Sharing Music With Your Kids
Music has always been a part of my life. For as long as I can remember, I have either been listening to it, singing it, or playing it. It is a part of me. I think it is genetic.
My mother is the oldest of seven kids, and all of them are musical. They sing, or they play instruments or they do both! They were even in a band together as teens/young adults called The Loved Ones. It’s no wonder why there was always great music on in the house when I was young. I learned to love the best. The Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, The Doobie Brothers.
I have great memories of our family get togethers being a great big sing along. Someone will pull out a guitar, and we break into Suite Judy Blue Eyes, or one of the many Beatles songs they know.
As I got older and developed my own taste in music though, I don’t remember my mom’s musical appetite growing with me. There were some things we agreed on, but I definitely had my own genre. She fell into that stereotypical parent role of “Turn that garbage down”.
It was not garbage by any means. This was the 90’s you see. In the heat of the grunge movement. I have to admit, I was a sucker for the dirty sound of bands like Pearl Jam, Jane’s Addiction, Alice In Chains and Nirvana. If I hear them today, I still want to close 
my eyes and lay my head back and “get lost” in the music. If I concentrate hard enough, I can almost smell the incense burning, and hear my mom banging on the door telling me to turn it down.
Now, I have teenagers of my own. We live in a house full of music. I love that. We have exposed our kids to all kinds of music, and because of that, they have very eclectic musical tastes. They love the old stuff, from when I was growing up, which is so cool. I love that we can all sing along to Nirvana or Pink Floyd when it comes on the radio.
On the flip side, I have been very open to their music as well. They expose me to a plethora of new music. I have no idea where in the heck they find it. They seem to always be coming to me with new bands. Some of it I am not crazy about, but I have actually found some really great new bands thanks to them. The key is to stay open minded. I mean, just because someone screaming into the microphone sounds like noise, not singing, and makes me want to smash the radio in…doesn’t mean everyone feels that way. (I will never understand why people like screamo.)
I digress.
There are actually very few bands that my kids listen to that I “can’t stand”. They know I hate the screamo bands, and I really don’t want to hear it. EVER. Other than that, I really do like almost everything they listen to.
These are the bands on the “Do not play around mom” list:
- Memphis Mayfire
- Crown The Empire
- Asking Alexadria
- Of Mice and Men
- Sleeping With Sirens
- Pierce The Veil
The last two are only because I can’t stand the nasally high pitched sound of the lead singers voice. Personal preference.
These are some of the bands that I now enjoy listening to, thanks to my boys introducing me to them:
- Ok Go
- Twenty One Pilots
- Cage The Elephants
- House of Heroes
- Imagine Dragons
- Jack Johnson
- Ed Sheeran
- Two Door Cinema Club
- Skrillex
I look forward to more “music lessons” in the future!
