Playing Dress Up With Tiny Rockers
Posted on Mar 01Parents love watching their kids play dress up, and the only thing they love more than that is actually dressing the kids themselves. Sometimes it’s a cute outfit to show the grandparents, sometimes it’s a big fluffy fleece onesie, but the ultimate is to dress your kid like a rocker.
That said, I offer you the top three most challenging musicians to play dress up with your little tykes.
3) Lady Gaga
Her album The Fame was released in 2008 but it was 2009 that was truly Gaga’s year. Her music had a new pop sound but Gaga was more than music. Her art is the visual mixed with the aural and her fashion has included everything from dressing in plastic bubbles to being drenched in blood at the 2009 Video Music Awards. Bonus points if you can dress your kid in her pointy silver Grammy 2010 outfit.
2) KISS
This one is a no brainer and there are already plenty of parents who worship KISS and dress their kids up in the make-up for Halloween. To be authentic, you can’t phone it in and must cover your kid’s full face in make-up. Even better if you have four kids and dress each one as a member of KISS: The Demon, Starchild, Spaceman and Catman.
1) Freddie Mercury
There are very few performers who could match Freddie’s stage presence. This choice might not be as obvious as KISS, but it is much easier to pull off than covering your squirming kid’s face with elaborate stage make-up. Though it may be easier to dress as Freddie, it’s also more courageous. Placing a child in tight rocker pants, or a Pierrot unitard screams 80s rock.
What Your Kids are Listening To: Justin Bieber
Posted on Feb 24
If you have a young daughter between the ages of 8 and 13 you have definitely heard of Justin Bieber. He’s a baby faced singer who can shut down a mall with severe pandemonium on a single visit. His most recent hit climbing the charts is “Baby” and it features Ludacris rapping on it. When I heard that Usher had signed this little guy to his label, I was quick to dismiss him and his music because I felt it was going to be another slick youngster singing about things he had no experience with. I was only half right. Bieber’s “Baby” is definitely an overproduced attempt at a hit single especially with the rap verse, but at its core the song is an innocent track about young love. If you listen to the stripped down version without all the voice affectation, it could even pass as a throwback to those simple pop songs about love from the sixties. Pass on the studio version and give Bieber a chance. Your daughter will think you’re the coolest parent alive.
Things Our Kids Will Never Know: The 8-Track
Posted on Feb 19
Last year Cheap Trick released their album, The Latest, on CD, Vinyl and 8-track. It was the biggest selling 8-tack of the year (if that is something to get excited about.) It got me thinking, growing up we used to look through my parents’ record collection with both awe and wonder. We were amazed that they actually had decent taste in music as was evidenced by their Beatles’ Rubber Soul LP, and we were stunned that people could actually listen to music on these plastic discs with grooves. It always sounded scratchy and the needle never landed exactly where it was supposed to. We thought our cassettes were so much better and then with the arrival of compact discs we could not believe that we ever listened to music that was not digital.
Now as I raise my own kids, I’m struck by the enormous leaps in technology and how my children do not know anything before an mp3. My five-year-old son gets upset when he watches a TV set that is not hooked up to a DVR because he is unable to pause live TV. In my lifetime I have seen music move from vinyl to cassettes to CDs to mp3s. My kids started on mp3 tracks and I wonder where they will go fr
Prince VS Spell Check: War of the Words
Posted on Feb 16
Teachers complain that most teenagers today rely on Spell Check instead of learning proper spelling, but I would argue that the true culprit is Prince. Born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958, the man is responsible for some of the greatest pop music of the last 30 years. He’s given us “Purple Rain,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.” He also wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “I Would Die 4 U.” For some reason Prince does not like to spell things out.
It began with his 1982 album 1999, with a track called “All The Critics Love U in New York.” Since then it has gone downhill, even calling his 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. The worst example of Prince reworking the English language was probably his latest album in 2009 which he called LOtUSFLOW3R. At this point it seems Prince has given up on letters altogether and is attempting to spell using numbers. Prince’s reach has spilled over to the next generation as Fall Out Boy took it to another level when they released “Thnks fr th Mmrs” off their 2007 album, Infinity on High. That doesn’t even sound correct.
It is safe to say that no other musical performer alive today is able to make a guitar do what Prince can make it do and for that reason alone it’s worth letting your kids hear his awesome music (but make sure it’s the clean songs.) Just try and keep them away from the track listings and album covers when listening to UR music.
3 Reasons Your Kids Will Dig Journey
Posted on Feb 12
The band Journey has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, had 18 top 40 hits and “Don’t Stop Believin’” is the top selling catalog track on iTunes. It goes without saying that arena rock like this is tailor made for young kids to dance to. It seems a little harder for the tykes to get into the ballads than the rock anthems but here are three reasons why your kid will dig Journey.
3. Haircuts
Check out any picture of Journey from the late seventies to the early eighties and your kids will ask why their hair looks like a shaggy lion’s mane. Even current pictures of the band’s line up prove that Journey are still rockin’ some awesome do’s.
2. Album covers
Get past the first three albums Journey released in the seventies and you’ll see a pattern emerge. Each album beginning with Infinity is multi-colored offering out of this world imagery on what seems like a psychedelic trip. The art work is cool for parents but fascinating for kids as well.
1. So What? – So let’s dance!
Now I am fully aware that you would have to be a derelict parent in order to let your youngster check out the rated-R Caddyshack. But it couldn’t hurt to let them check out the few seconds where Rodney Dangerfield cranks “Anyway You Want It” from his golf bag.
Journey Trivia: Lead Singers
Posted on Feb 11
When people think of Journey they think of the last scene of The Sopranos, Rodney Dangerfield telling us to dance, and Steve Perry pledging undying love as he balls up his fists in “Faithfully.” But Steve was not the first singer to lead the band, in fact he wasn’t even the second. Perry joined the band in 1977 and was on board when they recorded their best known hits including “Don’t Stop Believin,’” “Any Way You Want It,” and “Open Arms.” Can you name the first two singers to lead Journey?
Gregg Rolie was the first to handle lead vocals for the band and then Robert Fleischman joined Journey for a short lived stint in 1977 before Steve Perry took over until 1998. How many singers came after Perry and what were their names?
Steve Augeri replaced Steve Perry in 1998, but he was dropped in 2006 and Jeff Scott Soto took up the position for a few months until Arnel Pineda took the helm after Journey saw him on Youtube singing covers of Journey songs. And you thought posting those little videos online of your kids singing would lead nowhere. Of the five founding members, only guitarist Neal Schon has been with the band the whole time since 1973.
Stuff We Like: Vampire Weekend
Posted on Feb 05
The way the music industry works is if something hits then producers repeat that sound until even little kids grow tired and refuse to listen to it. But every now and then a new sound comes along that is so original and sonically pleasing that it doesn’t divide an audience and can be listened to by kids and their parents. If you’ve heard of Vampire Weekend then you know what I’m talking about. These four Columbia University graduates released their debut self titled album in 2008 and have followed it up with Contra which came out in January. They dress like preppy kids, but it is their sound that has really caught on. Described by the group as “Upper West Side Soweto”, Vampire Weekend is like nothing you’ve heard in the past ten years. Employing different tempos and foreign beats they manage to swing from mellow laid back vibes to hyper guitar licks to a percussion that sounds like the drummer has downed 10 Red Bulls in a row. It’s this fast paced tempo that gets my kids up and dancing. Throw in the fact that lead singer Ezra Koenig has such a distinct voice that he is able to alter perfectly depending on the song and trust me, your kids will be jumping all over the furniture listening to this group.
Check out their new single “Cousins” to get the little tykes dancing around:
5 Songs To Get Your Toddler Dancing
Posted on Feb 04
If you’ve heard Ke$ha’s number one hit Tik Tok, you might want to listen to it again before allowing your toddler to dance to it in their diapers. While the song has an infectious beat and Ke$ha’s stirring repetition of “Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa” might get your feet tapping, this current Billboard Hot 100 topper has true party lyrics which are not appropriate for little kids. Try explaining to your kids what “Brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack” means or why “Boys are trying to touch my junk”. If you’ve seen the video you know Ke$ha is a party girl whose appearance includes an attire that proves she has been living the lyrics to her hit.
Instead of playing this latest hit try these 5 other songs to get your toddler dancing:
1) The Police – De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
The song title says it all. If this song isn’t geared towards young kids I don’t know what is.
2) The Faces – Ooh La La
Same idea. The song title sounds like something your two year old might have come up with. That coupled with the fact that the song is about wishing you were wiser when you were younger is perfect.
3) The Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There
Sure, all early Beatles songs are great for young kids (and many of the later ones as well) but this one stands out because of the way they held the high notes when singing “Held her hand in Miiiiiiiiine”.
4) The Bangles – Hazy Shade of Winter
Although written by Paul Simon it is the Bangles version that gets my kids jumping. The way the song shifts from slow melodious sixties groove to a guitar rock song makes their heads pump in a way that would make any father proud.
5) Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
Considered a rock anthem by most and a state anthem by New Jersey, kids will love the break in the middle followed by Bruce’s scream of “1,2,3,4” and moving right back into the song.
Sneak Peek: Lullaby Renditions of Journey
Posted on Jan 11
Due Date:
February 9th, 2010
Description:
When the lights go down in the nursery, try these gentle renditions of Journey’s biggest power ballads. We’ll have your small town girl or city boy on the midnight train to sleepytown in no time. Who’s crying now? Not your little angel. Don’t stop believin’ in peace and quiet.
Don’t Stop Believin’
New Arrival: Rockabye Baby! Guns N’ Roses
Posted on Nov 10
Description:
Is a sweet child o’ yours trying your patience at bedtime? Do you have an appetite for noise reduction? Don’t you cry tonight. Fire up these gentle renditions of GNR’s metal classics to rock your little devil to a peaceful sleep. Welcome to the nursery, baby. It’s paradise city.
Tracklist:
- Welcome To The Jungle
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Paradise City
- Live And Let Die
- November Rain
- You Could Be Mine
- Mr. Brownstone
- Estranged
- Yesterdays
- Don’t Cry
- Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
- Patience
