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My Parents were Squares!

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DogsoverLava

New Member
Hey Guys --- I can admit it. My folks - as dear as they are and were to me - well they were squares. Here's the rub: I was born in 1969 to parents born in the early 40's ---- prime for inheriting an awesome vinyl collection no? You'd think I would be swimming in Zeppelin, and Doors, and Stones, and Beatles -- Woodstock here I come right? --- No such luck.

Well I have their record collection (which they seemed to have stopped collecting in 1975) as well as my Grandfather's -- and I'm slowly building my catalog on discogs as I make trips in and out of our storage locker. I figure there's maybe 500 albums total -- mixed in with a few I bought as a pre-teen and young teen (my biggest regret is that my collection was largely cassette until CD's came out).

Just thought I'd post a link to my collection as I slowly get it cataloged. The stuff there now is all the obvious (and slightly less obvious) stuff that isn't too embarrassing - but I do plan to catalog it all -- the 30 barber shop quartet albums of my grandfather's and my mom's Jim Nabors albums included though they have yet to go up.

http://www.discogs.com/collection?user=DogsoverLava

Here you go.

Don't be fooled by some of the cool disks though --- I bought those when I was young or relatively recent.

cheers
 
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Just be glad you have still your parents old collection to dig through.

I'm sure it will bring back many memories.
 
That Ray Charles is a classic. Bobby Darin was always cool. Can't go wrong with Joe Venuti. The Dinah Washington LP's aren't her best, but she's always worth a listen, and the Aretha tribute is no doubt pretty good. Ravi Shankar is great when you're in a mood for him.
 
DogsoverLava said:
I was born in 1969 to parents born in the early 40's ---- prime for inheriting an awesome vinyl collection no? You'd think I would be swimming in Zeppelin, and Doors, and Stones, and Beatles -- Woodstock here I come right? --- No such luck.
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Doesn't surprise me.

Your parent's were born ten-years too early, or were from a rural community. Back then we were not as homogeneous a continents as we are now. Communication was slower and some regions were ten-years behind others in fashion, taste, and music. Radio stations were more regional and there was no Internet. Even the Beatles relied on main-stream "square" TV programming for their initial exposure. We just didn't communicate that well. The ad I saw for Woodstock was in the New Yorker magazine. New Yorker for crissakes. But I went!

I was a child of the '50s growing up in the Midwest and it took forever for music to make it to Missouri. Hell, we even drove to Colorado just to buy Coors beer, though now I wonder why we bothered!
 
BMWCCA said:
Doesn't surprise me.

Your parent's were born ten-years too early, or were from a rural community. Back then we were not as homogeneous a continents as we are now. Communication was slower and some regions were ten-years behind others in fashion, taste, and music. Radio stations were more regional and there was no Internet. Even the Beatles relied on main-stream "square" TV programming for their initial exposure. We just didn't communicate that well. The ad I saw for Woodstock was in the New Yorker magazine. New Yorker for crissakes. But I went!
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This in a nutshell

My mom grew up in an isolated company town on the coast of BC (Ocean Falls) - about as isolated as you could get. My Dad grew up poor in rural Okanagan. My mom had the most records - my Dad had maybe 5. Her tastes and exposure to what was happening was limited for sure.
 
chicks said:
That Ray Charles is a classic. Bobby Darin was always cool. Can't go wrong with Joe Venuti. The Dinah Washington LP's aren't her best, but she's always worth a listen, and the Aretha tribute is no doubt pretty good. Ravi Shankar is great when you're in a mood for him.
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Yup - all good - a mix of their's and my music. The Bobby Darin was my Mom's. Really enjoyed that. Ray Charles and Joe Venuti were both my grandfather's -- the other's - mine.

These first 100 or so albums are a mix of my stuff and the most obvious stuff from their joint collections. Where it's going to get really interesting is the next 400 or so that are still in storage. My wife and I are determined to give it all a listen with open minds. We hope to find some real gems.
 
re: parents' album colection, it was all classical and big band jazz. my gradparents (make that grandmother) had the cool stuff: gosepl, R&B, soul, even prewar and "urban" (read: chicago) blues. she also admired -- and forced both my parents to watch on SUllivan -- The Beatles in '64, Iam told. I was there, but as a 2 y.o in diapers, The Beatles made less of an impression on me that evening than, say, Topo Gigio would have.
 
My Dad wasn't. He introduced me to The Fifth Dimension, Simon & Garfunkel, Jose Feliciano, Bob Newhart and The 1812 Overture. And I paid him back when I was very young by destroying his guitar.
 
BMWCCA said:
Doesn't surprise me.

Your parent's were born ten-years too early, or were from a rural community. Back then we were not as homogeneous a continents as we are now. Communication was slower and some regions were ten-years behind others in fashion, taste, and music. Radio stations were more regional and there was no Internet. Even the Beatles relied on main-stream "square" TV programming for their initial exposure. We just didn't communicate that well. The ad I saw for Woodstock was in the New Yorker magazine. New Yorker for crissakes. But I went!

I was a child of the '50s growing up in the Midwest and it took forever for music to make it to Missouri. Hell, we even drove to Colorado just to buy Coors beer, though now I wonder why we bothered!
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:lmao:

I'm a 60s kid. ND is 10 years behind and my folks were stuck in the 40s. We went to MT for Coors. I'll never forget my first swig of Coors. "OMG WTF!"
 
It was TOUGH bein' a Rock 'n' Roller here, when the societal norm ran the full gamut from Gospel, Country, to Country/Western. Cowboys, Rednecks, & Jesus...Oy, Vey !! (grin)
 
My folks were born in the 20s.
Grandpa (WWI Lafayette Flying Corps combat pilot) had a Victrola and tons of military marches & fox-trots.
There were various classical & Jazz mixed in.
I restored the Vickie and have a bunch of big band & classical 78s but never play them.

My dad was in the US Army Entertainment Corps in WWII
He was mainly into movies and acoustics. He set-up movie theaters in France.
When he got out he built a Heathkit and used an AR2a.
They played the Classics, some French singers, Elvis and some big-band.
I remember dancing to Louis Armstrong with my mom when I was still an anklebiter.

I always had a radio, tubes at first then transistor when those became available.
I remember jumping on my bed hooting when I first heard Sympathy For The Devil when I was 7.

They hated hard rock but my mom liked Yes and some Led Zeppelin & Pink Floyd.
She was very cool and I miss her.

I'm glad they turned me on to Elvis, Jazz and Classical and not military & fox-trots. :music:

I recently scored the identical Prokofiev record we played when I was a kid.
Mine is a mint 55 year old Columbia 6-eye that was unopened when I got it for under a buck.

The best thing I got from them is who I am not what I have :yes:

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My brother who was born in 1954, is a huge Dean Martin, Mills Brother's fan. To him, their better than the Beatles and Stones combined.
 
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DogsoverLava said:
Hey Guys --- I can admit it. My folks - as dear as they are and were to me - well they were squares. Here's the rub: I was born in 1969 to parents born in the early 40's ---- prime for inheriting an awesome vinyl collection no? You'd think I would be swimming in Zeppelin, and Doors, and Stones, and Beatles -- Woodstock here I come right? --- No such luck.

Well I have their record collection (which they seemed to have stopped collecting in 1975) as well as my Grandfather's -- and I'm slowly building my catalog on discogs as I make trips in and out of our storage locker. I figure there's maybe 500 albums total -- mixed in with a few I bought as a pre-teen and young teen (my biggest regret is that my collection was largely cassette until CD's came out).

Just thought I'd post a link to my collection as I slowly get it cataloged. The stuff there now is all the obvious (and slightly less obvious) stuff that isn't too embarrassing - but I do plan to catalog it all -- the 30 barber shop quartet albums of my grandfather's and my mom's Jim Nabors albums included though they have yet to go up.

http://www.discogs.com/collection?user=DogsoverLava

Here you go.

Don't be fooled by some of the cool disks though --- I bought those when I was young or relatively recent.

cheers
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Can't figure your Post out because my Parents were both born in 1906 and I in 1947 and both of them loved Music but never had any real amount of Lp's or whatever and I started loving and collecting all forms in the 50's.I don't and never considered them to be SQUARES ever.I shall be 65 in a few months and lived and loved listening to 50's 60' 70's and 80's as well as 40+ years playing in Bands this very stuff.I still do but also remember what my Parents did like and listen to whether it be on Radio or ? and I like it also or at least some of it.Outside of Opera I now like for the most part everything when I was growing up but have come to realize and appreciate a lot of other styles/forms/gendres of Music from before my time and outside of Rock and to me that's the way it should be! SQUARES INDEED!:thmbsp: P/S It's not about one form or another being square or better but rather living long enough and being smart enough to embrace all forms and eras of Music while you are still alive but I guess you have to live long enough to realize it!:) TIME stops for no one and it will happen to you all one day also I believe or at least it should:)
 
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That west side story lp would be awesome to own, I have looked for a good copy of that for a bit. See it in the thrifts but looks like it was used as a chopping board....
 
I looked at the list and think it contains the building blocks of a great collection!

Heck, you even have a couple of Gatemouth Brown LPs :thmbsp:

Roger
 
I was lucky to get my parents and grandparents record collections. The christmas records are the things I cherish most.
 
Redikilowatt said:
I looked at the list and think it contains the building blocks of a great collection!

Heck, you even have a couple of Gatemouth Brown LPs :thmbsp:

Roger
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Thanks Roger -- I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear -- 90% of what's added so far is my own stuff -- I've yet to really add my parent's stuff (I cherry picked a few pieces). The rest is in storage and I'll add it as I go.

The other poster described it pretty well -- rural and behind the times. That Jim Nabors LP was my mom's... I think that was 1973 --- She would have been 29/30 years old in 73 ---- I can only imagine how she skipped over Led Zeppelin IV to find that gem in the record store.
 
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BOUXY said:
Can't figure your Post out because my Parents were both born in 1906 and I in 1947 and both of them loved Music but never had any real amount of Lp's or whatever and I started loving and collecting all forms in the 50's.I don't and never considered them to be SQUARES ever.I shall be 65 in a few months and lived and loved listening to 50's 60' 70's and 80's as well as 40+ years playing in Bands this very stuff.I still do but also remember what my Parents did like and listen to whether it be on Radio or ? and I like it also or at least some of it.Outside of Opera I now like for the most part everything when I was growing up but have come to realize and appreciate a lot of other styles/forms/gendres of Music from before my time and outside of Rock and to me that's the way it should be! SQUARES INDEED!:thmbsp: P/S It's not about one form or another being square or better but rather living long enough and being smart enough to embrace all forms and eras of Music while you are still alive but I guess you have to live long enough to realize it!:) TIME stops for no one and it will happen to you all one day also I believe or at least it should:)
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I'm was trying to be light-hearted ---- what I found so far was that my Dad may have been a secret bopper --- but he grew up too poor to collect music (the Fats Domino Album was his) and literally had maybe 3 or 4 albums. My mom on the other hand --- most of the "offending" collection was hers (yet to be cataloged). It's best described by the Jim Nabors double LP from 1973 -- My mom was 29 or 30 ---- Can you imagine what she had to walk by to purchase that?

Of course I love music in all it's genres -- I'm 42 and I've hauled this collection around for years and I didn't even have a TT. Like I said -- what's cataloged so far isn't representative of the collection I inherited yet -- most of it is mine with a few cherry picked albums. I think as rock n roll as my mom got was a few Ricky Nelson Albums I'm waiting to list. I do just find it funny though --- especially when I see that Jim Nabors album --- played it this weekend -- it was killing me thinking that when she bought it she would have literally walked by a first pressing of Zeppelin IV to get to the "n"s.
 
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