At the age of 13 I made pirate cassette tapes of "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns N' Roses and "No Prayer For the Dying" by Iron Maiden from library CDs. That was pretty much me for five years.

Why my interests diversified? Probably because I was looking for stuff that held my attention, and generic rock music with love songs or having a good time lyrics bored me. I basically like anything were the lyrics tell stories beyond the standard dribble. A bit of prog added to any genre does a world of wonders.

I like what I like through so many avenues:

1/The radio
Used to be such a major influence once upon a time.

2/Peer pressure.
Hey, you liked what your friends like at a certain age.

3/'Substances'
Brought me The Doors, The Beatles, Stones and basically the whole sixties scene.

4/Parent (I only had one)
Mum liked Elvis and the Walker Brothers. Can't think of any others but I didn't gain any massive influence from this I'm afraid.

5/As an adult
Anything goes.

6/As to your children I don't want to say too much but 'your' taste shouldn't be forced down their throats. 'Kids' will find what they like just the way we all did.

So I would conclude I had zero influence from my Mother in regards to my musical taste. I found my musical tastes just by living.

As a footnote apparently Paul Weller's teenage son is a bit of a goth and likes Marilyn Manson so let them be free I say....

it could end up provoking the usual teenage rebellion thing and they might end up listening to something really naff just to spite you, or not bother at all.

My parents were into the crooners, Elvis and The Beatles but were generally open about all music, I remember music being on all the time. Although I played classical music in the school orchestra my real love of music was sparked by punk rock, probably by seeing TOTP - I was too young to read the NME or go to gigs at the time. Certainly wasn't peer pressure as most of my friends and me were into ELO, Abba and the Grease soundtrack!

Parents - favourite record owned by them. Hoots Mon, Lord Rockingham's XI. My dad did take me to see the Elvis film Blue Hawaii and I got the soundtrack LP for Christmas.

A cool older cousin - he went to the Isle Of Wight Festival and told me all about it. I also borrowed his Age Of Atlantic LP with Led Zep, etc.

The Melody Maker - in the early '70's. Full of cool looking dudes. I just HAD to explore their music.

The radio - if you like Round The Horne

The TV - The Beatles on Granada TV and The Monkees Show

Live music - seeing T.Rex then Yes, Led Zep & Pink Floyd. I was hooked.

my parents only listened to classical, my escape was a transistor radio tuned to 208 Radio Luxembourg listening to Tony Prince et al. A whole new world opened up.
My early teens from 1974 was dominated by The Who, Beatles and the Stones. Then punk, I still listen to the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Damned etc.
My American music tastes came from the OGWT. It introduced me to Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Steve Forbert and many others.
My two boys, both in their 20's don't listen to any of my music apart from asking me if I have the original of some sample from one of their favourite artists, much to my delight they usually prefere the original.
Sorry the above is a bit long winded, but basically Chris your kids will find their own way musically.

With two 18 year-olds now displaying a similar degree of interest in music as me (though not necessarily sharing my tastes) I can would guess that they may well have learned it from their parents (Let's not get into the nature/nurture argument!).

Their 'education' was actually non-existent. But what did happen was that they got regular immersion in music throughout each day. We never went in the car without music playing, the house was rarely silent and music was an ever-present when we had friends round. They saw our enjoyment and missed music when it wasn't there.

When I think of my own childhood it was the same. I can remember my Dad bringing home 'A Hard Days Night' and racing to the radiogram to listen to it.

... so I grew up in a musical household. There was various 70s albums of the progressive/heavy/folk/blues/jazz rock variety, almost all of which I grew to love myself and got into other artists of those styles in later years. Always used to watch Top Of The Pops in the mid 90s and, if memory serves, they used to show 'Sounds Of The Sixties' and 'Sounds Of The Seventies' before TOTP on BBC2 at about 6.30pm just before TOTP was on. Both programmes made a big impression.

Heard lots of stuff on the radio; I never got into Radio 1 all that much (and it's far worse now) but I liked Brian Matthew's 60s shows and heard really amazing music which I never would have heard otherwise via Stuart Maconie's radio show 'The Critical List' which started when I was about 13.

My younger brother never had any interest whatsoever in music though, I think I have an obsession big enough for both of us!!

Used to listen to Radio 1 as a kid in the '70s, loved pop music...

Saw the Stones' video for 'She's So Cold' when I was 11, thought Keef looked cool...

Bought 'Exile On Main Street' with a record token given to me for my birthday when I was 13. Loved it.

Disliked new romantic bands, liked The Specials, The Beat, Madness.

Was influenced greatly by my friend Elliot's dad's record collection... he played me Little Feat, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band amonst many others...

Similarly influenced by my aunt... Dr John, Dylan, blues...

Went to jazz gigs at my school... saw Pete King, Dick Morrissey, Al Casey, Ronnie Scott, Tal Farlow

Was influenced by Roger Dean album covers and got into prog...

and so on...