Redefining Kid Music

Heather and I had an epiphany about kids music recently. We really don’t like it very much. There are a few songs I like, but most of the music we have for the kids we tolerate, but don’t enjoy. The litmus test is when one of these songs starts playing while your ipod is shuffling and you can’t hit the skip button fast enough.

With that in mind I’m on a mission to create a new playlist called Kid Music We Like. This will not be filled with the usual children oriented singers, but modern music that we love singing together with the kids.

This new playlist dovetailed nicely with a philosophy of music that I have been developing over the years. Everyone has their favorite songs from their generation and a lot of us become stuck with that music and a sampling of the classics, but disregard any new music. What I have discovered is that the music I listened to in my formative years is deeply tied with my memories, most likely because I listened to those songs over and over again on the radio. I made this music-memory connection in college and used it to my advantage by listening to one album over and over while studying for a final. When I took the final I would get those songs going in my head and it helped me recover the material I studied.

As a kid, my mom would always play Roger Miller in the car when we went on long trips and to this day I still like listening to those songs because it gives me flashbacks to those memories. If our kids only listen to ‘kid music’ it is unlikely that they will listen to those songs as adults, but if they listen to OUR music they will get to experience the same nostalgic flashbacks 30 years from now when they’re watch a Top 100 countdown on VH1.

The hard part for me is hunting down new music. Local radio by us is particularly awful so I always listen to my ipod. I use iTunes to track down music using the referrals and listener lists, but my favorite tool lately is Youtube. What I’ve discovered is that youtube is what MTV SHOULD have become. It is filled with music videos by top artists, new artists, and fans. They all get equal playtime and are linked. Sure, there is a lot of dredge out there like the old MTV, but there ARE music videos- unlike the new MTV. All of my favorite new songs have come from youtube. I watched the video and then bought the song off Amazon.

The Kids Music We Like playlist is still a work in progress, but here is what we have so far:

Classics

• Funkytown - Lipps, Inc
• I’m A Believer - Smash Mouth
• I Like To Move It - Real 2 Real
• Who Let the Dogs Out - Baha Men
• Upside Down - Jack Johnson
• Love Shack - B52s (Ethan’s favorite)
• We’re Going to be Friends - Jack Johnson
• People Watching - Jack Johnson

Kid Music (ok there are some kids song we love too)

• One Dozen Monkeys - They Might Be Giants

New Music found on Youtube

• A-Punk - Vampire Weekend (Ben’s favorite) (video)
• New Soul - Yael Naim (video)
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk (fan videos: Daft Hands, Daft Bodies)
• Here It Goes Again - OK GO (video)

What songs do you like to listen to with the kids?