Question of the Week: What songs or which bands that your parents listened to made you cringe and drive you batty?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (June 2, 2022)

What songs or which bands that your parents listened to made you cringe and drive you batty?

This week’s winner: Email subscriber Meegan Holland, who responded to the Question of the Week and was entered into a drawing for a Local Spins gift pack. Sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

Kevin Murphy – Looking back, my folks actually had decent taste in music. John Denver, Neil Diamond, Kingston Trio, Brazil 66, Nat King Cole, Willie Nelson, just to name a few. I guess I was lucky.

Paul Brewer – None. My mother loved classical music and my father loved jazz.  I was very lucky.

John Sinkevics – So, nothing against Lawrence Welk and his talented crew, but I grew up embracing the rebelliousness of rock and absolutely detested watching “The Lawrence Welk Show,” which was my parents’ No. 1 favorite weekend pastime. With the possible exception of amazing accordionist Myron Floren, I found the milquetoast schmaltziness unwatchable.

Tricia Boot – My dad is a HUGE fan of jazz. I *hated* it as a kid, and thought it was long, boring noise. Luckily, his influence won out. I grew to love/enjoy the genre, and we’ve enjoyed some great jazz concerts together over the years.

David Woolfenden – Your grandparents loved Lawrence Welk!

Sue Lepech – Had to watch (Lawrence Welk)

Mandy Hallengren – My Grandma, a very kind person, was absolutely shocked that Liberace was gay. I may have mentioned it, a few times one Sunday afternoon after a decade of listening to their homophobic, paranoid views on life. Elton John was discussed also. Doris said, “They seem like really nice people.” She was 92 at the time, no more f’s given. The collective very conservative aunties all sucked in their breath, all the oxygen went out of the room, took a minute for them to recover, but Doris was quicker. “Doesn’t really matter does it? Music is love, joy. Such a beautiful thing.” Yeah, Doris, it is.

Stephen Aldrich – Quite the opposite with me, parents were Swing band fans, wish I had extracted more info out of them, as well as others before they were gone. If they thought Rock ‘n’ Roll was crap, when you grew up with Benny, Basie, Woody, The Duke, etc , I now totally get that.

Thomas Leonard Saxe – My mom loved Nat King Cole, classical music and Frank Sinatra. I was given a good start.

Jerry Kolb – And while I concur, I ended up working for a public television station a few years ago and Lawrence Welk was still popular with our members. Lol.

Kelly Scott Kelly – Actually none. It was a mix of Big Band, Theater Show Tunes and 50’s Rock. Until my sister and I were not by the Beatles and Stones. Then it all went a different direction. Zappa, Canned Heat etc.

Lin Otherlyn – None of them made me cringe or drive me batty. I liked them all; My Mom tuned in to the likes of Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Snooky Lansen and the Hit Parade, Lawrence Welk, even Spike Jones. The only music “battle” we fought was on Saturday morning, when she switched channels on the radio from Top 40 on WGRD, to listen to “The Pat Boyde Country Music Hour,” and Sunday morning’s “Jyashu’s Polka Hour. “ But, I’m glad she did, for I quickly learned to appreciate the artists of those genres too.

Greg Chandler – Right there with you on Lawrence Welk Standard Saturday night viewing in my house. Mom’s musical tastes were a curious combination of show tunes (mostly Rodgers & Hammerstein) and old school gospel music. Dad liked orchestral music and big bands but he was a little more open-minded musically. And I grew up around kids whose parents were listening to the Beatles, the Stones, The Who, Hendrix, etc. yeah, I was considered a weird one.

Andrew Szumowski – Lawrence Welk killed Jazz and almost killed Country.

Jim Alfredson – I love Lawrence Welk! The schmaltz is endlessly hilarious!

Randy Scott Marsh – Jim Alfredson: Yeah, I still remember staying at that apartment in Chicago while we were playing Andy’s. You watched an episode of Lawrence Welk before we left to play and I think it jinxed the gig that night.

Barbara Hass – We were FORCED to watch Lawrence walk every Sunday! Saturday night was green valley jamboree broadcast from Kalamazoo on WKZO TV. It was my mom’s favorite. Didn’t know she had played banjo in a group in Ionia, michigan as a kid. Found her instrument in the attic.

Scott Veenstra – My folks got rid of their Beatles records when the kids came along, and switched to listening to Bill Gaither and other “contemporary Christian” music, as well as WOOD Radio in the 70s, which was playing nonstop 70s elevator music. Oddly enough, by the time I got to being a young, up and coming jazz drummer, I already knew quite a few “standards” that got called on some jazz and “society” gigs, because I’d heard them played in schmaltzy versions in WOOD Radio.I also detested the Lawrence Well schmaltz, but came to appreciate cats like Myron Floren, Jack Imel and others when I played in the backing orchestra for the Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show” for Tulip Time in Holland back in the 80s. Those cats were BAD! And were actually much hipper people in person than you would expect from watching Lawrence Welk show. They were excellent musicians/performers who got a lucrative steady gig for a lot of years.

Tim Motley – My Mother used to listen to gospel quartets. Made me want to leave home every time.

Chad Michael Wedeven – My dad has always liked mainstream radio country, which has been terrible my whole life, but the whole family stared at him in disbelief one day when he brought home a John Tesh CD.

Greg Nagy – I loved my grandparents. Lived with them for a bit. They loved LW. So I have a fondness for the cheesiness of it all.

Meegan Holland – I’d watch Lawrence Welk with my parents and openly mock the cheesiness of it all. It was entertaining, no matter which way you came at it.

Cyndi Stebbins – We had to go over to my grandparents every Sunday night to watch Lawrence Welk. They would always say “Now that’s music!” The only thing that made it bearable were Grandma’s homemade cookies.

Scott Stefanski – Yikes! I remember how hokey LW was even as a little kid. Thank god Mom liked Motown, The Supremes, and endless top 40 45’s, and Dad liked Elvis, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, and Everly Brothers. Thankful this LW rubbish didn’t influence me!

Paul Wyatt – I got no beef with Mr. Welk. My mom’s Tom T. Hall was a bit much.

Jere Sorger – My dad was an Englebert Humperdinck fan, my mother was obsessed with Robert Goulet. “Nana” never missed an episode of ‘Sing Along with Mitch’. Thank God for CKLW out of Windsor and my red transistor radio.

John Gonzalez – Jere Sorger: We’ll have to share CKLW stories someday. Oh, mom loved Buddy Holly, dad loved Freddy Fender. Both had great taste in music, which led me to explore and listen to everything from Hank Sr. to the Clash.

Larry Zoppa – Polkas

Todd Long – None to be honest. We would watch Sha Na Na together. My dad was always playing doo wop, Elvis, old country, Sandy Nelson, Buddy Rich. My Mom was a drummer and my dad played bass drum. Music was always welcome

Wally Michaels – Nothing. In addition to the Welk show, they listened to Sinatra, Martin and the rest. I loved it all. Which is why I know so many standards.

John Crissman – My mom wasn’t much for music but my dad liked 50’s rock and big band swing. I don’t think I suffered much at all!

Paul Brown – My parents watched Lawrence Welk too… and my 2 brothers and I hated it so much we nicknamed it “Lawrence Kelp and his Seaweed Band”

Holly Spencer – Absolutely Lawrence Welk, hands down. My husband occasionally tortures me by turning it to PBS when it’s on. It’s still being aired.

Jeffrey Caron – Hee Haw was pretty schmaltzy but in retrospect you know they always had some awesome players on that show.

Eric William-Neil Engblade – When I was a child, my Grand Parents watched Lawrence Welk with me and I loved it! My parents listened to a lot of Leonard Cohen …especially the album I’m your man. I hated it. However, as an adult I now really like Leonard Cohen.

Diann Neil Engblade – Eric William-Neil Engblade: Thanks for being brave, honey. I listened to Lawrence with my Grandma. It’s a family thing. My parents had a stereo system in the kitchen and speakers in the living room and kitchen. They loved rock, folk country, country rock, big band…almost every genre except classical. For two people born in 1919 & 1924, they were much more interested in music than their peers. I liked that about them. 🙂 I can’t think of any music they liked that bothered me.

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk – My parents watched Lawrence Welk. The music often wasn’t to my taste. I only recall one African American on the show, and he was a tap dancer. I only recall one Latinx, and the songs she sang were cliches even a child or early teen recognized. That said, he had 3-4 really good singers, and I did admire the precision musicianship of his orchestra. His Dixieland clarinetist was wonderful, and at least one trombonist was top notch. All the woodwinds were solid doublers. His string bass player also played electric bass and tuba as needed. Several members of the band also sang, which impressed me. Nowhere else could you see and hear a big band on TV, so I got something out of it. I don’t ever recall being impressed by Myron Floren. Not ever. He played the accordion, but I don’t ever recall a “wow” moment despite the fact he was a regular soloist.

Dan Kesterke – ABBA

Tammy Hall – You hit the nail on the head for me. Never could get into that.

Shari Jackson – Any part of the twangy Grand Ole Opry.

Dave Adams – My mother loved jazz and musicals, so I can’t really think of cringe worthy music.

Mark DeWitt – Debby Boone.

Rick Powell – Engelbert Humperdinck. Just his name alone made me cringe …along with his music…

JD Jones – For the most part i loved all the 50s/60s/70s rock, soul, and country my parents listened to (mostly on the radio) and it became a part of my development as a musician. I still love most of that music. Alot of the 50s/early 60s tunes were always a little cheeseball for me though. One song in particular that stands out that I could not stand and still can’t is Bobby Vee’s Rubber Ball from 1960… its the “bouncy bouncy” part… would have been an ok song without that I think

JR Scott Weaver – We all have song’s we can’t stand. For me it’s “Band Of Gold” by Freda Payne, “Rubberband Man” by The Spinners, and “Use Me” by Bill Withers.

Alan Exoo – Sing Along with Mitch. (Mitch Miller)

Bruce Barber – Rem Wall and the Green Valley Jamboree.

Mamie Graziano – Lawrence Welk…the white bread of the big band world.

Lee Chase – My mother was a pianist and a fan of a wide variety of music including jazz and swing. She liked the Beatles, 60s popular music as it evolved and even had a complimentary word or two for some of Alice Cooper’s early offerings! We never watched Welk…
Andrew Heller – Anna one, Anna two… I will sometimes watch 5 minutes of it (Lawrence Welk) on cable. Hysterical.

Kyle Rasche – My folks listened to great music, but i remember detesting Van Morrison’s “Hymn’s to the Silence” album.

Mary Ellen Murphy – I would not be who I am if it wasn’t for my parents love of music. Sinatra. The Mills Brothers. Crosby. At the time it probably felt like torture, but it’s all I knew. Now I see how it all played a part note for note.

George Naughton – The Ink Spots…awesome harmonies but my GAWD my mom wore that record OUT.

Dean Madonia – My grandmother had the good tv in her apartment upstairs from us. We had to watch Lawrence Welk too. On one particularly offensive night, they had two singers perform the classic “Green Green grass Of Home.” A great song. They were smiling ear to ear as they sang it, and then left out the last, ironic verse, that makes the song cool.I have never forgiven that show for that atrocity.

Harry Oman – Joan Baez and the other myriad of folkies did not measure up to Deep Purple, etc. Sorry mom.

Joe Kidd – Mom listened to country music. Dad listened to classical and music from around the world. I loved it all. The commercial gospel stuff always turned me off but they didn’t listen to it.

Charlie Huhn – I hear that! And he was from N. Dakota where my parents were from so that made it doubly difficult to change channels.

Stacy Noonan – Leaving the Lawrence Welk aspect out of it (because I detested it similarly, until, weirdly, when I hit my 50s, I ❤️ watching it) But to answer the question, Tommy James Mony Mony! My mom owned a bar and would bring home the jukebox cast-offs. She spun that 45 ALL day while my siblings were at school and I was trapped listening to it, and her talking on her “party line” phone conversations.

Laurie Lacross-Wright – Myron Floren was a chick magnet well into his 80s, lol. He did a show over by Flint about 15 years ago. Lots of early boomer era women in the audience. He was a charmer, for sure.

JR Scott Weaver – The good thing about the Lawrence Welk Show that I watched with my grandma was that when it came on channel 3 WKZO I also knew that the Green Valley Jamboree with Rem Wall & The Green Valley Boys would also be on the same night. It was my early introductions to country music as juvenile.

Devilyn Carver – I have a very extensive Lawrence Welk vinyl collection. No joke!

Andrew Szumowski – I was very lucky… my dad likes/listened to late 60s rock, motown, British Invasion bands, and early 70s soul rock, folk rock, and some pop. Lots of CCR, Three Dog Night, Cat Stevens, CSNY, Moodie Blues, The Beatles, The Supremes. He balanced that with a love of baroque and romance era classical music, mainly Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Mozart etc. My mom likes/listened to folk, gospel rock, 70s soul jazz (Lonnie Liston Smith), Dionne Warwick, and The Beatles.. she loves Paul Simon and I grew up loving his GRACELAND album which was on heavy rotation. They both have a love of nostalgiac mid-80s Christmas music that is relatively dated i.e. Mannheim Steamroller (fellow Interlochen alum Chip Davis’s group) and Amy Grant (“Wonderful! Counselor!” Etc). So that might be my least favorite stuff we heard regularly. I dug their record collection in high school. Definitely some Detroit motown loving mixed with power stuff and then into Gordon Lightfoot, The BeeGees, Kris Kristofferson and Barbara etc

Ted Bergin – Adventures in Good Music. Every Saturday as we cleaned the house. Opera, classical, and others similar. I now can appreciate this music, but not then.

Lar Fitzgerald – It (Lawrence Welk) was on at our house too, but it’s not like we had much variety to choose from either. And my grand folks lived with us.

Bob Niedt – My brothers and I were absolutely tortured by my great aunt, our babysitter Saturday nights in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s who made us watch LW and would beat the tar out of us if we changed the channel when she stepped away. Flash forward to 1978 and my first newspaper job at The Holland Sentinel. Off the bat covering Tulip Time, senior citizen bait that always in the day featured “The Stars of Lawrence Welk,” and I interviewed Myron and other “stars” that appeared. I’d give anything to read those rookie stories.

Melodee Van Bogelen Horsford – I share your “dislike” of LW. I had to watch it every week as well, but I think maybe because my dad sang “barbershop”, and that I took piano lessons for umpteen years, I didn’t mind it so much. I like to think it broadened my musical horizons. To this day, I still love barbershop, show tunes, and a lot of classical as well!

Mary Schumaker – Its hilarious to watch those old Lawrence Welk shows now, they were terrible!

Darlene Cooper – Suffered through Lawrence at Grandma’s, lol. My folks would watch Sing Along With Mitch, and we all would follow the bouncing ball and sing along. I’m old, lol.

Sylvia Brooks Taylor – When my father bought my mother a record player (late 1950s) there were maybe four albums we had to play: Annie Get Your Gun, George Beverly Shea, were two of them. Other than church music, those few albums were played over and over again. My grandmother watched LW and she loved to watch Bobbie and Cissy dance. Not such bad memories any way I look at it.

Luke Lenhart – Myron Floren was absolutely incredible!

Steve Quick – Mario Lanza

Rick Wylie – Perry Como and Andy Williams were on my list.

Steve Owczarzak – I don’t know …that bubble machine was pretty unique & Bobby & Sissy were a pretty hard tap dancing act to follow…

Jess William Mac AnTòisich – You need some Acker Bilk to go with those circus peanuts!

William Hahs – I loathe that show (Lawrence Welk). They were all talented people but it was like smoking an overdose of opium and laying drooling on the floor by the time that show was over. That usually was an hour I spent in my room. But, it made my parents happy.

Cristin Post – I would dress up in these grand dresses that were my mothers and dance to Lawrence Welk at my grandma Ruths…..then my parents hooked me up with the best albums from Columbia music….Lawrence was gone and Janis was alive.

Amy Johnson-Poss – I danced around my living room with a doll doing “Bobby and Sissy” to Lawrence Welk. good times….

Brenda Schlicht Maisano – Same. My parents watched every Saturday

Roy Wilde – Interesting question. With regard to LW, my dad loved the show and I loved my dad so I have a soft spot for it. Personally I think there is much more to detest in our current musical genres than there ever was with music of our parents era.

Mitch Wood – I couldn’t be bothered while Bobby & Elaine danced their hearts out for me.

Bruce Madden – My parents also were loyal Lawrence Welk viewers. For me, it was pretty corny stuff. In Rockford, for the Rogue River Blues Fest (it might have been the first one), the crowd had quite a few older folks so I used my Welk forced knowledge and said into the mic, And now Sissy and Bobby will dance to the music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The oldsters got it—scattered laughs.

Tom Good – I was lucky. My folks’ record collection was mostly classical and Broadway original cast recordings.

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