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What's The Embarrassing Music Your Parents Forced On You?

By Pajiba Staff | Miscellaneous | February 26, 2018 |

By Pajiba Staff | Miscellaneous | February 26, 2018 |


GettyImages-888455980 (1).jpg

We all like to think we’re cooler than our parents were. And sometimes that’s easy to imagine, like when you think back on the music they subjected you to as they cooked dinner, or took us on road trips, or played on endless inescapable loops throughout our childhood.

Relive the annoyance of these musical childhood times with the Overlords, and share the embarrassing music your parents loved to torment you with play.

Jeremy Jordan
I discovered that my father was gay after finding a stack of Teen Beat magazines underneath a stack of Playboy magazines in his locked office drawer. He had a serious thing for a one-hit wonder by the name of Jeremy Jordan, who made frequent appearances in these magazines for about a six month period in the early 1990s. Despite the fact that my father was a middle-aged Arkansan, this song was on all the time. —Dustin Rowles

Frank Zappa
My dad raised me almost exclusively on Frank Zappa. But that’s a point of pride, not embarrassment. Well, for me at any rate. My mom definitely got embarrassed when she’d catch me singing “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing” around other little 5-year-olds… and their parents. Whoops!—Tori Preston

Yeah, my folks’ were aces on musical taste. Beatles, CCR, Queen, Guns n’ Roses. Run DMC. The one spot I can’t rib on my parents at all for. —Seth Freilich (Failer of assignments)

Billy Ocean
My dad, by and large, has excellent taste in music and was responsible for the expansion of many a musical horizon when I was younger. The one that I could never get behind, and never understand, was his unfaltering love for Billy Ocean. On more than one occasion I had to endure him blasting “Caribbean Queen” or, god help me, “Get Out Of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” in our car’s cassette deck, while he slammed his hand to the beat on the steering wheel and sang along. Each time, I died a little bit more. Sometimes, I think that’s what drove me to death metal.—TK

Enya
My Mum raised me on Enya and I have no regrets or shame over this. Sail away sail away sail away…—Ursula Scully

Showtunes
My folks have great taste in music, generally, but their collection of musicals on vinyl is probably what stands out. I still know all the words to Joseph; my sister and I can do the whole thing complete with all the character voices. Now I have it on CD and we do the whole show in the car on road trips—Hannah Sole

Jimmy Buffett
To my parents’ credit, they got me into James Taylor, Queen, and Billy Joel. And I regret none of that. However, I grew up in Pennsylvania, a place that has no coast, and where sunshine is often more of a concept than anything. So of course, my parents were obsessed with Jimmy Buffet. They played his cassette tapes endlessly on family car trips, turning down “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” before the word “screw” could hit our little ears. They call themselves “parrot heads,” wore Hawaiian shirts, and made special straw hats adorned with margarita glasses to wear to his concerts. Because of them, I can recite all the words to “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Volcano” to this day. Even mentioning them now, the chorus of the latter has stirred up in my brain, and will surely torture me for days. I don’t know…I don’t know…I don’t know where Imma gonna go…HELP ME!!!! —Kristy Puchko

What music did your parents listen to that drove you up the wall?