One of my abiding memories of my childhood is my father singing in the car. John Denver, Glenn Campbell, Abba, Billy Jo Spears, Kenny Rogers, Neil Diamond (but only the OST from the Jazz Singer) and the OST from Phantom were all aired routinely. I seem to remember some Peters and Lee tapes floating around as well but thank God they never seemed to make it into the car. My Mum on the other hand was always listening to Gloria Hunniford on Radio 2 whose show sucked big time because she was always playing 50s slush.
Now however I realise my tastes have been shaped by my parents. Not only that, but I am shaping the musical tastes of my own children. Apart from Billy Jo Spears and Peters and Lee, all of the above are on my i-pod. Courtesy of the shuffle settings on my i-pod though, the childrens' tastes are becoming quite eclectic. The eldest of course loves Hannah Montannah but is also partial to rock music, Ladytron, and other up tempo stuff. She cannot stand slow ballads or tinkly piano songs. Our youngest is a bit of an 80's fan though, and quite likes 'Doctor Doctor' by the Thom(p)son Twins and most stuff by the Pet Shop Boys. They are also both quite happy to mosh along to the Doctor Who theme. Ahem..
So how does Bob Seger (singer of blue collar C&W rock) fit into this? Well, another memory I have is buying this album from Something-or-another-Mart in the US in the summer of 1991 and then playing the album to death until I wore it out circa 1994. The tape eventually found its way into the loft and then a few days ago I finally got round to buying it on CD. Which is now being played to death again. Not quite sure why it took me so long to buy it on CD, but funnily enough, the current warm weather reminded me of sitting in the back of the rental car in 1991 listening to this and thinking then it was quite a John-Denvery thing to be into aged 19. Tissue memory is a funny thing I guess.
Anyway, the kids are about to get a high dose of Bob over the next few weeks, so we'll see how they get on. Maybe in 20 years they'll be blogging about him too.
