I hate kids music

Yes, in fact, I hate kid's music with a white hot passion. I have never seen or listened to High School the Musical, and I hope against hope that I will never have to. I have actual issues with most kid's music that I've heard. Don't even get me started on the travesty that is Kids Bop which I thankfully only know through their hellish commercials.

I have made one single exception that I can think of, though if Momma reads this, she may think of one other exception that I'm less willing to admit to. I really doubt that exception exists, but Momma has a way of remembering things I don't, whether or not they really happened.

Before I rant any more I will list my one exception. I love Thomas the Tank Engine. The original stories by Reverend Awdry are the ones I love, and the new ones that exist solely to make money can go straight to hell. Rev. Awdry's original stories were made up for his son, the same way that many classics of children's literature were created. So my musical exception here is Roundhouse Rhythms, a collection of songs from different episodes of the Thomas stories. I'm sure anyone familiar with Thomas knows plenty of lyrics to Gone Fishin' which is a great song. Toby's song is also a good one. I've even found a site with the lyrics so that I can sing along.

Now we continue with the rant. I just don't see the point of music geared toward kids. It's always music that no one but kids want to hear, and kids only like it because we buy it for them and treat is as special for them. In fact, most kid's music just plain sucks, so in my mind, we are, by giving our kids this crap, telling them they don't deserve good music. It's insulting to kids in my opinion to suggest that they can't appreciate good music.

Big Brother doesn't seem to appreciate the ska quite as much as Momma and I, but he does seem to like some of it. The Boy is constantly asking who we are listening to, even when we actually have the radio on, which means I don't usually know who it is till the DJ tells us, and I don't know that we've found anything he will claim not to like. We only listen to three stations regularly, NPR, the local college station and WDVX, easily one of the greatest radio stations known to man. Click the link and listen. If you love Americana and related styles you will love them. They are also commercial free, though my anti-commercial leanings get a different post.

I'll end the rant with music I know the boys like: Dwight Yoakam, Louis Jordan, Leonard Cohen, Carl Perkins, The Clash, Dropkick Murphys, The Melvins, Motorhead, Flogging Molly, Faith No More, Social Distortion, and the list really goes on. I could throw in some classical music that they've enjoyed, Tchaikovsky, the entire Strauss family, Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf) Basically my point is, why reduce music to pop pablum when you can just give your kids real music? Why limit what they can get into? Why give them music that has an obvious enjoy-by date?