My Musical Culture: Music and Family

 Hello! For this blog I decided to interview my mom, who I owe a lot of my own personal music tastes to. She grew up in the 70s, she's a super awesome nurse, and her interview was a lot of fun! I hope you enjoy reading our conversation as much as I enjoyed having it. 

Music and Family Interview with Kim Carey 

Taryn: Do you want to introduce yourself before we get started? 

Kim: Do I have to? Don’t you already know who I am? 

T: It’s for my classmates, mom. 

K: Oh. Well, I’m Kim Carey. I’m Taryn’s mom. 

T: Alright, I guess we’ll get started with the questions then. Firstly: what is your earliest memory of music? 

K: Hmm… I think my earliest memory of music is probably that when I was growing up, Saturdays were always cleaning days. Mama would always cook us breakfast and wake us up, and after we ate we’d put on music and clean the house. It was just me, her and Bubba (her brother), and every week we would cycle who got to play the music. When Mama played, it was always Elvis-- she LOVED Elvis. When it was Bubba’s turn we would listen to rock and roll, like The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. Mama didn’t like rock that much so she’d only let us listen to the “calmer songs”. When it was my turn I would play a lot of motown or soul, and as I got a little older I’d listen to AC/DC and Kiss as well. 

T: You said your mom didn’t approve of Uncle Bobby’s music. Did she like yours? 

K: She liked the Motown-- she was most of the reason I loved, and still love, soul music today. As for the rock bands, not so much. When I was a senior in high school I convinced her to take me to see Kiss in concert-- well, Bubba was supposed to take me, but he got sick, and I was so upset that she agreed to take me. I had an awesome time, obviously, but mostly I remember her looking completely miserable the entire time. At one point the crowd was passing around a joint, and someone actually had the gall to hand it to her. I just remember her holding it in her hand and staring at me, screaming over the music “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?!” and I said “well, either take a toke or pass it on!” That didn’t go over too well with her, and I think we left shortly after. I still had a great time, I didn’t regret a thing. 

T: Would you say your music taste has changed at all since you were a teenager? 

K: I don’t think so. I mean, sure, I listen to more bands and types of music now than I did back then, just because there’s more available. But I still listen to 70s and 80s music in the car, since I have the Sirius radio. You know they have the 70s-on-7 and 80s-on-8 channels. And you know we still always listened to Motown when it was cleaning day. 

T: Yep. I used to always know when I woke up that if I smelled bacon cooking and heard the Temptations it was going to be a long day. Going off of what you said earlier-- that you have more access to music now than you did back then. Is there any kind of music that’s popular today that wasn’t popular when you were growing up? Or just didn’t exist? 

K: Hmm… I don’t know if I would say a certain type of music, but I think just the culture of pop stars and the way it’s changed is really big. For example, I loved Elton John growing up. But almost everyone at my school thought he was stupid, because he was so incredibly flamboyant. Same with Prince when he got big. I remember Mama being so flabbergasted at his demeanor. But now you have stars like that all over the place. I think it's great-- it’s so nice to see more and more stars able to be themselves. Of course, there’s always going to be people who criticize and don’t like it, but hey, that’s life. It’s so much better now than it was when I was growing up, especially here in the south. 

T: Right. We’ve talked a lot about popular music. Have you ever had any experience with classical music? 

K: You’re asking the wrong gal! Other than coming to see your operas and performances, not really. I was in choir all four years of high school, you know, but I can’t say I even remember much of what we sang. We never learned all the crazy hard stuff that you guys do, and I was never really into the classical music like you. 

T: Right. You mentioned you were in choir. Did you ever do any other musical groups or play any instruments? 

K: Nope. Until Daralyn (my older sister) joined the marching band, I couldn’t have named a single instrument except the piano. I don’t know where she got all of her musical talent from. You know she played like, seven or eight instruments by the time she was a senior. Then that [redacted because its a bad word] band director had to go and make her feel so bad about herself. I’m glad you’ve stuck with it though. 

T: Thanks. I’m glad I did, too. I think. I’ll just ask a few more questions to wrap it up, then: Have you ever had a really cool musical experience, like meeting a musician or going to a really cool concert? 

K: I’ve been to plenty of cool concerts. But I think the coolest musical experience was when your dad and I were stationed in Las Vegas, and I was working at that casino. When U2 made the music video for that song, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, it was actually right outside of where I worked. We got to watch them shoot the whole thing. I don’t think we got a lot of work done that day. 

T: Lastly, would you say that music has played a big part in your life? Why or why not? 

K: Oh, definitely. I mean, probably not as big as you and all your people up there, but you know music is so important to me. So many of my memories with Mama, your dad, and you have to do with music. Whether it’s cleaning days, going to concerts, parties, or going to see the Nutcracker every year. Listening to music just makes me feel good, especially when I hear a song and I get to relive the memories attached to it. And I love seeing how happy it makes you and how great you are at what you do. So, yeah, in a short answer, music definitely plays a big part in my life, and everyone else’s too, I think.