How were you introduced to music?

[Your Mom]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately because my daughter is starting to enjoy listening to music with me, but am I biasing her towards the bands I like? I mean should a 3 year old be reacting to and enjoying Green Day (seemingly one of her favorites)? I mean I know she just enjoys the sounds and doesn't get the lyrics but still.

I know my parents listened to stuff like Duran Duran and Def Leppard with me so as a little one I liked them. Should I try to expose her to everything or let her just enjoy now and find the other stuff when she gets older like I did?

[apsham]

I never really listened to music much in my childhood outside of the Chipmunks, and I never really listened to any kind of music until around 1999 or 2000... with one exception. At a yardsale one day I picked up a Garth Brooks cassette tape... and that was my first ever exposure... I bought nearly every Brooks album after that.

[probablyoliver]

My Dad made me a casette, and all I remember is sitting in my living room listening to Rocky Racoon and Hey Jude on repeat. I remember after that Hey Jude being drilled into me at every family occassion, every party and every christmas, thus it became one of my favourite songs of all time.

My sister was also a huge influence on me, she had five years on me, and I remember being the only 10 year old who listened to bands like Morcheeba, Massive Attack and the Verve.

I was pretty much an elitist from birth.

[Guest Onkel Hans]

I was never really 'into' music (as in caring about what I might be listening to in a car or whatever) until I was about 14/15...and then, it seemed to be mostly classic rock, which I know is what my parents were into when I was younger.

[MalaCloudy Black]

As cliche as it sounds I was raised on rock (or rawk, rokk or any other variants). My parents - namely my dad - used to listen to music all the time. He'd come home from work and put on Black Sabbath's Paranoid or Lynyrd Skynyrd of Cheap Trick or hell, just whatever he was in the mood to listen to while he played with me. I didn't really have any interest in music outside of what they listened to until I was about 12, when I started listening to Metallica because of my friends. So it took off from there.

[JimbobJoylove]

Neither of my parents were majorly into music, although whenever my Dad put something on it would be Parliament, Doors, George clinton, Donna Summer, David Bowie, Johnny Guitar Watson or John Lee Hooker. I started borrowing the albums of his that I liked when I was about 12 or 13 as I couldn't afford to buy new albums at the time (before my digital/mp3 generation you see), and only really ever bought new ones at my birthday or christmas.

Thankfully I never borrowed my Mums cds, Elton John still makes me feel physically sick.

[DMN in the House]

I was raised on country music, and, for the most part, can't stand the shit now, so, take that for what it's worth. When I was about 12 or 13, I was hanging out with my aunt's neighbor, and started listening to rap, then, from there, moved on to punk and metal, which is pretty much what I'm into now.

Maybe I'm just weird.

[Bodom]

I discovered music that I liked by myself, my friends, nor my family helped me out with that.

The first moment I decided I liked music a lot, was when I saw Rage Against the Machine's "Testify" video.

However my father used to kick the shit out of me because of themusic I liked, but that never infleuenced me either. Years later my intrest in musc has grown even more.

[Nerf]

Grew up listening to Pink Floyd and Queen and pretty much went from there.

[Pesci]

I got myself into music. My mum used to listen to shit like Destiny's Child, which I wasn't about to get into, and my dad has never been a great music lover... by that I mean he never listens to any at all. But yeah, first of all I liked Limp Bizkit because of their connection with the WWF, and I got into message boards and Linkin Park were quite popular (in 2001), so I got into bands like that, then I downloaded a bunch of classics. And it stemmed from there really.

[Skummy]

It was pretty much always around me, growing up. My Grandad was a folk singer...barely ever performed, but he had a ton of old country and skiffle records that I'd listen to from time to time, which is where my love for Hank Williams and Johnny Cash comes from, my father was big into Springsteen, that's one of the main things I can remember from growing up, as well as a load of classic rock stuff (Deep Purple, mostly, I seem to remember), while my Mother listened to The Beautiful South and The Housemartins an awful lot, and VH1 was on my TV pretty much non-stop from the day it started airing in the UK.

One of my older brothers was the biggest influence, though, he was into a lot of grunge and hard rock stuff (it being the '90s, and all), so I had that playing all around me growing up, as my parents were either working or drinking most of the time, and when my father was at home he spent more time with my twin brother, who had much more in common with him, and my eldest brother was pretty much a recluse, so it pretty much fell on Matt (the grunge-listening brother, if you managed to keep track through all that) to look after me most of the time, so I have distinct memories of listening to Screaming Trees or Soundgarden or Nirvana while playing Altered Beast or Streets Of Rage 2 long into the night.

As well, Matt played guitar, which to a kid growing up in a farming community where there were very few young people was the coolest thing ever...he was the only "rock" musician around, and when I was little I was just convinced it would end up making him famous. We always had tapes of his stuff around the house, and I didn't realise how easy it was to record, so back then it seemed like such a huge deal.

So...basically, I was brought up with music everywhere, there's no way I wouldn't have got into it. I didn't start buying my own stuff and really looking out for it until I was about twelve or thirteen, at which point I was getting a lot of stick from school friends for buying "old crap" (I remember that vividly; I'd bought "Appetite For Destruction", and my twin brother and plenty of his friends were all about whatever the latest pop-punk or nu-metal band was doing, and they thought it really sad that I'd bought an "old" album), by the time I was in Year 10 and 11, and I was buying Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Johnny Cash albums, they'd all but given up on me. Some of them have seen sense since, though

[tristy]

I remember long road trips to Florida, and we were listening to gospel (my mom) and bands like Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple or Eric Clapton (my dad).

The first real band that I, myself, can remember enjoying was Limpbizkit, due to the video for "Nookie".

[DMN in the House]

Tristy has a thing for guys in puffy jackets.

[Number of the Breast]

I was raised on music like Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, the Scorpions and Guns N' Roses. Like a lot of people, I went through phases as I grew up, but eventually came home, so to speak. My parents, mainly my dad, influenced my tastes and turned me onto a lot of artists I still love to this day, and nowadays I turn them onto a lot of the artists I listen to as well. Music's always been a huge part of my life, and even though I was likely to come back to hard rock and heavy metal, I like to think I made the choice by myself.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Aaron Maiden

[ONO]

I was always into rap as a kid, then I went off it tho the past year I've really got into it again and I'm lovin' it. Some awesome shit out there.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Lost Soul

[Clawson]

I can only really remember three bands from my childhood: Eagles, Supertramp and U2. I mean there were others but those are the three that have had the staying power from my childhood.

[RPS]

My dad raised me on black music. When I was young, he used to play me Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and the Clash (who aren't black, but were definitely influenecd by black music). My dad was always playing really awesome music, he wasn't like other dads. My dad didn't give a shit about Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd or the Beatles, he was way more interested in playing the latest Alice and Chains. I mean, even today he listens to Damian Marley, Bedouin Soundclash, the Mars Volta, Final Fantasy. He is a pretty bitching father.

[Your Mom]

So it's good that my daughter enjoys the music now? I don't want her growing up and being all "Green Day? Why do I like this shit?!?" ya know? Although I guess part of being a parent is passing things onto your kids.

[Clawson]

In all fairness it is a legitimate question to ask when Green Day is involved.

[Styk]

i was basically brought up on 80s metal. There were lots of other things that my parents listened to but as a kid my favourite songs were "We're not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister and "TNT" by AC/DC. As i got older i just kinda branched out to other things.

In answer to the question though. I wouldn't worry about it, because when she is older she will find what she likes on her own.