Rock On

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has had this experience: You're driving along in the car and you've just turned the radio up a few notches because you hear the song you used to sing at the top of your lungs when you were 7. "What a great song," you think, "and they really don't make music like this anym..." You pause. You listen closely. Your face goes pale because you suddenly realize that the lyrics are, well, not exactly 7-year-old appropriate. In fact, they're kind of, um, dirty. If you don't believe me and you're in your early-mid thirties, go back and listen to Prince's "Little Red Corvette." It's not about a car. Or, better yet, revisit Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop." She's not singing about dancing.
You think, "Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe my parents let me listen to this filth.

Give your mom a break. It was on the mainstream pop radio station, which should be kid appropriate, but it isn't always and chances are, she was more focused on getting you to your destination safely than to whatever Madonna was screeching about.

I tend to steer away from mainstream pop radio stations, not necessarily because I don't want my kids to hear the music, but because I don't like to listen to lyrics that are trite and have no substance whatsoever that genre of music. It's much the same reason I don't listen to country "music." I'm not partial to songs about my young'uns done did got all growed up and a-leavin' me, and I've often told my husband, who does occasionally tune his radio to one of the 458 country stations here in Birmingham, that if one more person dies in a song on the radio, I will be forced to turn the blasted thing completely off.

That said, I have tried to be much more concsious of what is playing in the car, lest the kids get an earful of something they really don't need to hear. For instance, after hearing that little redneck lovely young woman on American Idol sing a popular country song about a woman who has just loaded her shotgun and has made plans for an evening of smoking cigarettes, getting sloppy drunk, and killing her wayward husband with said shotgun upon his arrival home, my guess is that I will not be tuning in to any country stations with my little ones in tow.

OK, I confess. I don't always change the station when I should. In fact, the other day, I listened to Bel Biv DeVoe on purpose because the hubby had worn a bright green shirt that reminded me of 1992 - the color, not the shirt - and, well, it was funny. (It's drivin' me outta my mind/That's why it's hard for me to find/It's drivin' me outta my head/Miss her, kiss her, love her/That girl is poison. Poison.P-P-P-Poison! Never trust a big butt and a smile...You're welcome.)

Please don't ask me why I have Bel Biv Devoe readily available in my car.

I don't usually listen to the kind of music I prefer, though. I feel that they may be a little too young for '90's Grunge. But, I do listen to stuff from my parents'  and grandparents' generations, just as I always have, as well as some Contemporary Christian and Classical. I'd rather they had those genres as a base upon which to build their musical tastes, anyway.

So, I'd like to know if you have altered your listening choices since having children. Do you listen to stuff that's more kid-friendly, or have you kept it pretty much the same? Why?