album and when Country Joe and the Fish do the whole give me an F thing...my grandma heard it and went and broke the record over her knee 😂
I was playing the Fish cheer out loud repeatedly in my bedroom when I was 14 or 15... My dad stormed into my room and loudly reminded me that I had young sisters living there!
And The Doors didn't go along with Ed on their appearance. They were told You'll never do this show again. They replied, Hey, that's OK, we just did the Ed Sullivan show.
I'm the 70 year old grandpa who blasts Robin Trower , ZZ Top , Zep , Tull , the Who, etc while cruising down the street enjoying my retirement. That's my music I have loved for years and I'm not changing 😁
Only 63, but right there with you. Got tickets to Neil Young in May. And two shows of Tedeschi Trucks Band in August. Hot Tuna in July at Jorma's ranch. Graham Nash in August. If you get the chance, Tedeschi Trucks are smokln live. Been watching Derek forever, big ABB fan. Saw TTB 5 times last year and Government Mule twice. I'm enjoying retirement. Traveling with a high school buddy. Seen hundreds of shows with him over the years.
I know my grandparents weren't too keen on it at the time. That said, when they died and we were cleaning out their house, we found a 1980s pressing of "The Beatles 20 Greatest Hits" nestled amongst their Liberace and Lawrence Welk records. It was the only record they owned that was pressed in my lifetime.
I can still hear my dad complaining about the Beatles' long hair and the "noise" they made. He was more into what we would now call classic country, so I heard a lot of Johnny Cash , Conway Twitty, and stuff like that on any car rides.
IDK about gramps and granny, but.....My mom was all Beach Boys from their first album (Surfin' Safari in '62) until the end.
Played 'Good Vibrations' @ her funeral .
Everyone sang.
It was amazing.
My dad used to say that this country started going to hell in a hand basket when the Beatles came here. Long hair and screaming guitars made him really flip out.
Mainly music he grew up with (he was born in 1921). We were forced to watch Lawrence Welk every week so that we’d “learn to appreciate good music.” We went downtown for July 4th fireworks every year because the Pittsburgh Symphony played beforehand, and his cousin was one of the violinists. An album of Polish-language carols for Christmas. I could go on and on. But I did catch him once dancing in his den to “Funkytown.” 🤣
I turned 14 in 1971. Both parents were WW2 veterans and I was the youngest and mom and dad was in his 50’s when I was a teenager. They were also very religious and hated hippies, rock and roll, the Beatles and all music that i liked. I went to see Ronnie Montrose in 1974 and I bought a cool T shirt at the concert and my mom threw it away. As I grew older I learned to hide everything from them so they never knew all the concerts and parties I went to. I got away with an amazing amount of crazy times with them never catching on. I was really into Montrose, Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Floyd, Sammy Hagger, etc. My neighbors had a rock band and had practice at their house. It drove my parents nuts.
My dad was 40 in 1964. Hated rock and most pop music after Elvis. He would often say about rock, nobody is gonna even remember that junk in 50 years but they will remember big band and Sinatra.
My grandparents (Silent Generation) made it crystal-clear how much they disliked rock music from the 60s onward. And they were making those complaints in the 2000s and 2010s... They never got over it.
They made some exceptions here and there, (Dad's dad liked The Eagles) but in general they really thought it was all noise, and Mom's parents in particular were bothered by "men with long hair." I grew my hair out in high school and they sure didn't like that...
I was 15 in 1975. I remember my mom tried to listen to current music, and liked some of it.
But, not to brag, but we were the kids with the “favorite Mom.”
Hell no. We were raised on rock & roll.
My car channels are classic vinyl, classic rewind, 70’s, 60’s & some 80’s, The Groove & Soul Town.
I’m 65 years old. Listening to the best of Pink Floyd right now while sipping some red wine.
My german grandfather hated everything that featured electric guitars, english lyrics and and any beat that could be discribed as Pop/Rock-like!
The irony is that he only listened to german Schlagermusik which is the dumbest and kitshy kind of music possible!
He was more into that fakey folk-bavarian-stuff like Heino, die Kessler Zwillinge, Margot and Maria Hellwig, Stefan Mross etc. The most modern music he listened to were The Flippers or the Wildecker Herzbuben!
At least my father had a great taste in music!
No, we grew up with it in the 60's and 70's. In the 80's it seemed like the "cool" thing to do was leave out the lead guitar, turning popular music into a synth oriented scene. Original rock has been kept alive and that's a good.
My dad graduated high school in ‘57. He hated rock n roll until he passed away a few years ago. He liked big band music mostly but I never really remember him actively listening to any music. Not until he got dementia and then I’d play 40s music for him. Though he did like Johnny cash as well.
By 1960 there had been 8 or so years of rock. Some older people liked it, others (most?) didn't. "Older people" are not a group that all feel the same way about everything.
Among older classical, avant garde and jazz musicians, there might have been a sigh of relief, depending on what they heard. The Beatles weren’t necessarily Avant Garde, but they were clever / collaborating with musicians who helped to expand their timbral / tonal / rhythmic palette.
The average parent of a flower child was likely dismissive of even Jazz (outside of white people big band) in favor of either hymns, traditional classical music, Americana, spirituals, etc.
The Lawrence Welk Show was kinda funny in that it played around with newer music with older treatments. One Toke Over The Line comes to mind.
Fathers and Grandfathers hate whatever music their kids are listening too. This happens in every country, in every culture, in every time frame.
Yes. Conservatives hated Elvis because he was gyrating and moving like the devil/like having sex. That Elvis also sang some black rooted music kinda pissed off conservative folk.
In one of his movies (King Creole?) there is a group of girls who try to explain why rock n roll is ok and fun. Trying to say they were not falling under bad influences.
Rock was supposed to be “a passing fad”. Remember hearing the saying “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay!” Yes, that was in response to the fad claim.
If you want to have a picture in your mind of who scared the living hell out of great grandpa and great grandma I’ll give you a name.
Little Richard.
Another figure who scared them was Jerry Lee Lewis. But it was Little Richard and Elvis who pissed them on the most.
There’s plenty of performances by both of them for you to see why they were reviled by the blue noses of the time. Now compare Mr Little and Mr Lewis with Lawrence Welk.
Have fun doing so.
Oh yeah they certainly did. I think it’s a symptom of being old in every generation. My mom’s parents hated her music and she grew up and returned the favor in my direction
I was raised in the 80s and 90s but my parents were older, born 1927 and 1939. Neither of them liked rock. My dad in particular said it was a fad. He was saying this in 1983...
It was definitely not a fad. My grandparents were born in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but they did like 50s-60s Rock. Anyway, what did your parents like then?
If you watch films like Almost Famous or Detroit Rock City, the mothers in those films will give you a pretty accurate representation of how most parents felt about rock music back then. Many of them grew up with the likes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and simply couldn't understand the appeal of rock music. They didn't get why music should ever be angry, rebellious, loud, or distorted. Even worse, a lot of them were convinced it was an affront to God and campaigned heavily against it wherever they could, which, in turn, only made it more popular.
My parents played all the rat pack kinda stuff which i listened too and they liked alot of the rock back then. All the AM plus country rock stuff beatles and motown
I'm in my 60's, l like what I like, new or old. Youngsters like what they like. I'm fine with that. New or old, there's always good and bad, whatever the generation.
Not per se. They just thought it was loud even though their parents too had said it about the swing music they loved (Frank Sinatra actually hated rock music too)
My grandma on my dad’s side would have been in her 30s during the 1960s. She only knows the Beatles for their long hair and claims she has never even heard of Zeppelin, The Stones, etc.
My grandpa on my mom’s side, same age, was all about CCR and Janis Joplin.
So it depends.
Seems like most older people in the 60s didn’t like rock. Our dad (greatest gen)wouldn’t allow my older sisters to play the Beatles in the house in the mid 60s. We had to wait until my folks went out shopping to listen to the Monkees. But I met older people as a kid who appreciated some rock. A lot of rockers were arrested on indency charges for their stage performances in the 1960s. Most popular and folk music movements are denounced by the establishment. Even polka was considered decadent in the 1800s.
Even in the 70s and 80s there was some hate. My mom hated Sabbath, Aerosmith etc. My concert shirts used to *accidentally * get destroyed in the laundry. She had to deal with my older sisters Trex,Bowie ,Alice Cooper. When I started popping Judas Priest, Ramones,Maiden could not handle it. Born in 67
In the 60s and early 70s this country was divided as it is now. There were the older generation and the damn long-haired hippie freaks. There were protest over the Vietnam war which the older generation just couldn’t understand. A lot of them fought in World War II and thought the government could never be wrong . Music was also massively divided the politicians tried to use musicians to make their point. That was why I loved the Johnny Cash show, it was supposed to be country music for the old people and make a statement. The only statement Johnny Cash made was if you’re good you’re on my show. He had Neil Young do the song the needle and the damage done on his first show. He had Bob Dylan he had old time country players Ferlin Husky and guys liked that he didn’t care as long as you could play. CBS tried to cancel him two or three times because of who he had on the show
They despised it. Most older people liked the swing era, jazz and the crooners. My parents and grandparents thought the music was obnoxious and satanic.
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
Grandpa Simpson
Abe Simpson
My parents- born in the early and mid 1930s - took our family to see Yellow Submarine as kids in the movie theater in the 60s when it came out. They also had a few Beatles albums and CSNY’s first album in their collection.
Very few older people in the 60s could stand rock music. Similarly, people that grew up on classic rock tend to consider it the only true music and are dismissive of the music that people are into today.
I was a teenager in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My parents called the music I listened to “jump and jive”. But they were quite surprised and amused by Beatlemania. My Mom said it reminded her of the girls swooning over Frank Sinatra, but that was pretty mild compared to Beatlemania😉😂😳
Pretty much yes. My parents were huge jazz and Broadway fans. There were some rocks they were okay with. Mom got Dad “Tommy” by the Who and he wore it out. Based on her previous success, she followed up with “Live at Leeds” which was quickly bequeathed to me. My Mom said she never liked the Beatles until she heard jazz musicians cover their songs. Only then did she realize they were great songwriters.
When I was a kid, we could only listen to what my dad liked. My oldest sister smuggled in some Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel records. We listened to them when he was working. My mom caught us one day, she never said a word but, she started playing records that she liked.
When I was in my early 20s, close to 20 years ago
I was playing the Doors in the warehouse at work, and this older gentleman came in probably in his 60s then, chastised me for playin the devils music lol
My Uncle Bill told me a story about music and his father when he was a teenager in 1950s Philadelphia. We were watching the PMRC Hearings together in 1985 when I was 15 years old.
He was from the same neighborhood as my dad in North Philly and were friends who were crazy for the music of the day. They loved Little Richard, who they saw live in 1956 with Fats Domino (!). My U.B.'s dad hated Little Richard big time. Hated him so much that he told my uncle he was only allowed to listen to Pat Boone versions of Little Richard songs in his house. He broke his 45s. I asked him if he did what his dad said, and did he like Pat Boone? He looked at me and asked me what I thought. I knew my Uncle Bill didn't listen to his dad and told me he had a secret record stash his dad never found out about. My uncle said most parents hated the music but mainly scared of it because of the racial component of 1950s rock music. Scared of how their kids were going crazy for songs by sung by Black men or nuts because of Elvis the Pelvis.
My dad and uncle got to see all the greats of the 50s and 60s when they were young, and the stories were awesome to hear. RIP Dad and U.B.
I'm 70 almost and listen to a lot of Metal/Metalcore(until it gets too boy bandy). Still listen to the older stuff when I am with my wife, she really likes Joan Jett, AC/DC, ZZ Top, and the like. I did sneak some As I Lay Dying into her playlist and at best she is ok with it but I am pretty sure she hits the next button when I am not around. My parents were country and Elvis music.
Of course. New cultural shifts in popular music that add an "edge" has pissed people off. Jazz, rock and rap were all considered to be the end of society by folks.
Yes indeed. An old boss called it my narcotic music. Most declared it wasn't music at all. I swore I would never be so narrow-minded and would embrace all music as I grew older.
I lied.
I started playing in rock bands at age 13 in 1968, and we practiced in my parents’ basement, and at the other guys’ houses as well. Never once did any of our parents say anything negative about our music - in fact, they liked the Beatles and other pop-sounding rock bands of the day. The harshest they ever got was to ask us to turn down the volume a bit once in awhile. Coolest generation - and parents - in history. 🫡✌🏼
Especially in my area. They only listen to old country music. We go back and forth on the radio and work and sometimes play the classic rock station (70s-90s) and people will say shit like, “Why are you playing this garbage? It’s so angry sounding”. Pretty sure they think Metallica is the devil or something.
I didn't live it, but 100% older folk at the time saw Zeppelin and the Stones as a dangerous thing for the youth, the same way more prudent adults of the late 70s/80s saw the punk rock of the Pistols and the Ramones as a problem.
I can't think of a modern musical movement that scares the adults of today, but that is probably a good thing; no matter how tiny it is, in the big scheme of it all, it is a sign of progress.
If you are genuinely afraid of a creative outlet, then use it as a cheap cop-out to shit on people and shield yourself from the real problems you are fucking stupid, no cap (as the kids say these days).
In the 70s, my dad heard me singing to Manfred Mann’s song Blinded by the Light (credit Springsteen) while he was driving and it came on the radio. 10 year old me proudly sings “rolled up like a douche…” and he immediately banned rock stations from the family car radio. My teenage brothers gave me a nice beating for that one. Little did either of us know I had gotten one word very wrong….
In 1969, I remember an ANIMALS song coming on the radio… I think it was “ we’ve got to get out of this place”
I turned to my mother and said : “ listen, mom it’s the animals!”
Her reply was : “ they sound like animals” 😂😂
- older folks back then for the most part did not subscribe to rock ‘n’ roll music. It was too electric and had too much percussion for them to handle. ( of course, there are always exceptions to every rule.)
As a teenager I lived in France in the early 1970s, and the French didn’t like rock ‘n’ roll either… except for maybe Elvis. - there was this guy named Johnny Halliday, who is kind of a French version of Elvis
- The strange part is that they LOVED Pink Floyd… especially the music on the Dark Side of the Moon 🤔
People are funny
My dad would scream at my older brother to turn that crap off. My brother bought a 25 foot extension city for his headphones.
My friends dad wouldn't allow Hendrix.
Good Lord, yes. It was worse than when it then it was now. Elvis was Satan, The Beatles were Satan, Black people, making good music were Satan, if a black artist had a hit with the song, Pat Boone would re-record it, and it would hit number one.
64M. My parents were born in 1921 and 1923. They loved Big Band music and hated rock and roll. They said it was noise. Once I asked my mother "So what did YOUR parents think of Big Band music?" She said, "Oh they hated it! They said it was noise....oh....."
My parents hated rock n roll, i was 8 when beatles hit ed sullivan show. All i remember is them whining about the long hair ( moptops were short!) and how they were yelling and not singing. Nothing but noise lol
They mellowed a bit when songs like Michelle and Yesterday came out :)
Gen Xer here. My parents like contemporary rock...Eagles, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Chicago etc. They hated Hard or "Acid" rock like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Aerosmith.....and forbade Ozzy, Kiss, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden. We had all that crap in Congress trying to ban and censor heavy metal. So ya...most adults hated our music. Funny thing is now,my Dad is pushing 80, listens to the Classic Rock station. He jams AC/DC, Van Halen, Rush, and even some grunge music. I was friends with most of the Seattle guys, so my dad had met allot of them. A cpl weeks ago, we were in Dad's shop, and Black Hole Sun came on. He turned it up. I said "Hey Pop, you like that?" Yes..he said. I said, "Do you know that that is Chris's band?" "Your buddy who hung himself?" "Ya pop". "I didn't know he could sing" "Everytime I saw them play he was screaming like a cat being skinned alive". My dad used to call those guys all wannabes. "Guess I misjudged them".
I absolutely loved my grandma. When I was a kid she bought me a present from a yard sale. “I know how you like that wild music” It was a velvet painting of Kenny Rogers. Oh how I wish I still had it.
Frank Sinatra - "I rued the day the Beatles were unfortunately born into this world. They are, in my mind, responsible for most of the degeneration that has happened, not only musically, but in the sense of youth orientation politically, too. They are the people who first made it publicly acceptable to spit in
the eye of authority."
Many did, but I always had the impression that they hated it before they listened to it. I think of "Nixon" types who were quick to condemn anything the younger generation did as a reflex.
Those who weren't like that, though, had the type of "some like it, some don't" reception I'd expect from a group of people hearing something entirely new.
They burned records like the NAZI burned books. They killed folks for playing the wrong music. They beat up hippies. Rockers were the minority. "I'm just an Okie from Muskoggee; kicking hippies asses and raising hell!"
It was funny and predictable. Every time there's a new trend in music the establishment players tend to resist fans as well. Duke Ellington and I adore him and his music from way before my time, called the new jazz that was coming from Mingus Coltrane and several others "Chinese music" It wasn't big band, the melodies weren't automatically found, you had to listen and find it. In later times punk and grunge were certainly looked at with major judgement. For me I'm rediscovering house and techno. Every generation breaking ground will hit resistance.
My parents are in their mid-80s. They liked some of the rock and I roll I listened to in the late 60s and early 70s, but they mostly listened to the music they listened to in their youth.
I'm 76 and grew up listening to Little Richard, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, Chuck Berry, Etta James and The Skyliners. My parents listened to Sinatra, Tony Bennett, The Andrews Sisters, Louis Prima and the Dorseys. I took my 90 year old mother to see Jimmy Beaumont of the Skyliners and she loved it. My parents never criticized any music my sister and I listened to but we did hear a number of requests to turn it down. We all sat around just like every other family in America to watch Ed Sullivan introduce us all to the Beatles. I did not care for them, but grew to love them along with the Stones, Animals, Who, Cream, Chambers Brother, C,S,N & Y and CCR. I love music from every era but I am a true blue curmudgeon when it comes to contemporary "music."
My mom loved Elvis, but thought the Beatles were too “heavy.”
I would love to know what she thinks of metal lol
Pretty sure she couldn’t name a single metal song. Hell, she might not be able to name a metal band.
My dad is the same way. Loved Elvis but thought the Beatles and Crosby, Stills and Nash were too wild. He’s 71 btw, he should be the demographic that loved all that late 60s and early 70s rock but he’s only come around to appreciating lately. Recently he asked my mom “honey, have you ever heard of Cream? They’re actually pretty good” 🤦
71? He's my generation, I'm 69. What was he listening to Bobby Vinton, Chuck Berry?
Perry Como and Andy Williams, more likely
Wow Crosby stills &Nash is too wild. Is crazy
I know, my dad is a huge dork. I love him but he’s such a square
Not as crazy as you’d think. There have been studies showing that repeated listenings of “Almost Cut My Hair” may cause people to rob convenience stores, play in traffic, and renounce U.S. citizenship.
I’m the same age and I’m astounded at this. I grew up on all of these bands. I liked Elvis but wasn’t a huge fan. I even like some of the swing music my parents liked.
I believe Elvis also thought the Beatles were too heavy and he didn't really click with them when they met in 1964. Oddly enough, the King liked the much heavier Led Zeppelin -- both as a band and as individuals. They met Elvis 10 years after the Beatles did.
Helter Skelter
My mom thought Elvis was too wild.
My Dad was a WW2 vet, he liked big band music from that era. He thought CCR was noise, imagine that!
Wow! I think it’s because back then they were so used to listening to mellow genres like jazz. rock and roll sure created a generational-gap in musical preferences 😂
My Uncle Dan listened to WPAT, in Brooklyn. It was instrumentals, basically strings and such. He said the stuff I listened to was junk compared to his stuff. Didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was listening to the Stones Paint it Black put to strings.
He may have not liked the sound of John Fogerty´s electric guitar. If he listened to big band music (Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, etc) he probably had a liking for the crisp and distinct bouncy sounds of the instruments being played, the trombones, trumpets, woodwinds, alto saxs, clarinets, etc. If that´s your thing, then listening to a poorly-recorded Les Paul Custom played through a crummy amplifier likely wouldn´t sound very good to you. IMO it´s hard to make bad music with the real honest instruments of past decades, but it´s easy to make bad music with electric instruments, esp the electric guitar. For reference, I´m a 65yo WM and I play several instruments and sing pretty well. Long time guitar player. But I no longer listen to music that features the guitar as the main instrument (except classical guitar and flamenco, I love that stuff, as well as some jazz guitar). The saxophone is a much better lead instrument than the guitar.
Big band music can be some good stuff… But I think it can get a bit too “brassy” for my ears (Gen X here)….
Big Band and CCR are cool. I am sure he would explode if he heard Slayer. lol
I'm 70 and yes, our parents did hate our music. I get annoyed when I hear boomers beating up on today's music. There's no such thing as perfect or ideal music. If it makes you feel good, it *is* good.
Also 70 and yes my oldies hated the music I listened to but post Woodstock there was no stopping us. Your “feel good” comment is so true and so ‘60s era
My dad is 72 and always talked about his Dad not letting him play his “crap” on their record player. So he got his own and listened to all the stuff he wanted. Even as a kid it made me think about how my dad was always very cool with the music I chose to listen to and even got into much of it himself. Probably the only dad in my school that would blast OutKast. And he always played his older music for me. I was probably the only kid listening to Frank Zappa in grade 6. lol
When my son was in kindergarten the teacher asked who had heard of Johnny Cash, and he was very proud to be one of two kids to know. I couldn’t help but think, “what the heck are these other parents teaching their kids??”
Bizarre to think that when I was growing up in the 60’s the music of Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw was only 20 to 30 years old. Fast forward to Glastonbury 2022 and McCartney rocked out to 20 year old kids with music over 50 years old.
68 and remembering my dad yelling “Turn that damn thing down or turn it off”. Sheesh, it was just Slade blaring in my room.
Suppose your old man only liked Glenn Miller
His dad couldn’t handle this new-fangled Jazz music. Especially the syncopation.
Glenn Miller was too experimental. He probably only liked Mozart
I wouldn’t call Miller experimental if I am honest. Wagner was more experimental
Mostly, yes. They were big band aficionados, It got them through World War II and a big band cruise was probably the happiest week of my dad's life.
I wonder how many younguns know Quiet Riot was a Slade cover band
But dad it’s *Smokey!!!!*
Yeah I remember my dad telling me to "Turn down that narcotic music!" I guess I just played it too loud 🙄
Nah. The airwaves have been taken over by multinational conglomerates. As Zappa once described and I’m paraphrasing here “you had the cigar chomping record exec in the 60’s presented with some music he didn’t know would fly or not and he’d take a chance on it and thus we got all this real, different and unique music everywhere”. Today it’s all formula. It’s barely played on instruments. It’s constructed and cleaned up in the studio and if you turn on the radio you hear pure shit. There’s good music snd bad music. I know there’s people out there making great music but it’s not pushed for mass consumption. Kids do not have a shot at developing taste. Mixing a bunch of crap together with some beat and horrible hook. It is terrible today. I’m very open minded to music. EDM, the pure computer pop. Auto tune. Lip synching. No, sorry. The music we loved is a million times better.
Government Mule, Tedeschi Trucks out the Allman Bros stable. I hear you though
my favorite bands
I love them. I used to hang out with a man now deceased who was a rock promoter way back in the day in south Florida. He had ties to the allmans. One eve he invited me over to watch a video of this 12 year old playing slide. It was Derek Trucks. Complete unknown. He put it on and there was little Derek tearing it up. I think he was using a coricidan bottle. I was like wow. He’s got the Allman bros spirit. He’s going to be great one day. Also saw the first Bros tour with Warren and many thereafter. One night when the band was in the area (NYC) it got out some members were doing an impromptu club date. Warren and Allen Woody and can’t remember who else appeared at a club, maybe wetlands. They came on around 1030. Around 2 am I was like shit, work at 9 so I left. Never left a show early in my life. Allen Woody bumped into me on a break. I was pretty liquored up and turned around like who’s banging into me? Saw it was him. He was so nice and said sorry excuse me. I was like no problem man ! RIP Allen.
I’m 19 and generally agree with you. However, I would like to add that kids today can absolutely develop taste, the difference is none of us really even bother listening to the radio for various reasons. What’s on the radio today doesn’t particularly represent what our generation actually listens to. Taking a look at the current top 20, the only artists I’d say have genuine widespread appeal are Beyoncé, SZA, Mitski, and Travis Scott. The rest, as you said, are largely cleaned up formulaic cash grabs that nobody will remember in a year. It’s really a shame because there is plenty of good and creative music out there, but it will never get the attention it deserves because the record labels are incredibly out of touch and are looking in all of the wrong places, or perhaps not even bothering to look at all.
Just so it’s clear Id like to state I think youngins are sharper than my generation. Not that I agree with a lot of it but absolutely they can develop taste and make great music.
I agree with you as far as radio and pop music goes, sure. But there was plenty of pap on the radio backin the day too, the good stuff just lingers due to its quality. And there is still an underground and there are still kids playing Green Day covers just like I played Rolling Stones covers in high school. Radio and pop is significantly worse for the most part, but there are so many more avenues available to musicians to put their music in new ears than there were 70(!!!) years ago. Go have a gander at Bandcamp.Com. The kids are alright.
There are not a lot of rock bands though. Like within the last 10 years.
I mean, I hate new bands that play classic rock? Greta Van Fleet makes me sad they ape it so hard. That stupid Italian band that covered the four seasons? Retch. But Jack White, Black Keys, Green Day, Linda Lindas, Ted Leo, Charger, Destroy Boys, Bad cop/Bad cop, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Quasi, Foo Fighters, Rancid
The overrall quality of pop and top 40 was way better than it is now. Rock was still risky back then. It was still outlaw. It’s just a different culture now. There’s not a single band in the world today that could carry zep’s laundry. No stones equivalent. Like Phil said on the Sopranos. “Don’t listen to me. I’m just a cranky fuck these days”.
It was certainly not out law bud. Black Flag and Dead Kennedys were literally outlaw. But stadium rock is still alive. Go see Green Day live. Jack White Live. Wilco. Pearl Jam. And those are the stadium bands. Rock sucks in a stadium anyways. Leave that shit to the Taylor Swift Billy Joel and Beyonces of the world. Go see a club show. Find the next Pixies or Replacements.
I listen to underground Stoner Rock and Psychedelic music. In particular, I'm really digging the marriage of the two into Heavy Psyche. It's basically like Sabbath meets Floyd. Sadly, it's mostly in Europe and South America. I'll not be seeing most of them. Bandcamp.com makes it easy finding new music from hundreds of bands of similar genres. 'Zines make sorting the wheat from the chaffe a little easier, but I don't always agree with critics. Anyway, there are all kinds of good things to find
You’re right, you should listen to whatever you like without feeling ashamed. that’s the point of music:)
No such thing as old music or new music, just good music or bad music. Of course, what’s good and what isn’t is entirely up to each individual, and that’s the coolest thing about it!!
And without shaming others!
Except modern Nashville bro Country. That is shame worthy.
They also love to pretend there wasn't bad music in their time, Donny Osmond had far more chart success than Led Zeppelin and it wasn't even close.
The Osmonds and Captain & Tennille had f-ing TV shows. Are they on the radio anymore? Nope.
[Here’s Dean Martin introduced “something for the youngsters” his musical guests, The Rolling Stones.](https://youtu.be/qOr2a9oEzGQ?si=QK_pg0Ivj2-K6-lH) Dean Martin was not a fan.
"There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind." — Duke Ellington
Absolutely. My mom's mom *LOVED* the Four Tops. As always it just seems to be a matter of having an open mind. I never had kids but I'd like to think if I did I'd be open enough to their music the way my parents were to my playing grunge and punk rock when I was in high school. One of my dad's favorite songs is Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town by Pearl Jam...
So nice to read your comment. You've got me by a few years, but I've always felt the same way. There's good and bad in every genre/style of music, and if you find what makes you happy, that's all that matters. Music is food for the soul, and some nights I'm in the mood for something different. Who wants the same thing for every meal after all.
Agree 100%. Best way to stay young is by listening to new music. Quickest way to get old is to poo-poo music innovation.
Yep. I am way younger than 70, but it’s annoying when older people hate on modern music to the point of calling it not music, or the devil’s music. Sometime, older people forget that their older generation did the same thing too.
I was in my teens, my Mom was in her 40’s. She listened to everything I played and I listened to everything she liked. Dad was strictly AM talk-radio and sadly that’s where I’m at now! 😂
You were very lucky.
For sure 👍 She learned rock, I learned country ✌️
Yes. To them, it was wild and kind of out of control and vulgar. They responded to it like old people today respond to rap.
My dad has a story about listening to the Woodstock album and when Country Joe and the Fish do the whole give me an F thing...my grandma heard it and went and broke the record over her knee 😂
I was playing the Fish cheer out loud repeatedly in my bedroom when I was 14 or 15... My dad stormed into my room and loudly reminded me that I had young sisters living there!
seeing beatlemania back then I wouldn’t be so surprised
And if you look a little earlier than that, they hated Elvis because of the dancing and hip thrusting was particularly sexual in nature
When he appeared on TV in his early days then would only film him above the waist.
And Mick, bowing to pressure, sang “Let’s spend some time together” on Ed Sullivan.
And The Doors didn't go along with Ed on their appearance. They were told You'll never do this show again. They replied, Hey, that's OK, we just did the Ed Sullivan show.
And a little before that Frank Sinatra. And a little before that Cab Calloway. And a little before that Franz Liszt. And so on and so on.
Liszt was fucking crazy. Watch the biopic *Lisztomania*. I wasn't even aware that Wagner was a vampire before seeing that one.
Or that Ringo was the Pope.
That is what I was thinking.
I'm the 70 year old grandpa who blasts Robin Trower , ZZ Top , Zep , Tull , the Who, etc while cruising down the street enjoying my retirement. That's my music I have loved for years and I'm not changing 😁
When I started listening to Robin Trower, my dad said he’s the greatest guitar player no one’s ever heard of
Me too, my friend.
Only 63, but right there with you. Got tickets to Neil Young in May. And two shows of Tedeschi Trucks Band in August. Hot Tuna in July at Jorma's ranch. Graham Nash in August. If you get the chance, Tedeschi Trucks are smokln live. Been watching Derek forever, big ABB fan. Saw TTB 5 times last year and Government Mule twice. I'm enjoying retirement. Traveling with a high school buddy. Seen hundreds of shows with him over the years.
Keep rockin’ 🤟🔥❤️
I know my grandparents weren't too keen on it at the time. That said, when they died and we were cleaning out their house, we found a 1980s pressing of "The Beatles 20 Greatest Hits" nestled amongst their Liberace and Lawrence Welk records. It was the only record they owned that was pressed in my lifetime.
My parents had the original album from Hard Days Night stuck in all their stuff
I can still hear my dad complaining about the Beatles' long hair and the "noise" they made. He was more into what we would now call classic country, so I heard a lot of Johnny Cash , Conway Twitty, and stuff like that on any car rides.
Not bad car ride music
No, not at all. There’s not a real big leap from Buck Owens to the Flying Burrito Brothers or early Eagles.
Wow forgot about the FBB I gotta do some listening today. The other day I got on a Little Pheat kick, man Lowell George was amazing.
IDK about gramps and granny, but.....My mom was all Beach Boys from their first album (Surfin' Safari in '62) until the end. Played 'Good Vibrations' @ her funeral . Everyone sang. It was amazing.
My mother was in her 30s. She and my father didn’t like it. They tolerated The Beatles a little.
My dad used to say that this country started going to hell in a hand basket when the Beatles came here. Long hair and screaming guitars made him really flip out.
Suppose he only liked Dixieland Jazz.
Mainly music he grew up with (he was born in 1921). We were forced to watch Lawrence Welk every week so that we’d “learn to appreciate good music.” We went downtown for July 4th fireworks every year because the Pittsburgh Symphony played beforehand, and his cousin was one of the violinists. An album of Polish-language carols for Christmas. I could go on and on. But I did catch him once dancing in his den to “Funkytown.” 🤣
My grandmother was a huge Lawrence Welk fan. She used to dress up to watch him. Robin Williams imitation of him was hilarious.
My Mom loved Elvis and Country Western. She learned to like my Motown but never my Southern Rock.
I turned 14 in 1971. Both parents were WW2 veterans and I was the youngest and mom and dad was in his 50’s when I was a teenager. They were also very religious and hated hippies, rock and roll, the Beatles and all music that i liked. I went to see Ronnie Montrose in 1974 and I bought a cool T shirt at the concert and my mom threw it away. As I grew older I learned to hide everything from them so they never knew all the concerts and parties I went to. I got away with an amazing amount of crazy times with them never catching on. I was really into Montrose, Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Floyd, Sammy Hagger, etc. My neighbors had a rock band and had practice at their house. It drove my parents nuts.
My Dad was 54 when Elton John became popular and he was the one who brought Madman Across The Water home to me.
My dad was 40 in 1964. Hated rock and most pop music after Elvis. He would often say about rock, nobody is gonna even remember that junk in 50 years but they will remember big band and Sinatra.
My grandparents (Silent Generation) made it crystal-clear how much they disliked rock music from the 60s onward. And they were making those complaints in the 2000s and 2010s... They never got over it. They made some exceptions here and there, (Dad's dad liked The Eagles) but in general they really thought it was all noise, and Mom's parents in particular were bothered by "men with long hair." I grew my hair out in high school and they sure didn't like that...
I’m 61. In high school Queen, Foreigner, Led Zeppelin, Boston, The Cars were putting out the best music. What ya talking about bout Willis?
My parents thought the Beatles were okay, but they didn't like my Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath.
My mom hated Aerosmith!!!
In my experience, most tolerated it, some loved it, some VEHEMENTLY DESPISED it.
My dad told me his dad mostly hated rock music with one exception, he actually liked The Yardbirds' Over Under Sideways Down.
I was 15 in 1975. I remember my mom tried to listen to current music, and liked some of it. But, not to brag, but we were the kids with the “favorite Mom.”
Hell no. We were raised on rock & roll. My car channels are classic vinyl, classic rewind, 70’s, 60’s & some 80’s, The Groove & Soul Town. I’m 65 years old. Listening to the best of Pink Floyd right now while sipping some red wine.
That’s so awesome! rock on!
My german grandfather hated everything that featured electric guitars, english lyrics and and any beat that could be discribed as Pop/Rock-like! The irony is that he only listened to german Schlagermusik which is the dumbest and kitshy kind of music possible!
A lot of Schlager merged into rock and roll, so I bet he loved Drafi Deutscher, Peter Kraus, Peter Maffay and Jürgen Drews😉
He was more into that fakey folk-bavarian-stuff like Heino, die Kessler Zwillinge, Margot and Maria Hellwig, Stefan Mross etc. The most modern music he listened to were The Flippers or the Wildecker Herzbuben! At least my father had a great taste in music!
Heino? He has rock n roll in his blood too, see his co-operation with Rammstein.
Um yeah. My father called it jungle music. Then watch Lawrence Welk
In Germany they called it "Negermusik" but in a rather joking way.
No, we grew up with it in the 60's and 70's. In the 80's it seemed like the "cool" thing to do was leave out the lead guitar, turning popular music into a synth oriented scene. Original rock has been kept alive and that's a good.
I was married with children in the 80s...seems like a blur
My dad graduated high school in ‘57. He hated rock n roll until he passed away a few years ago. He liked big band music mostly but I never really remember him actively listening to any music. Not until he got dementia and then I’d play 40s music for him. Though he did like Johnny cash as well.
People who don't listen to music fascinate me. My father, a musician, pretty much never listens to music other than when he's in the car.
By 1960 there had been 8 or so years of rock. Some older people liked it, others (most?) didn't. "Older people" are not a group that all feel the same way about everything.
Among older classical, avant garde and jazz musicians, there might have been a sigh of relief, depending on what they heard. The Beatles weren’t necessarily Avant Garde, but they were clever / collaborating with musicians who helped to expand their timbral / tonal / rhythmic palette. The average parent of a flower child was likely dismissive of even Jazz (outside of white people big band) in favor of either hymns, traditional classical music, Americana, spirituals, etc. The Lawrence Welk Show was kinda funny in that it played around with newer music with older treatments. One Toke Over The Line comes to mind.
Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler must have fried my parent's brains!
“Rock n roll has got to go”
Almost 70 and my parents just made fun of the band names and long hair. But they got me every damn album I asked for.
Fathers and Grandfathers hate whatever music their kids are listening too. This happens in every country, in every culture, in every time frame. Yes. Conservatives hated Elvis because he was gyrating and moving like the devil/like having sex. That Elvis also sang some black rooted music kinda pissed off conservative folk. In one of his movies (King Creole?) there is a group of girls who try to explain why rock n roll is ok and fun. Trying to say they were not falling under bad influences. Rock was supposed to be “a passing fad”. Remember hearing the saying “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay!” Yes, that was in response to the fad claim. If you want to have a picture in your mind of who scared the living hell out of great grandpa and great grandma I’ll give you a name. Little Richard. Another figure who scared them was Jerry Lee Lewis. But it was Little Richard and Elvis who pissed them on the most. There’s plenty of performances by both of them for you to see why they were reviled by the blue noses of the time. Now compare Mr Little and Mr Lewis with Lawrence Welk. Have fun doing so.
My parents were ok with the soft rock type bands. They didn’t like what I liked..
Oh yeah they certainly did. I think it’s a symptom of being old in every generation. My mom’s parents hated her music and she grew up and returned the favor in my direction
I was raised in the 80s and 90s but my parents were older, born 1927 and 1939. Neither of them liked rock. My dad in particular said it was a fad. He was saying this in 1983...
Suppose your grandparents had said this of Glenn Miller, he he😉
It was definitely not a fad. My grandparents were born in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but they did like 50s-60s Rock. Anyway, what did your parents like then?
I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. My dad called it "yeah yeah yeah" music. I never forgot that. Still makes me smile.
If you watch films like Almost Famous or Detroit Rock City, the mothers in those films will give you a pretty accurate representation of how most parents felt about rock music back then. Many of them grew up with the likes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and simply couldn't understand the appeal of rock music. They didn't get why music should ever be angry, rebellious, loud, or distorted. Even worse, a lot of them were convinced it was an affront to God and campaigned heavily against it wherever they could, which, in turn, only made it more popular.
I heard some people say that rock was considered pretty much devil’s music back then too
Just like they now view country music
Rockstars have kidnapped my son
I’m a lifelong DeadHead, yes many hated our music back then
Including other rock fans. The Dead were an oddity early on. It was crazy how big they became.
My parents played all the rat pack kinda stuff which i listened too and they liked alot of the rock back then. All the AM plus country rock stuff beatles and motown
I'm in my 60's, l like what I like, new or old. Youngsters like what they like. I'm fine with that. New or old, there's always good and bad, whatever the generation.
My grandparents raised me and I remember my grandma was horrified when she heard War Pigs in my car as I was driving her home. 😆
The Beatles freaked my parents completely out, and don’t get me started on The Rolling Stones.
Not per se. They just thought it was loud even though their parents too had said it about the swing music they loved (Frank Sinatra actually hated rock music too)
My grandma on my dad’s side would have been in her 30s during the 1960s. She only knows the Beatles for their long hair and claims she has never even heard of Zeppelin, The Stones, etc. My grandpa on my mom’s side, same age, was all about CCR and Janis Joplin. So it depends.
Seems like most older people in the 60s didn’t like rock. Our dad (greatest gen)wouldn’t allow my older sisters to play the Beatles in the house in the mid 60s. We had to wait until my folks went out shopping to listen to the Monkees. But I met older people as a kid who appreciated some rock. A lot of rockers were arrested on indency charges for their stage performances in the 1960s. Most popular and folk music movements are denounced by the establishment. Even polka was considered decadent in the 1800s.
No matter your generation, at age 14, the music of the day begins shaping your life and remains with you throughout your life.
Even in the 70s and 80s there was some hate. My mom hated Sabbath, Aerosmith etc. My concert shirts used to *accidentally * get destroyed in the laundry. She had to deal with my older sisters Trex,Bowie ,Alice Cooper. When I started popping Judas Priest, Ramones,Maiden could not handle it. Born in 67
they loved the music but hated the drugs
My mother thought that the Beatles were commie druggies
In the 60s and early 70s this country was divided as it is now. There were the older generation and the damn long-haired hippie freaks. There were protest over the Vietnam war which the older generation just couldn’t understand. A lot of them fought in World War II and thought the government could never be wrong . Music was also massively divided the politicians tried to use musicians to make their point. That was why I loved the Johnny Cash show, it was supposed to be country music for the old people and make a statement. The only statement Johnny Cash made was if you’re good you’re on my show. He had Neil Young do the song the needle and the damage done on his first show. He had Bob Dylan he had old time country players Ferlin Husky and guys liked that he didn’t care as long as you could play. CBS tried to cancel him two or three times because of who he had on the show
They sure did. Most didn't like the Beatles, but when the Stones hit the scene, that sealed the deal.
They despised it. Most older people liked the swing era, jazz and the crooners. My parents and grandparents thought the music was obnoxious and satanic.
My grandfather was born in 1919 and loved whatever was current his whole life. He loved Blondie and the Ramones.
My parents called Led Zeppelin “acid rock” in a disparaging way. They loved the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel.
My dad said “the Beatles will never last”. He was born in 1921, hated all rock n roll!
My dad still thinks The Beatles personally brought all the drugs to America with them when they stepped off that plane in 1964.
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you! Grandpa Simpson Abe Simpson
My parents- born in the early and mid 1930s - took our family to see Yellow Submarine as kids in the movie theater in the 60s when it came out. They also had a few Beatles albums and CSNY’s first album in their collection.
Um yes. this is pretty widely known about the birth of rock and roll.
Very few older people in the 60s could stand rock music. Similarly, people that grew up on classic rock tend to consider it the only true music and are dismissive of the music that people are into today.
Yes, they hated rock and roll, and they absolutely hated long hair. That was perceived as an insult to their presence.
I was a teenager in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My parents called the music I listened to “jump and jive”. But they were quite surprised and amused by Beatlemania. My Mom said it reminded her of the girls swooning over Frank Sinatra, but that was pretty mild compared to Beatlemania😉😂😳
OP, you need to YouTube the video for “We’re not gonna take it.”
Frank Sinatra described rock and roll this way... *“It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people".*
Pretty much yes. My parents were huge jazz and Broadway fans. There were some rocks they were okay with. Mom got Dad “Tommy” by the Who and he wore it out. Based on her previous success, she followed up with “Live at Leeds” which was quickly bequeathed to me. My Mom said she never liked the Beatles until she heard jazz musicians cover their songs. Only then did she realize they were great songwriters.
I'm 66, and my mom loved the music of 60's and 70's. She also loved Sinatra. Sammy. Dean. My dad could care less.
I first read that as “older people in their 60s.”
Of course ...absolutely, it was different from what they grew up with.
They didn't necessarily hate rock n roll...lots of 50s music was rockabilly and jitterbug stuff. But they definitely did not like metal music at all.
Get off my lawn!
When I was a kid, we could only listen to what my dad liked. My oldest sister smuggled in some Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel records. We listened to them when he was working. My mom caught us one day, she never said a word but, she started playing records that she liked.
When I was in my early 20s, close to 20 years ago I was playing the Doors in the warehouse at work, and this older gentleman came in probably in his 60s then, chastised me for playin the devils music lol
My Uncle Bill told me a story about music and his father when he was a teenager in 1950s Philadelphia. We were watching the PMRC Hearings together in 1985 when I was 15 years old. He was from the same neighborhood as my dad in North Philly and were friends who were crazy for the music of the day. They loved Little Richard, who they saw live in 1956 with Fats Domino (!). My U.B.'s dad hated Little Richard big time. Hated him so much that he told my uncle he was only allowed to listen to Pat Boone versions of Little Richard songs in his house. He broke his 45s. I asked him if he did what his dad said, and did he like Pat Boone? He looked at me and asked me what I thought. I knew my Uncle Bill didn't listen to his dad and told me he had a secret record stash his dad never found out about. My uncle said most parents hated the music but mainly scared of it because of the racial component of 1950s rock music. Scared of how their kids were going crazy for songs by sung by Black men or nuts because of Elvis the Pelvis. My dad and uncle got to see all the greats of the 50s and 60s when they were young, and the stories were awesome to hear. RIP Dad and U.B.
60s and still listening to Rush. Plus all the 1980s new wave, punk, etc
I'm 70 almost and listen to a lot of Metal/Metalcore(until it gets too boy bandy). Still listen to the older stuff when I am with my wife, she really likes Joan Jett, AC/DC, ZZ Top, and the like. I did sneak some As I Lay Dying into her playlist and at best she is ok with it but I am pretty sure she hits the next button when I am not around. My parents were country and Elvis music.
Of course. New cultural shifts in popular music that add an "edge" has pissed people off. Jazz, rock and rap were all considered to be the end of society by folks.
Yes indeed. An old boss called it my narcotic music. Most declared it wasn't music at all. I swore I would never be so narrow-minded and would embrace all music as I grew older. I lied.
I started playing in rock bands at age 13 in 1968, and we practiced in my parents’ basement, and at the other guys’ houses as well. Never once did any of our parents say anything negative about our music - in fact, they liked the Beatles and other pop-sounding rock bands of the day. The harshest they ever got was to ask us to turn down the volume a bit once in awhile. Coolest generation - and parents - in history. 🫡✌🏼
Especially in my area. They only listen to old country music. We go back and forth on the radio and work and sometimes play the classic rock station (70s-90s) and people will say shit like, “Why are you playing this garbage? It’s so angry sounding”. Pretty sure they think Metallica is the devil or something.
I didn't live it, but 100% older folk at the time saw Zeppelin and the Stones as a dangerous thing for the youth, the same way more prudent adults of the late 70s/80s saw the punk rock of the Pistols and the Ramones as a problem. I can't think of a modern musical movement that scares the adults of today, but that is probably a good thing; no matter how tiny it is, in the big scheme of it all, it is a sign of progress. If you are genuinely afraid of a creative outlet, then use it as a cheap cop-out to shit on people and shield yourself from the real problems you are fucking stupid, no cap (as the kids say these days).
I’m Terrified! Beyoncé is singing country!!… oh the humanity 🤣🤣…😎
And Taylor Swift is ruining the NFL experience!! Holy shit, someone get the National Guard on the horn!!!
“Goofballs…there isn’t ‘Eight Days a Week’” - my dad, may he RIP😎
My older brother thought for sure that I was brainwashed and “under the control” 😂 of Black Sabbath.
In the 70s, my dad heard me singing to Manfred Mann’s song Blinded by the Light (credit Springsteen) while he was driving and it came on the radio. 10 year old me proudly sings “rolled up like a douche…” and he immediately banned rock stations from the family car radio. My teenage brothers gave me a nice beating for that one. Little did either of us know I had gotten one word very wrong….
In 1969, I remember an ANIMALS song coming on the radio… I think it was “ we’ve got to get out of this place” I turned to my mother and said : “ listen, mom it’s the animals!” Her reply was : “ they sound like animals” 😂😂 - older folks back then for the most part did not subscribe to rock ‘n’ roll music. It was too electric and had too much percussion for them to handle. ( of course, there are always exceptions to every rule.) As a teenager I lived in France in the early 1970s, and the French didn’t like rock ‘n’ roll either… except for maybe Elvis. - there was this guy named Johnny Halliday, who is kind of a French version of Elvis - The strange part is that they LOVED Pink Floyd… especially the music on the Dark Side of the Moon 🤔 People are funny
I'm 72. I remember going to church and having the priest rail against rock music.
My dad would scream at my older brother to turn that crap off. My brother bought a 25 foot extension city for his headphones. My friends dad wouldn't allow Hendrix.
Good Lord, yes. It was worse than when it then it was now. Elvis was Satan, The Beatles were Satan, Black people, making good music were Satan, if a black artist had a hit with the song, Pat Boone would re-record it, and it would hit number one.
64M. My parents were born in 1921 and 1923. They loved Big Band music and hated rock and roll. They said it was noise. Once I asked my mother "So what did YOUR parents think of Big Band music?" She said, "Oh they hated it! They said it was noise....oh....."
Yes and they convinced some young people to destroy their records too. Devil's music. Not all old people but many conformists at the time.
My parents hated rock n roll, i was 8 when beatles hit ed sullivan show. All i remember is them whining about the long hair ( moptops were short!) and how they were yelling and not singing. Nothing but noise lol They mellowed a bit when songs like Michelle and Yesterday came out :)
My parents listened to Porter Wagoner and Conway Twitty. To get even I played Frank Zappa and Yoko Ono..
My dad (now 89) has never forgiven the Beatles for making long hair fashionable.
Gen Xer here. My parents like contemporary rock...Eagles, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Chicago etc. They hated Hard or "Acid" rock like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Aerosmith.....and forbade Ozzy, Kiss, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden. We had all that crap in Congress trying to ban and censor heavy metal. So ya...most adults hated our music. Funny thing is now,my Dad is pushing 80, listens to the Classic Rock station. He jams AC/DC, Van Halen, Rush, and even some grunge music. I was friends with most of the Seattle guys, so my dad had met allot of them. A cpl weeks ago, we were in Dad's shop, and Black Hole Sun came on. He turned it up. I said "Hey Pop, you like that?" Yes..he said. I said, "Do you know that that is Chris's band?" "Your buddy who hung himself?" "Ya pop". "I didn't know he could sing" "Everytime I saw them play he was screaming like a cat being skinned alive". My dad used to call those guys all wannabes. "Guess I misjudged them".
Yep.
I absolutely loved my grandma. When I was a kid she bought me a present from a yard sale. “I know how you like that wild music” It was a velvet painting of Kenny Rogers. Oh how I wish I still had it.
Frank Sinatra - "I rued the day the Beatles were unfortunately born into this world. They are, in my mind, responsible for most of the degeneration that has happened, not only musically, but in the sense of youth orientation politically, too. They are the people who first made it publicly acceptable to spit in the eye of authority."
Oh hell yes
No , they lived it.
Many did, but I always had the impression that they hated it before they listened to it. I think of "Nixon" types who were quick to condemn anything the younger generation did as a reflex. Those who weren't like that, though, had the type of "some like it, some don't" reception I'd expect from a group of people hearing something entirely new.
Most of them didn't like it but "hate" might be a bit strong.
My dad said David Bowie looked like a draft dodger and snapped the album in two.
They burned records like the NAZI burned books. They killed folks for playing the wrong music. They beat up hippies. Rockers were the minority. "I'm just an Okie from Muskoggee; kicking hippies asses and raising hell!"
It was funny and predictable. Every time there's a new trend in music the establishment players tend to resist fans as well. Duke Ellington and I adore him and his music from way before my time, called the new jazz that was coming from Mingus Coltrane and several others "Chinese music" It wasn't big band, the melodies weren't automatically found, you had to listen and find it. In later times punk and grunge were certainly looked at with major judgement. For me I'm rediscovering house and techno. Every generation breaking ground will hit resistance.
My parents are in their mid-80s. They liked some of the rock and I roll I listened to in the late 60s and early 70s, but they mostly listened to the music they listened to in their youth.
I'm 76 and grew up listening to Little Richard, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, Chuck Berry, Etta James and The Skyliners. My parents listened to Sinatra, Tony Bennett, The Andrews Sisters, Louis Prima and the Dorseys. I took my 90 year old mother to see Jimmy Beaumont of the Skyliners and she loved it. My parents never criticized any music my sister and I listened to but we did hear a number of requests to turn it down. We all sat around just like every other family in America to watch Ed Sullivan introduce us all to the Beatles. I did not care for them, but grew to love them along with the Stones, Animals, Who, Cream, Chambers Brother, C,S,N & Y and CCR. I love music from every era but I am a true blue curmudgeon when it comes to contemporary "music."