Music and Such

I've been working to share some good music with my kids and I think its working. Both Maya and Julian have these small video game type things that also holds music and I get to choose which songs go where. Of course, I need to indulge them with their kiddo music, but then I can be more creative. It sure is nice to drive down the freeway and hear Love and Rockets, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Manu Chau coming from the back seat. There is no way of knowing how this might influence them, but once my mom let me listen to her Beatles records, it was all over because my musical appreciation took one huge leap around the age of six.

I'm no musician, but later when life has a tendency to take adolescents on wild journeys, music helped make my journey more complex. During the mid-1980s MTV had a show called 120 Minutes where I first heard Love and Rockets' "Yin and Yang the Flowerpot Man", as well as other artists like the Butthole Surfers, Souixsie and the Banshees, and Sonic Youth. All of these were worth listening to because it was good music and often had interesting lyrics. Yin and Yang the Flowerpot Man might actually be one of the reasons I became an English major. It also helped that I was often loaded during the show, so the music was that much better.

Now its time for my son and daughter to learn music. I'm sure they will have their pop music phases coupled with their exploratory phases, and that is a-okay. Still, I love it when I put on War or Jimi Hendrix and Maya says, "I like that song daddy," because she will have a better repertoire of music than the average kid. And when Julian reaches in and pulls out Los Lobos or PJ Harvey, I know that he might be the only kid in his class listening to that music. With the understanding of a variety of music often comes the understanding of a variety of life experiences. Maybe Rage Against the Machine sounds like red hot noise to some, but when my kids are throwing their fists in the air singing, "A fire in the master's house is set!" there is more to it than sounds coming from the speakers. Those rides in my truck just might change the world someday. Then, those music filled rides to school will take on entirely new meanings. One can dream.