As I enter into this portion of my adult life, music still has a special place in my life. I can remember as a college student wondering what I would be listening to when I got old. I was naïve enough to think that old adults couldn’t listen to the type of music I liked. So I guessed it would be Lawrence Welk for me. But as I got older and continued to like the music I did, I began to realize there were no limits, no one to tell me what was right or wrong musically. So maybe because I think they are smart and with it or maybe because their youth helps to keep me young at heart, the most influential people for music right now are my two kids – CollegeBoy and MillieJupiter.
When CB was in his early teens, we got an Xbox and played “Tiger Woods Golf” The sound track was mesmerizing for the two of us and included songs by Coldplay, Ash and Snow Patrol. MJ also liked Ash and so we found albums by these groups and listen to them for hours at a time. Sure, there were more but that sound track really became the soundtrack of our growing together as a family. CB added an album by a group called Fort Minor which taught me a great deal about rap music. Generally that is not something I like but this group was different. They had melody and they told stories and some of the songs could actually bring tears to your eyes as they talked about family and city life and issues unbounded. CB always seems to be on the cutting edge of music. He was into singer/songwriter stuff with people like Gavin Degraw long before that was popular on the radio. He just seemed to find things and get us all to listen. We didn’t always like it but we always were aware of stuff long before everyone else.
On the other hand, MJ liked a lot of the music that I did, like Steely Dan. I guess because she heard so much of it growing up. Her tastes are a lot different than mine but there have been two things she likes listening to that made a mark on me. The first was My Chemical Romance, the other is American Idol runner up last year, Adam Lambert. Now, understand that when MJ gets into something, she REALLY gets into it. It was non-stop My Chem for months and months. When Adam came along, she joined “Glambert” nation and has yet to look back. What I learned from her is the simple joy of listening to something you like and not worrying or being concerned about what others around might think or say. She enjoys her music, I like what she listens to but I love that she is unafraid of her opinions. It was the same for me with CollegeBoy and Fort Minor. I can’t imagine saying 5 years ago that I would like some rap group but he made it ok to listen and to like.
Thank you to the both of you for helping me feel young inside all over again.
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