Times when your parents have surprised you by being cool.

[king_tubby]

Tonight my mother told me she saw Beyond the Fringe when she was 19. Cook, Moore, Miller, Bennett, the lot.

[kalowski]

Just after my grandma died, aged 93, my dad told me that my grandad was her second husband. Like what the fuck? Grandma was married before? What the hell?

[canadagoose]

My parents knew about Charlie Brooker before me. To think, they were enjoying Screenwipe before me because I'd confused Charlie Brooker with Charlie Higson, who I thought would be intolerable doing a TV review show.

[McChesney Duntz]

My dad once casually informed me that he was at the Beatles' second-ever U.S. concert (Washington D.C., 1964).

[The Culture Bunker]

My dad once told me a story about being on a pub crawl in Watford in the early 70s (for reasons that escape me now) and staggering into some club to see Desmond Dekker do a set that he stated that even his beer-addled senses found "mind blowing". He was also a big Leonard Cohen fan.

Not a parent, but my mam's older brother saw both the Beatles and Stones play in Carlisle shortly before they hit the big-time, and was at one of Black Sabbath's early gigs. He was also scouted by Sheffield Wednesday, though sadly his team (the mighty Parton United) were hammered 6-0, which he put down to the lads enjoying "a right session" the night before after he'd backed a long-odds winner on the nags.

[jobotic]

My parents were always cooler than I could ever hope to be. Dad's band supported The Pretty Things at the Moulin Rouge in the sixties. I didn't.

[canadagoose]

My dad once told me a story about being on a pub crawl in Watford in the early 70s (for reasons that escape me now) and staggering into some club to see Desmond Dekker do a set that he stated that even his beer-addled senses found "mind blowing". He was also a big Leonard Cohen fan.

Not a parent, but my mam's older brother saw both the Beatles and Stones play in Carlisle shortly before they hit the big-time, and was at one of Black Sabbath's early gigs. He was also scouted by Sheffield Wednesday, though sadly his team (the mighty Parton United) were hammered 6-0, which he put down to the lads enjoying "a right session" the night before after he'd backed a long-odds winner on the nags.

I wonder if they heard my Dad's band play on Radio Carlisle in 1981. They did a live set there. "No Kiddin'", they were called.

[Famous Mortimer]

My mum saw Jimi Hendrix supporting Englebert Humperdinck and the Walker Brothers in 1967 (she was there for the Walker Brothers, but it was a great show all round, apparently). My Dad once claimed to have chatted up Diana Ross at a party, but it turned out from his brother that he was a gobshite who'd once, possibly, been in the same room as her.

My Dad was cool when I got arrested once, for shoplifting. He had to get his mate to give him a lift from work to come and pick me up, and as we we were walking back to the car his mate complained at having to leave it in a rough area. My Dad just looked at me and said "don't worry, if it's not there this twat can nick us another one". Then he never mentioned it again. Thanks Dad!

[The Culture Bunker]

My mum saw Jimi Hendrix supporting Englebert Humperdinck and the Walker Brothers in 1967 (she was there for the Walker Brothers, but it was a great show all round, apparently).

An ex of mine's mam was at the Bolton show on the same tour. I gather Jimi was fascinated by Englebert's stagecraft and even backed him on guitar from behind the curtain on a few nights.

[Janie Jones]

Got to have a wee humblebrag here, well basically just a brag, about being the cool parents because having had kids young, there was a brief period when they were teens and we were around 40 that my partner and I went to the same warehouse parties as the weens; I once found my son asleep in a bass bin at a Kill All Hippies night in Kings Cross and also bumped into him or my daughter at Artrocker events.

[Neomod]

Not my parents but my mates dad is Eddie Phillips from the Creation. My ex g/f's mum was mates with Sandie Shaw and was an acquaintance of Joe Orton when she worked as a theatre set designer in the 60's.

[Twit 2]

My dad saw Hendrix at Isle of Wight, Stones in Hyde Park, did acid in squats and hitchhiked round Europe. Got me into Monty Python and Tom Waits. He lost his edge a long time ago; now he catalogues the freezer while he waits to die.

[Misspent Boners]

Dad tried speed when he was 18: cool as fuck
When on holiday in the early 80s with their mates, my mum and dad were cooking a curry for everyone and my dad stirred the curry with his willy and everyone ate it: cool as fuck

[Icehaven]

My 83 year old Mum is massively into Detectorists and Better Call Saul. And I'm half her age and spend my time watching 30 year old Top of the Pops. She's better than me.

[Captain Poodle Basher]

My dad was into Cool Jazz in the 1950's. All I ever knew of his musical tastes was Acker Bilk and James Last. He told a mate of mine about listening to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Then again, in the late '70's, he started borrowing LPs from the library. Mid and late period Beatles, Dark Side of the Moon, Tubular Bells, Autobahn[nb]He was fascinated by their appearance on Tomorrow's World[/nb], that I can recall. He borrowed Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene as well and was so taken by it that he bought a copy for himself.

Comedy-wise, a lifelong Goons fan and idolised Milligan & Sellers. Liked Monty Python as well and bought the Life of Brian, Holy Grail and 'Completely Different' albums.

He had all of Spike Milligan's books and would occasionally buy MAD magazine.

[Kankurette]

Dad tried speed when he was 18: cool as fuck
When on holiday in the early 80s with their mates, my mum and dad were cooking a curry for everyone and my dad stirred the curry with his willy and everyone ate it: cool as fuck

Mine did acid when he was at uni.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

All our parents were young once, and were probably pretty cool. Where do the boys and girls of CaB think they get their coolness from?

My dad used to go seeing The Beatles at The Cavern , and my mum went seeing them a couple of times when they played her ( and my) home town of St. Helens. My mum is also a big fan of the comedy stylings of Eddie Izzard, his early stuff anyways, she finds him hilarious.

For the millionth time, I'm going to mention my mum ( along with my auntie ) accompanying me and my companion to a gig by The Fall in Salford, circa 2012. She also borrowed my copy of Brix Smith's autobiography, but only to read the bits about when she ( Brix, not my mum) was in The Fall. She has also pointed out the young Mark E. Smith's resemblance to Richard Madeley, and The Fall's cover version of " Victoria" 's resemblance to " I Must Be In Love" by The Rutles.

[Better Midlands]

My dad was into Cool Jazz in the 1950's. All I ever knew of his musical tastes was Acker Bilk and James Last. He told a mate of mine about listening to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

My dad's a jazz fan too, was talking about it with him the other day and found out he saw a lot of the cats (JC, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie etc) live at The Dominion on Tottenham Court Road in the mid 60s). He was an original mod and had a scooter and parka when he met my mum.

[kalowski]

Well, as I mentioned on my Isaac Hayes thread, my dad has the original Black Moses with the fold out cover -  it's really cool. He has a load of cool records, so I'm waiting for my chance to push him down the stairs to get my inheritance.

[sevendaughters]

My mum saw The Stone Roses when they were a limp goth band.

My dad has never been cool for a nanosecond.

[Kankurette]

My mum is a Manics fan. As in The Holy Bible. She particularly loves 4st 7lb and Yes. I've been to see the Pogues with her as well - my dad got me into them. I also found out she used to organise conferences to get women into industry. And she and my dad went to some amazing gigs. Rock Against Racism etc.

My dad also wrote articles for Greenpeace under a pseudonym.

[Brundle-Fly]

My mum worked for ABC television in the 1950s. Her job was to deal with the viewers' mail.  The most popular request was for photos of Rin Tin Tin. She also knew Dennis 'Kind Hearts & Coronets' Price, her best friend was Tim Brooke-Taylors' bird, her boss was Miranda Richardson's old man and she worked with Verity Lambert. Apparently, Verity was very posh, very rich and was quite snooty with the girls in the typing pool. Sorry Whovians.

My father was in charge of a team that designed scientific components for (among other more prosaic things), Concorde, the machine that put the bubbles into Wispa bars, the King Kong animatronic for the Dino De Laurentiis 1976 remake, telescopes for several observatories and was involved in the development of laserdiscs and CDS.

He's ninety, mum's is 86. They have an Alexa, watch Netflix all the time and play these mad games on their iPads. They know who Little Mix are.

[Jockice]

I wonder if they heard my Dad's band play on Radio Carlisle in 1981. They did a live set there. "No Kiddin'", they were called.

Not to be confused with No Support, a Carlisle punk band from the same period. I don't think anyway. I've never heard of No Kiddin'

My oft-mentioned story about my 70-odd-year-old dad watching a documentary on Shaun Ryder and enjoying it so much he stayed up to watch it again and record it for me to watch. And my mum liking Upside Down by The Jesus And Mary Chain.

[Blue Jam]

After both of my parents had died I was clearing out the house prior to putting it up for sale and while I was sorting out a load of my dad's clothes found a smoking jacket. I thought "That's a keeper". I have been known to wear it round the house occasionally.

He had always been a very stern, serious and distant man, so I was a bit shocked when my mother later told me "No, your dad was very silly, he loved Monty Python and Peter Cook". What the fuck? Looks like we had a surprising amount in common and we might have got on well if he was around now.

[flotemysost]

He had always been a very stern, serious and distant man, so I was a bit shocked when my mother later told me "No, your dad was very silly, he loved Monty Python and Peter Cook". What the fuck? Looks like we had a surprising amount in common and we might have got on well if he was around now.

Aw, that's cool.

My mum is a Manics fan. As in The Holy Bible. She particularly loves 4st 7lb and Yes. I've been to see the Pogues with her as well - my dad got me into them. I also found out she used to organise conferences to get women into industry. And she and my dad went to some amazing gigs. Rock Against Racism etc.

My dad also wrote articles for Greenpeace under a pseudonym.

Also pretty cool!

Last time I saw my dad he brought up, apropos of not much, an anecdote about the time Dudley Moore got an erection in front of him (I don't think my dad was responsible for the erection, fwiw - they were working together and he had to be naked for some reason but the rogue boner delayed proceedings).

My mum's another CaB parent whose first concert was the Beatles, at 14 (with support from Rolf Harris, which is decidedly less cool). She always says she was painfully shy and depressed as a teenager/young adult and they didn't have a lot of money growing up, but music was quite literally her saviour and she'd hitchike, beg, borrow or steal to go to concerts/festivals and managed to see Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the like.

I suppose in a sense both my parents have fairly typical boomer tastes in music, comedy, film etc. (they're both in their early 70s) but they're also interested in and enthused by new stuff and pretty open-minded with it, especially my dad.

[turnstyle]

My Dad used to run a cabaret club in the late 70s early 80s, and booked in loads of acts from the era that were either on their way up or on their way down. A lot of the bands and comedians he had on there went on to massive success, and some...didn't. I always wanted the goss on the famous ones, but he always said that everyone was a 'great bunch of lads'. Surely they can't all have been like that? Maybe he wanted to spare me the details of someone doing coke in the dressing room or ramming a barmaid up against a Ford Cortina in the car park.

Paul Daniels?

'Great bunch of lads'

Lenny Henry?

'Great bunch of lads'

Russ Abbot?

'Great bunch of lads'

Echo and the Bunnymen?

'Great bunch of lads'

New Order?

'Great bunch of lads'

The Fall?

'Great bunch of lads'

Jim Davidson?

'Great bunch of lads'

Come on Dad really, JIM DAVIDSON!?!?


My grandfather, I  found out after he died, had been interned in the same POW camp as Kurt Vonnegut during WW2. I don't know if they ever crossed paths, but I like to imagine them kicking a football about, my Grandad complaining about how you can't get a decent cup of tea, while Vonnegut is being aloof and brooding and doing keepy uppys.

[holyzombiejesus]

Never. I can't think of anyone in the world less cool than my mum. She goes to church, makes a weird point of saying 'Good lor' instead of the "blasphemous" 'Good lord', loves Laura Ashley, was a teen during the sixties but never did anything more adventurous than buying broken biscuits on a Saturday afternoon, tells everyone how proud she is that her grandson is still a virgin and likes King Creosote. She thinks that knitting gives her hypothermia (!?) so wears a face mask to stop the fibres getting in to her lungs (?!?!) and is one of those Labour supporters who preferred Ken Clarke to Jeremy Corbyn. She used to let me stay up late when I was little and we'd listen to Maddy Prior and play Scrabble.

[Vitamin C]

My mum was angling for me to take her to a gig so I brought her to see Stereolab with Tortoise opening at the Forum in Kentish Town. To my surprise, she liked Tortoise better, and even bought a couple of their CDs, "to listen to in the car." A moment of uncoolness occurred during Stereolab's set when she pointed to the stage and said "what's that bloke bloody doing?" It was Sonic Boom, brought along to accompany Stereolab for the evening, playing a theremin and a number of other exotic instruments.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The coolest thing a parent can do is absolutely double down in their aggressive virulently hostile total ignorance and hatred of anything they dislike whatsoever because that's ultimately what apparently cool people do as I have observed with me arse.

[bgmnts]

Despite already knowing my mother has always been very cool, mindful and compassionate and raising two kids on her own and hanging out smoking weed, I just found out she voted Socialist in the 1997 general election and not war criminal Blair's New Labour. She said she always knew they were just a shade of blue.

Officially my hero.