It’s weird, my parents also got a kick out of the music I listened to. I moved out about 4 years ago, and all they ever tell me is how they miss the metal. Hell, I actually got my mom interested in Dio and Mastodon! She won’t touch the heavier music, but I’ve always been impressed at how my parents reacted to my love of metal.

my mom is distantly, but unshakably supportive hell, she helped shape my musical palate using everything from the rolling stones to the beatles to earth wind and fire to prince to ozzy to metallica.

my dad on the other hand bought a bass and regretted it when he finally figured out that i wasn’t going to be in a christian rock band… fucking formulaic, uninspiring, recycled, sheep music.

My parents have been very supportive…occasionally going to my shows for support and when they are there they are in the front row screaming! They don’t like the screaming of course, but they do like the more melodic metal bands…not that they listen to them on their own, but when I am playing that stuff…They love the Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, and things of that nature…They have actually got me into some of that stuff in which I may not have been exposed too…Thats my Mom’s side….My Dad’s side is more 70′, 80′s, 90′s soul…so I have a broad spectrum to collect from…

I’m 30 and have been playing in metal bands since I was 14. My folks have never once come to a show. They support it in a sense, like they helped finance my first band’s debut CD (500 copies printed), but they’re not really all that interested in the music. They support it because they know it makes me happy but it’s not their thing at all. Some rock stuff like Kiss or Aerosmith or whatever is cool when it’s on the radio when I’m driving with my mom, but Napalm Death on the CD player not so much.

My father was at pretty much every Led Zep concert during their golden years. He works with a lot of younger dudes and when he tries to tell them about these shows, they dont believe him because it seems like hes “too old” or something. He loves Opeth nearly as much as I do. Somehow he became a HUGE Killswitch Engage fanboy as well.

During high school both my parents were extremely cool with my friends and i jamming in the garage, often giving feedback, and the good honest kind of feedback, not “oh timmy youre the greatest!” sort of bullshit.
My old man even helped us haul our equipment to a few talent shows, etc. Good metal parents \m/

My dad doesn’t really ‘get’ music at all. He barely listens to any, and if he does, it’s usually old time radio, music from the 60s/70s (when he was growing up). My mom is into soft stuff like coldplay, jann arden, roch voisine… nothing too loud or aggressive.

She doesn’t mind some of what I like (she digs the gathering actually, though they aren’t that heavy) and she likes parts of Opeth and ISIS (as Arthur said, the more melodic and beautiful parts) and she doesn’t totally ‘get’ why I like stuff like meshuggah and the ocean but she respects and supports what I listen to AND what I create myself.

I suspect if I ever actually managed to sell a cd that I’d recorded (I plan to give my stuff away for free when it’s done) she’d probably help me pack it up and send it off. She’d probably be interested in where people were ordering from.

As for when I have kids… I’ll expose them to everything, and just hope they don’t end up listening to gangster rap instead!

My dad (now deceased) took me to my first metal show – Dio and Accept at Madison Square Garden – and hated every second of it. My mom didn’t mind some loud/heavy rock on the Led Zeppelin-Deep Purple spectrum, and even liked some Iggy Pop stuff, but there was one sound she absolutely would not permit in her house, and that was the sound of Brian Johnson’s voice. I was permitted to listen to any heavy-ass thing I wanted to in my room, but if she heard AC/DC, she’d yell at me – she responded to his screeching like a dog responds to a vacuum cleaner.

She’s always been proud that I have achieved some success (in terms of being widely published, not necessarily in terms of monetary reward) as a writer, though. I think she might even have read my books, though I know she’d never actually listen to any of the music discussed within.

My dad has always loved music hard rock music. Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin are just the handful of bands he really likes. As a kid growing up, you tend to like the things your parents like so I started liking those bands too (and still do). Once I started listening to metal, my dad wasn’t as quick in getting into the music as I was. I do remember him beginning to like Metallica when I started to listen them. As time went on, he began to really appreciate the music. He likes that its very guitar driven, as much of what he listens to is as well. He has over the years gone with me to various shows; the last show he came along to was for Progressive Nation 2008 (he thought Opeth was the best band that night :D) He may not listen to it as extensively as I do, but he none the less enjoys a good portion of the music.

While it isn’t part of a question you asked, I would also like to mention that my girlfriend has been supportive in my love for metal. She’s very into the indie and rock bands like Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Animal Collective, The Decemberists, and so forth. Having been to together for almost a year and 4 months, she and I have introduced to one another many great bands which has helped widened our music tastes. Her favorite metal bands are Opeth, Metallica, and Gojira

It’s funny, my parents have absolutely no idea what I listen to, or if they do, we don’t talk about it. I know my dad LOVED Supertramp when he was a teenager in the 80′s, and my mom was in The Beatles and prog rock (I found a vinyl of King Crimson’s Court of The Crimson King in my house!). Now, my parents don’t listen to music, and I’m the only one in the family who listens to music daily. I tried talking about music once, and they almost ignored me…

I’m fortunate enough to have parents who have always been into rock/metal since they were kids. So they introduced me to many of the bands I listen to now. They brought me to my first concert when I was 14 (Metallica, OKC 2004) (I wanted to see them with Corrosion of Conformity in ’97 but they said I was “too young.” Then they get there and there are kids runnin’ around everywhere. haha) We always talk about music together; new albums coming out, upcoming shows, etc…

I’m also in a band and my parents have been super supportive. Going to shows when they can, pimpin’ the band’s shows and name when they can, playin’ our music for people, offering advice (music/business), etc… Thankfully even my bandmate’s (former AND current) parents have all been supportive as well. Letting us practice in their houses, feeding us, etc… Even going so far as to buying a trailer AND a vehicle (2004 Trailblazer) strictly for the band to use. One of my guitar player’s and I calculated my other guitar player’s family had invested roughly $25,000 into the band. I’d say that’s quite a bit of support! haha…

Well my dad’s a baroque-period violinist and violist, so he in no way at all introduced me to metal. My mom listens to all sorts of soft, mellow stuff, from soundtracks to pop to Bob Marley to Beatles. My oldest sister listens to hip-hop, country, and soft rock. My other sister listens to stuff I think is possibly described as ‘world’ music (she’s away too much because of college, i’m not really sure what it is).
Both my sisters more or less can’t stand metal. They’re discriminators: I rarely complain about their music, though for the most part I don’t like it, but they ALWAYS complain about mine, even though (I’m very anti-confrontational) I rarely play it loudly in my room, and if I’m in a room with others I almost always use headphones or just put the volume super low. My mom’s pretty much the same as them.
My dad, however, is REALLY cool about it. When I got a package the other week, he asked me what it was, and I said “Oh, a couple CD’s.” “Really? Who?” “…..Bloodbath” “HAHAHA.”
It’s great, he always laughs about the names, and will actually talk to me about it. Also when he’s going to drive me somewhere, occasionally he’ll tell me to bring a CD of mine along to listen to (this hasn’t happened for a while though, and I’ve gotten in to MUCH heavier stuff since it did, so he’s only heard some System Of A Down and Death Magnetic in this context. He did however point out TONS of religious undertones in DM lyrics and offered a lot of incite I hadn’t). Overall, just my dad’s pretty cool about it.

when i was a child im ver fortunate to say i was “blessed” with a set of parents with good musical tastes early on i listend to dark and “heavy” stuff for its time i remember when i was 6 id swap cd’s with my friends sister who was in highschool at the time i recall letting her borrow portrait of an american family for candyass system of a down at age 9 amon amarth/opeth at 12 and deathmetals and black metals and progy goodness here and there dabbled in deathcore i listen to what i like not all of it i like suicide silence iwresltedabearonce and horse the band i would say my taste for music is diverse my only regret is not ever discovering strapping young lad untill the ned of 2006 after they had last toured >.<

My parents are pretty indifferent to my taste in music; pretty much an “agree to disagree” thing.
I am a vocalist in a band, and have been in several before this one. In high school, my parents went to most of my shows and were supportive of it for the fact that I had created something and had the cojones to perform it in front of people, even though they hated the music itself. Now, a couple years later, they still come to shows every once in a while, but seem to be hoping I’ll grow out of this. My dad has many relatives who are failed musicians without a pot to piss in, so I can understand this.
I’m not a parent, but when I am I’ll just leave my kids’ tastes up to them while still trying to get them to appreciate the classics. My dad pretty much did that, raising me on Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, so on and so forth…from there I went to radio rock, to nu-metal, to metal. Gotta start somewhere, and my dad’s tunes started it all for me.

Arthur, props for writing honest, interesting blogs and being a good guy in general (or at least seeming to be). Cormorant is fucking awesome and I wish you all the success in the world.

My parents are, like many, in the category of vaguely irritated helplessness. Granted, I grew up only with church music — sang in the kids’ choir since I was 7, and listened only to Disney soundtracks until I was 12 (when my sister decided to put a stop to things and introduced me to R.E.M and Depeche Mode just in the nick of time).

I’m a singer, opera-trained, so the stereotypical idea of heavy metal vocals wasn’t ever attractive to me until a few years ago, when I started getting a little more interested in the instrumental components of harder genres, particularly guitar tracks. Enter melodic metal, and away I went. I still sing, though, primarily in church since the money’s nice and green, so I think my parents are conflicted both in the sense of “isn’t that the devil’s music?” (okay, they’re not churchy like *that*, but still) and “why can’t you listen to something prettier, like the stuff you sing?”.

I guess, to make a long story short, growing up with soundtracks gave me a love for emotive music and evocative chord progressions, and I listen to metal for the same reason I like to sing spiritual music, because it gives you a bit of an emotional high to experience really moving music. Unfortunately, my family is all composed of pragmatic, analytical types (I’m the adopted one, and the only creative one), so even that explanation doesn’t make sense to them. It’ll always just be one of my “phases”.

my mother bought my first album…..vinyl. it was love gun by kiss. then she also bought kiss alive ii for me.

my walls were covered with iron maiden, priest, kiss, motley crue, etc. they never really had a problem with any of it.

as for my kids, they tend to listen to pop music at the moment. my 4 year old daughter does know all the words to van halen’s jamies cryin though.

they also like to go crazy in the car listening to “the shakey song” as they call it. that is take the time by dream theater.

My mom has been the most unsuportive person in my life. I wish I had your mom.

I kind of try to keep away from the angrier or scarier stuff with my kids also. Sweating Bullets freaks them out! No Slayer and rarely do I play Lamb of God with them around. My son used to ask for Veggie Tales a lot, and my daughter liked that too when she was smaller. But now they ask for metal, and my son carries Children of Bodom around in his portable cd player with him.

When I’m driving with them, I find that the volume stays relatively low so that we can talk, but when I’m by myself, it’s cranked way the hell up, too.

My daughter likes some pop music that her girlfriends like, but some of her friends love to rock out with us to metal, too. She might get into hip hop and pop music later in order to rebel, but for now, she’s pretty metal. She wore black nail polish to school this week and her teacher told her to take it off. So I supported the teacher, telling her, yes, you have to abide by the school’s policies. But my punk rock spirit sort of chafes with that kind of thing. Education is very important, of course, but I’m no ass kisser, here.