Music And Family

 Me: Okay. Could you... Hold on. How do you start an interview? Is there a Google for that? 

Dad: Just start by talking about... Introduce the person that you're talking to. Okay. like I'm Isabel Allen, and I am talking to my father, Michael Allen, about his relationship with music or something to that effect.

Me: I'm Isabel Allen, and I am talking to my father, Michael Allen, asking about his relationship with music.

Dad: Okay. Didn't have to use it verbatim, but okay. 

Me: How would you define music? 

Dad:How would I define music? 

Me: Yes.

Dad: Sure started off tough. It's a melodic... How... I don't know. It sounds in words that play together harmoniously.

Me: Okay. What is your earliest memory of music? 

Dad: My earliest memory of music. Probably listening to the radio in the car. Driving around. 

Me: nWhat kind of music was playing on the radio? 

Dad: Oh, rock and roll. Probably a lot of Led Zeppelin. Beatles.

Me: Is that music that you chose?

Dad: It was whoever was driving it. You know, I was, you know, I was young. So it was, you know, my mom, my grandpa, my grandmother, you know, whoever I was driving in the car with. I didn't get to touch the radio.

Me: What's your favorite memory of music?

Dad: My favorite memory of music. 

Me: I know the heavy hitters.

Dad: Yeah, I'm trying to think. And one thing that I remember, I was reading a comic book. I was like 10 or 11. And I don't know what it was about it, but all of a sudden a song just hit my mind. It was, uh, Rich Girl by Hall & Oates. It had nothing to do with what I was reading. It just happened to me. So I was just thinking I'd probably been reading that comic book before and that song came on the radio. And when I got to that point in the comic book, my mind just correlated the two. 

Me: What's your favorite music genre now? 

Dad: Rock and roll. Rock and roll!

Me: Is it different from when you were younger? 

Dad: A little bit. I've always had a... liked a lot of different kinds of music. But I'm more towards rock and roll than pop music. 

Me:Has it mostly stayed rock and roll, or has it changed dramatically throughout multiple points in your life? 

Dad: It changed. I mean, there was a time in the 80s when I was, you know, pop and dance music and stuff like that. But every so often I get little, I get, I want to listen to different stuff. You know, sometimes I just had to, I just had a thing where I was listening to new wave swing, the new, the swing revival kind of music. You know, I was listening to that for a few days on my radio. And then right now I'm listening to like classic rock and so. Yeah, I listen to – but mostly if I have to go down to – if I have to pick one genre of music that I'm going to listen to, it's usually rock and roll. 

Me: What kind of music do you not like?

Dad: I don't care much for the new rap. What I just hear is just everybody talking about how great they are. It's boring. 

Me: Growing up and throughout different decades, how did your taste in music compare to those around you?

Dad: Probably similar. I usually hang out with people. Some people I've met have introduced me to different groups that have expanded my musical appreciation. I'm always willing. I'll listen to anything once. if I like it I'll keep listening to it if not it's just that one time 

Me: that's a great segue into my next question; who introduced you into some of your favorite kinds of music

Dad: my mom my grandmother My grandmothers were like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and the old Broadway records because she had a few of those. My uncle, cousin, friends, MTV. MTV introduced a lot of people. 

Me: What was the first album you bought? The first album I bought or the first album that I got? Because the first non-children's album that I got was kisses double platinum but i didn't buy it my first the first record slash tape slash dvd or cd that i bought that i bought I bought Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair, Madonna Like a Virgin, and Tears for Fears. Depeche Mode, Some Great Reward. I bought those three at the same time. But I got the Kiss when I was in second grade. 

Me: So, wow, you're really listening to rock and roll from a young age?

Dad: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Me: What do you think about the music that I sing? 

Dad: The music that you sing? 

Me: Mm-hmm. 

Dad: You mean like opera? 

Me: Mm-hmm.

Dad: Um... It's pleasant. I'm not going to say I'm not a fan because I am a fan of anything that you perform. But I haven't really listened to a lot of opera. So it's hard for me to say, but like I said, I'll listen to everything once.