For roughly a decade of my life, prescription I feared my father’s opinion on music.
Yes, tadalafil I also just spent the last year calling up my dad twice a month to talk about new music, so I guess I got over it. I don’t really remember why I thought this was a good idea in the first place, but I do know two things as we publish this, our last column together:
- My father’s approval on music was necessary for me, even though I, in his own words, “rebelled against [him] through music.” The commute with him for the first two years of high school was a practiced ritual: he would offer the aux cord, the kid I carpooled with would pass because he only listened to Disturbed, and I would inevitably take the reins. My dad would then proceed to offer his judgements on all my music unsolicitedly: rap was always a no-go, Say Anything was too all-over-the-place (fair), We Are Scientists were okay at best (painfully accurate in retrospect), Death Cab for Cutie were little too mellow in their sadness (should’ve listened to him way sooner on that one), and countless other bands faced his punishing wrath. I still took the aux cord whenever it was offered though.
- Having engaging chats with your dad as a twenty-three year old seems harder, but it’s possible! Whenever the occasional reader would come up to me and mention the column, the most prevalent comment was, “I could never do what you do with my dad.” Before this column, my dad and I talked about on the phone were our jobs, taxes, politics, daily minutiae, and, occasionally, music. I never felt like our conversations were lacking by any means, but there’s something about making fun of Mac Demarco and sending home-brewed beer to Ben Katzman as an apology for making fun of his mustache that makes a father/son relationship stronger.
Alas, I wanted to end things while it still felt fun and I suppose my dad deserves a break from all this millennial shit he’s had to put up with (s/o to the dude that told my dad he didn’t “know shit about dick” in one of the comment sections. We quote that regularly now).
On my dad’s 55th birthday, we looked back at the best and worst of Father & Son Review Co., discussing realizations, rehashed opinions, and lingering questions through the weeks. We hope this serves as a thanks for reading as well as a sheepish “sorry” to any of the bands my dad kinda poked fun at. A special thanks goes to our editor Nina, who helped us sound somewhat coherent in conversation! Without further ado, we present:
Father & Son Review Co. Reviews Father & Son Review Co.
Dad: Okay, like you asked, I went through all of our old columns and I reviewed your write-ups…
Tim: You reviewed my writing?!
Dad: Yeah! I forgot a lot of it, so it was funny to go back and read the comments I made.
Tim: Yeah, you’re sorta funny sometimes, I guess. I think my biggest fear was not representing you well. Did I do a good job?
Dad: Ehh… yeah. In the beginning, it was a little like that Walter character from Jeff Dunham’s act. I know our music tastes are different; I mean, you started veering off from things I liked when you got to high school, but it got better as we went.
Tim: Well, to be honest, I think that’s how you were at the beginning! You started every review with “what the hell is this shit?”, but you eventually grew to see the benefit of the doubt with each artist.
Dad: [using exaggerated finger quotes] Ahh, yes, I “broadened my horizons” a little. I went through the site and counted… did you know we reviewed 24 songs? I rated them all again and, out of the 24, one song was really good, five were good, nine were okay, and nine were terrible.
Tim: [laughs] What a success rate!
Dad: Yeah, it actually wasn’t a very good percentage, but that’s because it’s your music…
Tim: Is that supposed to make me feel better?
Dad: Well hey, if I showed you 24 songs that I liked, wouldn’t you react the same way?
Tim: I don’t know, we did cover “your songs” on two occasions and it went over fine. Okay, let’s get to your list… what was the top song?
Dad: So, for me, The World Is A Beautiful Place was #1. Revisiting it this week was like going to a good restaurant you haven’t been to in three years. Like, all you remember was a great experience. I just remember that it was a great song and it had a freaky, theatrical video. I mean, that video could’ve been its own TV show, it was so well done. It had it all though: great singers, great song, cool video, good musicians… that was awesome.
Tim: Man, if you told me five years ago that you’d like The World Is… I dunno, I just wouldn’t believe it. What were the remaining “good” songs?
Dad: The other ones were, uh, You Can Be A Wellesley? A Wesley? That was a fun one. And, uh, Stove with that “Wet Food” song. I liked it because it was very Green Day-ish. The other few were from our Lightning Round… I can’t even read my notes here. Uh, Hop Along?
Tim: Wait, you liked Hop Along?! I recall you not liking her voice!
Dad: I said I liked the song, but her voice was weak, yes. And hey, you said you didn’t get into them initially!
Tim: You’re absolutely right; it took me a while to get into them. They’re warming on you a little though?
Dad: Nah. [laughs]
Tim: Ahh man, nice job broadening your horizons. What was the last good song?
Dad: This one was really old, but Four Tet?
Tim: Oh yeah, our only foray into electronic unfortunately! I still think it’s cool you dug it!
Dad: Oh, I almost forgot… the spooky girl with the Victoria’s Secret wings from the Lightning Round? The Grimes?
Tim: Grimes! Yes! Still really surprised that you liked her! I don’t mean to kill the positivity, but let’s jump down to the worst stuff. I have a feeling I know the bottom two already…
Dad: Oh boy… oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Two words: Mac. Demarco. That was so painful. My only additional comment I had to make here was “yuck.”
Tim: [laughs] You didn’t try any of his other songs afterwards?
Dad: Nope. Sorry, Mac!
Tim: Don’t worry, he’s too rich to be listening. Who else?
Dad: Okay, a couple of the other “yucks”: Black Beach! Screaming guitar band. No thanks. Who else? Oh, Mr. Mustache Man!
Tim: Are you referring to our buddy Ben Katzman?
Dad: Our buddy! I know we’re good now, but man, that song! Even though he’s a fellow Van Halen lover, I didn’t get it… so him, Vundabar with the awful dancing… oh my god, they were so awful. Literally, watching that video should be a form of torture. And Titus Andronicus with the singer I couldn’t understand was bad too.
Tim: Don’t worry, no one else understands him either. Were there any big surprises? Like, big revelations you had listening to all this millennial shit?
Dad: Hmm, good question. I said this last week, but I mean it: it’s so wild today that anyone can be in a band, have a recording, and make a video. I think it’s awesome because, when I was a kid and people I knew had a garage band, you had to work your butt off to be noticed. And even then, your odds of getting noticed were minimal. Nowadays, you don’t even have to be signed to a record! You just have to have a really good song and upload it to YouTube! I think that’s so cool.
I would’ve never heard of these bands if it wasn’t for this, so it was interesting to get perspective on the new bands out there. I discovered that I like 25% of what the kids like! And, for a fifty-five year old listening to twenty-five year olds, that’s not bad!
Tim: Most of them are even younger than twenty-five! And hey, I imagine it’s like fighting an uphill battle trying to relate to these songs!
Dad: Exactly. And I don’t even know how you find this stuff! I don’t really go on YouTube looking for new songs. I mostly rely on the radio!
Tim: We’re the internet generation, so if it’s not through music sites like ours, people find music through house shows.
Dad: We had house shows in college! But they were mostly local bands and, like I said, they never made it far because they didn’t have the internet to spread their message. But yeah, all of these bands had videos except a couple that used the website with the skinny rectangular box where you just hit play.
Tim: Ah, yes, skinny-rectangular-box.com! A great music site!
Dad: Yeah… whatever, man. I also noticed you gave me a pretty even mix of bands with female singers as well as male singers. It wasn’t dominant, which was cool. Like, if you look at country, it’s predominantly male.
Tim: Well yeah, that’s why I always make fun of it: most country songs are from one perspective and always about the same shit. At the same time though, the DIY scene is far from perfect in terms of including people other than white dudes playing guitar rock.
Dad: Sure. You did show me Speedy Ortiz and she plays guitar rock. You Could Be A Wesley, Courtney Barnett, Hop Along and Chastity Belt do too. You also showed me Grimes and Joanna Newsom, who were different.
Tim: Exactly. There’s definitely a shift happening within rock of representing more voices and genres, but I also noticed how often you said a song reminded you of the ‘80s or ‘70s. We are a generation informed by this sense of nostalgia for a time we never lived in.
Dad: It’s interesting you say that because I wonder what will music be like in 50 years. Will there be any more original genres or songs coming out? Growing up, my parents had swing music and Engelbert Humperdinck on a lot, which I hated, but you like a lot of “my music.”
With what you showed me though, there’s lots of different types of music going on today and lots of different formulas. We covered 24 songs, but how many more people and bands are out there that we never got around to?
Tim: You have no idea… like, I’m already having regrets stopping here because there’s so much music from Boston alone that I would’ve loved to show you. Guerrilla Toss, Dinnersss, ACLU Benefit… on several occasions, I thought of showing you this band called Pile, but you don’t like songs with screaming.
Dad: Ooh, there’s some joke opportunities with that name… play some of it!
[plays clips of “#1 Hit Single” and “#2 Hit Single]
Dad: That first one had a part that sounded very Led Zeppelin-y, but that was weird. It was, like, heavy metal. The guitars sounded out of tune. Not the greatest.
Tim: [laughs] I’m just… I’m not sure how to process the fact that you called Pile “heavy metal.”
Dad: I dunno, they had heavy instrumentation.
Tim: [laughs] Okay, back to your question though, I think I was initially scared to show you local music because a) a lot of it is more experimental and lo-fi than what you enjoy and b) I thought bands might not take kindly to you picking them apart. I tried to test your boundaries and make you squirm a little.
Dad: [laughs] I think you made me squirm a few times for sure.
That brings up a good thing that I learned while doing this though and that’s not to take the song at face value. I always tried to play the song first without visuals, then again with the lyrics in front of me, and one more time with the video if they had one. Sometimes the video helped enhance my impression and there were a few where the music wasn’t good, but the lyrics were like, “wow, that was awesome.”
Tim: And I think that’s where your comments started to change and you stopped saying “what the hell is this shit?” as much. Not a lot of dads get out of that first phase, I feel, so I’m kind of proud of you. Do you have any last thoughts to offer?
Dad: This was interesting, reviewing all of these songs. I really mean it; it broadened my horizons. I had a blast.
Tim: Any comments you’d like to defend?
Dad: Nope. I just hope whoever’s reading got a chuckle or two.