Music is with us throughout our lives, but our taste develops and changes over time.
When you are younger, kiddish or more innocent music may appeal to someone, but as they get older, they might start listening to more explicit music, or maybe even the tone of the lyrics and melody change.
While music taste develops over time and people might change it every month, many people will still question if their music taste comes from their parents or if their parents had any guidance to the songs in their playlists today.
For most people growing up, their parents would play music in the car with them or when they were working on something. Hearing this music at a young age and even rocking out with dad in the car could attract kids more toward that music genre than others.
The sense of familiarity drives people to find more songs in a particular genre. Some pieces may even hold memories that they want to replay whenever they hear the song. Other genres and songs may give people a sense of deja vu or hold onto them with a grudge.
“I Write Songs” by Barry Manilow reminds me of summertime with my friends,” London Peterson said.
Peterson’s mom introduced her to her music taste with things like records and old-school artists.
“I listen to a lot of ‘70s and ‘80s love songs or pop,” Peterson said.
Peterson shares similar interests in music with her mom and some typical songs with her dad. Her parents have influenced her and her sister’s taste in music since they were young. Blasting old tunes in the car and listening to ‘70s pop together.
While Peterson shares a musical taste with her parents, Rick Anderson shares similar interests instead.
“My parents and I have different tastes, but they loved old school music, and I listen to a lot of that,” Anderson said. “Eventually, they ended up loving my music.”
He started listening to hard rock and has changed his taste over the years. Anderson’s music taste has eventually evolved and he now listens to jazz as well. His music blasts through the hallways of LHS as he waits for the bell to ring and his first class to start.
While Anderson and Peterson both agree that your parents heavily influence music tastes in kids and adults, that does not necessarily mean that their music tastes will be the same.
For example, my musical tastes are similar to my dad’s. While I grew up listening to many of his favorite songs on long car rides or just for fun, I also grew up listening to my mom’s playlist. My mom and I have different tastes in music, though. While we both like some of the same songs and can agree on a pop playlist, our tastes do not always match.
Parents still have some form of influence or guidance on our music tastes. Whether it is just a few songs or an entire genre they introduce to their children, they give us at least our first favorite songs.
