70’s Parents vs.’05 Parents

There is no longer any gap because "those long haired hippies" are now your parents!

I think it still exists...Look at music for example; When we were kids we liked popular rock and roll to some extent. Nowadays we simply don't understand it. I mean, how many of us out there who is over the age 30 really likes rap?

The generation gap is alive and well out there.

I was very fortunate in this regard.  My parents were both progressive left socio-politically, so they were naturally more "permissive" than most parents.  My two brothers and I were allowed to wear our hair long, as long as it was clean and relatively well-groomed.  As for rock music, my mother was into The Beatles as early and as much as we were, and also liked some other (admittedly not loud) rock groups.  Eventually, she even grew to like Led Zeppelin, among others.  (My father could "take or leave" all rock music, but he never questioned or criticized our listening to it.)

As for the relative difference "then and now," I think part of it may have been that (i) chronologically, our parents were relatively older than we were, while parents of today tend to be closer in age to their children, even if only slightly so, and (ii) due to the relative rapidity with which children "grow up" today (vis-a-vis technology, etc.) and the advances in medicine and health that allow "older" people to look, and thus "feel" and act, "younger," the "gap" between the ages of parents and their children has shrunk not just chronologically, but otherwise as well.

Any takers on my theory?

Peace.

My father was 50 when I was born.. my mother was 42... so there was quite a generation gap between me and my parents in regard to age anyway.  My father designed and built city parks and he loved country music and could play a pretty mean bluegrass banjo and well as the mouthharp.  My Mom was a housewife and played mostly hymns on the piano.  However, both of them were completely tolerant of my music.. even when loud.. and they never even complained while in the car with me if I had the radio turned up.  My Dad bought me a drumset when I was 14, and I would put headphones on and bang away to the Stones or Deep Purple.  I caught my Mom singing "Closer to Home" a few times... she also knew all the words to most of James Taylor's stuff... She liked Yes and ELP... She watched the California Jam with me when it came on tv in april 74... and she thought ELP were terrific and she thought Carl Palmer looked like Romeo...  

When I left home with ELP, the first time I called her to tell her where I was, she wasn't even upset... she told me to just be careful...  She also liked Neil Diamond... maybe thats why I do too... it reminds me of her.

Edited by threefates

My parents were quite old when I was born too. They hated my music - heavy metal - and hated the way I dressed. My mum was more tolerant of it than my dad, who thought that someone wearing a denim jacket would cause the property values in our street to tumble!

Then one of my fathers Tory voting friends, announced that his son was probably going to Oxford, and was expected to get four straight 'A's in his A levels. This long haired chap was also a heavy metal fan, so my father decided that intelligent people, for some reason, liked heavy metal. He couldn't explain why. After that, his attitiude to my choice of music, friends and clothes, relaxed somewhat. I loved him, but he was completely out of touch with anyone under 35.

I think the gap will always be there to a degree, but certainly, the older your folks are when they have you, the bigger that gap is likely to be IMO. I think threefates got lucky with her folks, they sound pretty cool.

Edited by Blacksword

My parents looved Jethro Tull back in the day... They always were open-minded regarding music. NOT so much about clothing, pre-marital sex or stuff like that. I'm 14 and I'm still not offically allowed to have a girlfriend. Of course, I do, but that's not the main thing ( I won't have sex in my life, I swear, it's disgusting and sub-human); it's the fact that they can't cope with capitalism, since they grew up a socialst country. The're scared of the freedom that we all enjoy in Romania nowadays. gernaration gaps at their best(worst)

Perhaps the geographical location plays a part in this too.  Are/were parents more liberal who are/were from the coastal areas (e.g. California, New York, Florida, etc.), and conversely, more conservative in the mid-western, inland states (excluding Chicago, Illinois).

I grew up here in Utah, an area dominated by the LDS religion, IOW very conservative.  Even more so back in the 70's. *

My mom was very young when I was born (about 19ish), but she still didn't like my music...with one exception: Harry Niilson (Niilson Schmilson).

* footnote: it was so "funny" (not funny, "haha", but funny, "peculiar") when we went to concerts...the arena officials and security guys - who looked like "Temple Mormons" - would get stoned due to breathing the air filled with pot smoke...They must've hated their jobs on the nights of rock venues.

Heres a little thing you guys might find funny, my grandmother and I just listened to Larks Tounges in aspic, and we both agree that its excellent

My parents didn't listen to what I do specifically, but they do enjoy it. My dad's favorite band was Chicago (he went to see them every year when they came to his hometown). I was in a store about a year ago and I was looking at a Jethro Tull CD and he said "I haven't heard of Jethro Tull in years! Good flute playing." Unfortunately, most of the stuff we both enjoy he doesn't own because he listened to a lot of music at his friends' houses. My mom doesn't like loud music, she says if you can feel the bass it's too loud (as opposed to my thinking that you must turn it up until you can't see straight from the bass). They do let me have long hair though, it saves them money on haircuts.

Edited by kingofbizzare

Hangedman:

My mother (now 75) tools around in her car, smoking joints (she started smoking at 46!) and listening to everything from The Beatles to Yes!

Peace.