Like music to my ears

2005 was the year in which I started listening to current music again!  I never thought it would happen to me.  I'd never be one of those moms with no idea what is cool, calling music "that noise", clinging to the pop hits of my youth. Somewhere along the way, the kids crowded out WHFS, the "alternative rock" station.  I never succumbed to Raffi and the Wiggles, but I did listen to a lot of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, and the Most Holy--Philadelphia Chickens.  There was "kid safe" non-kid music--They Might Be Giants ("What does he mean, 'chesspiece face?'"  "It's They Might Be Giants, sweetie.  It doesn't mean anything."),  Beatles, Bob Marley.  But I lost the cultural thread.  I didn't know the bands playing on Veronica Mars, I was missing cultural references. 

I'd dropped out in the Blur, Blink 182 era.  I didn't really like that stuff anyway. Now, 5 or 6 years later, WHFS is a salsa station.  Fun, but not what I'm after.  But Amazon is looking out for me.  Amazon knows I like Squirrel Nut Zippers, Elvis Costello, XTC...it gave suggestions, I listened to some clips, stuck them on my wish list and forgot about it.  On my birthday (Aug. 31.  Mark your calendar.  Buy now), my friend Stacey sent me two CDs from my list--Franz Ferdinand and Get Away from Me by Nellie McKay.  They both ROCK.  And the kids love them both, esp. Nellie McKay which is, in fact, full of naughty words, but people, get a grip.  And then I got the second Franz Ferdinand album--right when it came out!  Like I knew something about music! and it was also great.  Then Daily Candy, which sends me daily notices of cool things, listed some good songs.  One of them was by Rilo Kiley, and it was great!  So I got THAT album and the kids loved it.  And I just got Fiona Apple's latest, on recommendation of a radio guy, and it's great too!  So, either I've just become totally non-discriminating, or I've found a thread of music I like.  And now Pandora is leading me down the path even further, saying "well, if you like THAT, how about this?"  New music!  yay! 

And, as a side note, I suddenly got all these 80s mixes.  The pop hits of my youth.  Kids like that, too.

You know, it's quite possible that I'd grown so sick of our CDs that I'd have been enthusiastic about Jingle Cats, but go listen to something new today, anyway.  All the cool kids are doing it.