Ongoing History of New Music

The Ongoing History of New Music, episode: 937: More musical offspring

Whether we want to admit it or not, each of us is a product of our parents. We are like mom and/or dad that manifest in different ways. Maybe one of them was a great cool and that’s led to a life-long love of food. Maybe they introduced you to travel and now you spend all your extra money on airfare. Or maybe one of them had some kind of craft that you gravitated toward: carpentry, knitting, gardening, and so on.

And chances are that if you have musical parents, you’re going to end up that way, too.

Now imagine that mom and/or dad is a famous musician. Cool people are always coming by the house. There are tours and time spent in recording studios. There are parties and industry events. For anyone else, that would be mind-blowing. But for you, it’s just…normal.

And because that’s how your life is, you fall into the lifestyle. You learn to play and write and perform. And because your parents of some connections and relationships, you might have an inside line on establishing your own career. Others without famous parents may cry foul, but that’s just the way it is. You’re a member of the lucky sperm club.

Some of these sons and daughters have done very well for themselves. Sean and Julian Lennon, sons of John. Four of five of Frank Zappa’s kids have had musical careers. R&B singer Stell Santana, daughter of Carlos. Norah Jones is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, The Beatles’ favourite sitar player. And more recently, we have Wolfgang Van Halen, son of Eddie.

Here’s one I missed for the longest time. Redfoo of LMFAO (he’s the one with the afro and the big glasses). He’s the song of Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown. And here’s another: Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, a big pop group in the 60s, is the song of Jerry Lewis, the comedian.

What other parent-child connections are out there? Let’s have a look with another edition of musical offspring.

Songs heard on this show:

  • Ultra Q, Redwood
  • Slipknot, Goodbye
  • Levi Evans, Back in My Head Again
  • Fiction Plane, Two Sisters
  • Suspect208, Long Awaited
  • S8nt Elektric, So Far Away
  • Willow feat. Travis Barker, Transparent
  • Dave and Violet Grohl, Nausea
  • Frances Bean Cobain, Angel
  • Chris and Toni Cornell, Nothing Compares 2 U
  • Olivia Vedder, My Father’s Daughter

As usual, Eric Wilhite has this playlist for us.

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Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37980 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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