Music Lovers

Well, the kids have finally found Daddy’s music collection. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t like music that was, to be kind, slightly more aggressive than the average show tune.

It started when I began filling up iTunes with all my music. I dug out all the old cd’s and left them cluttering up the computer room which intrigued the kids to no end. There was an endless stream of questions about every band, title and song. As the kids investigated, they formed piles of Mommy music (deemed somewhat interesting), general music (boring), and “scary music,” which was mostly mine. It was deemed scary after Tiny picked up the case to Sepultura, took one look at it and said, with a mock shiver “ooohhhh scary!”

On some of the courser music, I tried to squelch the interest by confirming that it was indeed “scary music.” And, all things considered, this is a fairly accurate assessment. And it worked for Girl, who wants no part of anything scary. Unfortunately, this only fueled the curiosity for Boy and Tiny. “I can handle scary music, Dad. I’m a big boy now.” He told me. And of course, Tiny’s life motto is “If my big brother can do it, then so can I.” And, this applies to absolutely everything. Including “Boy stands up. Why can’t I?”

The hardest part is trying to describe “scary music” to the under seven crowd. Questions include: What do they sing about? What instruments do they play? Why is it scary? The best I could do is say that they sang in a scary voice. They sounded like a pack of dogs barking “Rar Rar Rar”.

Eventually, I was able to defer the Boy to my early 80’s college radio mix which includes:
Jet Fighter by The Three O’Clock (Thumbs up!)
This Charming Man by The Smiths (Thumb way down!)
Mirror in the Bathroom by The English Beat (Eh - Ok!)
Behind the Wall of Sleep by Smithereens (Best Song he’s ever heard!)
Punk Rock Girl by The Dead Milkman (Pretty good!)
Still in Hollywood by Concrete Blond (Pretty good!)

Unfortunately, Tiny hasn’t let go of idea of listening to scary music. The other day, we were in the car when Tiny requested to listen to the “rar rar rar” music. At first, I wasn’t sure what she meant, so she clarified for me. “The scary music Daddy. I want to hear the scary music” she said.

Why not I thought. It would be better than listening to The Wiggles. Luckily for me, I didn’t have any Sepultura in the car at the time so I told her we would have to listen what was available. Which included The Sounds, The Bravery, Garbage, D4, and pre-superband Goo Goo Dolls.

I let Tiny hold each case while I madly changed cd's letting her listen to as many songs as I could. I started with the Bravery for that electronica type sound. That wasn't a hit. "Daddy, that's not scary!" So I decided to try some bands with female vocal and went to Sounds and Garbage in quick succession. This got me a "Daddy, why all girl voices?" Who knew the child would be picky about music this early in her life.

Finally I skipped to Goo Goo Dolls which was a hit! So it worked out that we both got to listen to something fun.