Music and Me

Last week Danielle listed her favorite cds and suggested that her readers might do the same. I avoided it mostly because my music taste usually scares people away. (I have the combined musical taste of an 80’s punk rocker, an 80’s new waver, the 90’s skaters, a grandma, a 20 year old geek guy, and ballerina/musician. And that doesn’t hit NEARLY all the styles.) The good news is that I have past my eclectic musical taste on to my children and combine that with that of my husband–he likes techno, geekrap, and a couple specific bands. Our kids have some crazy musical taste.

I own very few cds (a few 80’s brat pack plus some retro-movie sound tracks, The Psychedelic Furs, REM, 10,000 Maniacs, Dave Matthews,Casting Crowns, and Jars of Clay).

Mostly I have records (yes I do) and I play them too, AND my kids know how to play them and think it perfectly natural. 🙂 (Lots of old musicals and classical, James Taylor, The Pretenders, Psychedelic Furs, and some other 70’s folksy stuff that drives my husband berserk.)

I have plenty of tapes (we have a collection even though we never listen to them because most of them can’t be bought now–hubby and I have some odd eclectic taste–most of Daniel Amos and The Choir, some U2, most of REM, the Pretty in Pink soundtrack–mostly 80’s alternative stuff.) Those don’t get listened to very much. We have collected most of our favorites on MP3.

I also have lots of MP3 downloads that I bought (Redemptions Songs by Jars of Clay, Chase the Kangaroo by the Choir, some Crystal Method, some Badly Drawn Boy, some Belle and Sebastion, Louie Armstrong, lots of Innocence Mission, The Smiths, some Sixpence None the Richer, the Pogues, and lots of my old favorites from the 80’s which is mostly new wave and alternative) but I prefer the ones that wonderful artists post for free on their websites–like the Clarks, They Might Be Giants, Death Cab for Cutie, and that sort. I also love listening to Big-Blue-Swing radio online. And then there is one of my totally geeky favorites: LHC.

From their website:

Les Horribles Cernettes are the one and only High Energy Rock Band. They sing about colliders, quarks, microwaves, antiprotons and Internet. They are known and loved by some 20000 High Energy Physicists worldwide. They were born at the same time, and in the office next door to… the World Wide Web. No wonder they were the first band to have a website and their picture posted on the web! This website is kept pretty much in the original shape as it was in 1992.

Their music has a fifties vibe and is totally geeky. They sing about electrons, antimatter, microwaves, and all that sort of thing. The kids and I get a real kick out of them and I am excited to say I just found out they now have youtube videos. Very fun.

I should add that my kids love this and They Might Be Giants–which is great because there is all kinds of great educational stuff to be pulled from the music. My kids know who James C. Polk was because of the TMBG song, and they know that the Sun is a Mass…