大象传媒

A person's musical education can often be traced back to their parents, with tastes influenced by years of car rides soundtracked by meticulously-curated mixtapes.

6 Music’s Steve Lamacq pays homage to this intergenerational passing of the musical mantle every Tuesday on his show with a feature that sees kids reviewing a song that their parent holds dearly. The name of the game? Dinosaur To Jr - named after the US alt-rockers, of course.

So, what did these four kids make of their parents' favourite music? Here's how it all went...

George’s music taste:

George, the 10-year-old son of 6 Music listener David, names his favourite artists as George Ezra and Rag'n'Bone Man, but is also quite partial to some of his father’s record collection. “I do like a lot of the stuff that [my dad] plays… I sort of have to like it because he plays it a lot,” George tells Steve, citing The Beatles, David Bowie and Kraftwerk (the latter of which he saw live in concert a couple of years ago) as particular acts that his dad has managed to successfully introduce him to.

What his dad picked to play:

George’s father David himself took musical inspiration from his elders while growing up, listening to a lot of the same music as his older siblings when he was George's age. One person David didn’t share similar tastes with, however, was his own father, who was more into classic crooners like Frank Sinatra and Matt Monro. “My dad seemed to be stuck in the 1950s,” David admits to Lammo.

On why he chose The Cure’s 1987 single Just Like Heaven to play for George, David explains that the song had a family connection. “It was actually an album that my wife bought me, so there’s a lot of memories wrapped up in it,” David says while sharing memories of watching The Cure headline Glastonbury in 1990 with his wife, the first time the couple had attended Worthy Farm together, and of which David says he still has “hazy memories” of.

The verdict:

It was the first time that George had heard not only Just Like Heaven but The Cure’s music as a whole, and the recommendation went down pretty well. “I liked the rhythm,” George tells Steve in his feedback. “Some of the words I couldn’t quite understand, but [Robert Smith has a] good voice. A bit weird and strange, but I liked it.”

So would George give The Cure’s music another spin? “Yes, probably” he replies. Seeing as George is attending this year’s Glastonbury Festival with his dad, perhaps he’ll even get to see them live too. As for George’s dad, David says he’s looking forward to George recommending him some music in the future: “He’s been developing his own tastes and making his own playlists… I hope as he gets older, he’ll introduce me to stuff.”

Eilidh’s music taste:

Despite being 11-years-old, Eilidh’s music taste lies firmly in the rock canon, picking out the likes of Queen and David Bowie as her favourites at the moment - although she’s not quite decided whether to pronounce the latter's surname as "Boh-wee" or "Bow-ee". While Eilidh says that a lot of her friends are also into Queen, she’s also pretty complimentary of her dad’s musical preferences too. “It’s good,” she tells Steve, rating her father's tastes an eight or nine out of 10. So far, so promising then.

What her dad picked to play:

Eilidh’s dad Jonathan, a 6 Music listener who lives in Edinburgh, admits that he was “slightly nervous” as to what his daughter’s reaction to his chosen track would be. Although Eilidh has responded well to his recommendations so far, he concedes that it would be “hard to beat” his own father’s musical chops. Jonathan explains how his dad grew up in Liverpool during the 1950s and 60s and was a fan of The Beatles (of course) and other Merseybeat bands. “He [liked] some reasonable stuff,” Jonathan says of his father. “I think he went to the Cavern [Club] one or twice. John Lennon was only two years above him in school.”

Jonathan says he’s a fan of Massive Attack, John Grant, IDLES, Jon Hopkins and “everything in between”, but decided to pick a song and artist that he was sure that Eilidh would never had heard. Opting for shoegazers Curve and their 1991 single Coast Is Clear, Jonathan says: “I had quite a few [songs] in mind, but I wanted to pick a track that I’ve not yet played with Eilidh around, so it’d be a good one to just spring on her.”

The verdict:

Jonathan need not have been nervous. “I liked it. It was good,” Eilidh says after the track was played. “It wasn’t too heavy. It was kind of relaxing and I liked the drums.” Of singer Toni Halliday’s vocal performance, Eilidh adds: “I thought her voice was soothing and nice to listen to.”

Overall a success then, with Eilidh saying that she would listen again (and might have to, seeing as her parents control what’s played on the car stereo). It’s inspired Jonathan to “go down new routes” with his musical recommendations too. “It could be the re-emergence of some proper shoegazing in this household,” he jokes.

Lily’s music taste:

Lily, 17, has been described as “scathing” when it comes to her dad’s musical preferences, but she's a little more diplomatic on air, telling Lammo: “It’s not bad music. I can tell it’s good, but I just really don’t enjoy it.” Her own tastes are varied, ranging from “folk music to Blink-182”. While her friends are more into chart acts, Lily’s current favourite artist is singer-songwriter and YouTuber Dodie Clark.

What her dad picked to play:

Lily’s dad Simon grew up on punk and has been a lifelong U.K. Subs fan. He even fulfilled a dream of sorts when his band W.O.R.M. (who Simon describes as “old school punk, 1,000 miles a hour, 18 songs in half hour”) were recently booked to support the group live.

When Simon has tried to play Lily some U.K. Subs and other “dirty punk” bands in the past, he says she has been mostly “quite appalled” by what she’s heard. For his Dinosaur To Jr pick, Simon opts instead for something a little less raw in the form of London alt-rock outfit The Godfathers’ Time Is Now. Lammo points out that while it’s “not a punk rock song”, the track shares the same “fury” that punk possessed. As Simon puts it: “They’re not off The X Factor, they’re not autotuned to death. It’s about the passion and ferocity.”

The verdict:

Sadly, The Godfathers doesn't garner a great response from Lily, who says that while “it wasn’t that bad” and “not the worst” her dad has ever played her, she ultimately wouldn’t listen to it again. "I like a tune that I can hum along too, which I can never do with that kind of music," she tells Steve. However, there were some positives, with Lily saying: "I like how the rhythm was changing and at the end, it sounds a bit like Ace Of Spades [by Motörhead]."

Rory’s music taste:

Rory, 12, boasts a diverse music taste, liking everything from “indie to rap to punk and rock”. He cites his top artists as Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie, Public Enemy and MGMT, as well as musical comedians like Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords, but picks out New York glam-pop duo The Lemon Twigs as his favourite band at the moment.

What his mother picked to play:

At Rory’s age, mother Fiona was into the likes of Blondie and Gary Numan but also ABBA. “We were very limited [back then],” she recalls. “My parents had vinyl LPs and I went through their collection and had to deal with what they had.” Fiona remembers one Christmas getting a Gary Numan album, which shocked her grandfather at the time. “He couldn’t compute it at all. He said, ‘What’s happened to him? He looks like he’s been dipped in a bag of flour.’”

While she concedes that Rory may not be “quite there yet” when it comes to Bob Dylan and is “finding it difficult” to get into Tom Waits, Fiona is a bit more optimistic about what he’d think about her choice for Dinosaur To Jr. Having initially considered 80s new wave outfit The Monochrome Set before, upon listening back, deciding it sounded a bit “old fashioned”, Fiona instead goes for something a bit more modern, choosing Wolverhampton psych-rockers Yak’s 2019 single Fried.

The verdict:

Rory’s verdict on Yak has to be among the most resounding we’ve had on Dinosaur To Jr - he tells Lammo how he “really enjoyed” the way the song “just breaks out” and how it made him “feel very pumped.” Rory is especially impressed with the distortion and musicality of the band, asking of the threepiece: “How many bassists do you think they have? Five?” Saying that he would “definitely” listen to Yak again, Rory will actually get to see the band live very soon, as he plans on seeing them at this year’s Green Man Festival. A job well done, Fiona.

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