Belieber

My kids are old enough now that they pay attention to music…a subject that I like, even if I’m not particularly good at it. There’s always been music around, mind you. When Amy was pregnant, she used to listen to various mix CD’s of soothing music as she was going to sleep. When Marty was being born, “Angel Mine” by Cowboy Junkies was playing. When I was reviewing music for 2Walls.com when Marty was little, we frequently listened to the CD’s while playing on the floor. And, Marty and Casey have both been to numerous musical productions at theaters…one of the few things that they will sit quietly through.

So, it’s not like I’m saying that they’ve not paid attention to music previously, but now they’re paying attention to some music that’s aimed at their contemporaries. For example, they now not only know who the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber are…they now also know the songs that they sing (which is more than any adult without a teen or preteen child can say).

As anyone who’s ever read my 2Walls reviews would know, I’ve got nothing against pop music. I’ve always been more of a Beatles than Rolling Stones person, and even then, more of a McCartney than Lennon person. (Which is all really splitting hairs…every example I just gave is really pop music…how about this, I was always more Clash and less Sex Pistols…although, “Anarchy In the U.K.” isn’t as far off from pop as they probably meant it to be…but I digress…)

So, I suppose I find their entry into the music of their age kind of fascinating. Oddly, even though Marty has been exposed to more music throughout his life – we probably don’t just slap on music while we’re around the house the way that we once did – Casey is the one that’s a little more inquisitive.

Marty is the one with an iPod, but Casey is the one that goes exploring for music on it. Which leads to moments like walking into a room and finding Casey listening to Frank Sinatra’s “Jingle Bells” in April or him strolling by me blaring Colbie Caillat’s “Falling For You” and yelling, “I love this song!”

The biggest oddity is that both of them like some Nickelodeon show called “Big Time Rush,” which is basically “The Monkees” 40-some years later. So, that is currently their music of choice. It makes me wonder what parents once thought of “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train To Clarksville”…although, I’m pretty sure that Big Time Rush’s music is not being written by Brill Building mainstays. Although, one of their videos does feature Snoop Dogg(which just reminds me again, that he…and Cube and Dre are basically my age) I guess no matter the generation, music and slapstick will always have their fans.

There was a conversation recently between Marty and Casey, where Marty was stating the fairly obvious fact that Justin Bieber is more of a girl thing (“Every girl in the world loves him.”) and not really for boys. That actually offended Casey. “Hey, I like Justin Bieber,” I heard him say. “What? His music is good.” I was half-waiting for him to bring up the fact that Ludacris does a verse on one of the songs to help his cred, but instead he just started playing “Baby” over and over again on the iPod. Later on, Casey told me, “You know, when I’m, like, a teenager, I’m going to have a party in the U.S.A.”

I also caught Casey looking up Queen Latifah on iTunes after discovering that she sings the remake of Was Not Was’s “Walk the Dinosaur” from one of the “Ice Age” movies. Maybe lots of people walk in on their 5-year-old son trying to download “The Dana Owens Album,” but it seemed kind of odd to me.

Thankfully, that’s not the extent of what they listen to…Marty does have an affinity for The Beach Boys, Casey kind of likes Allison Krauss and they both – like seemingly every kid – like The Black Eyed Peas. I’m sure at some point they’ll move on to music that’s meant to be indecipherable by me, and it’s hard to tell whether I’ll like that better or not.

One thing I am pretty sure of though…they’ll probably be easier to get out my head than those damn, catchy Bieber songs.