Our kids have never really listened to lullaby CDs or music entirely written for and aimed at kids. I think they need to know proper music from an early age, and despite what various mum’s seem to think, pop music can be pretty damn cool.
Our eldest used to go off to sleep to various chilled out albums; some Cat Stephens, some Simon & Garfunkel, and the Cosmic Roughriders were his favourites. He didn’t get the choice to listen to Fluffy Sparkle the Bunny Goes on a Sleepy Sleep Adventure. Thank Goodness.
Still, since we have three SONOS’s (SONI?) dottted round the house, I thought it was time to get the kids to put together their own playlists.
Digital music has replaced that ability to go round someone’s house and judge them utterly on their record collection and that’s a shame. A playlist can reintroduce the chance to do that. Children prepare to be judged…
The boy
Hmmm. Both the kids seem to like Jon Cozart a lot. He’s a gimmick artist but actually they’re not that bad, quite cleverly worded and the a capella singing is quite good. Love the fact that Princess Amidala is also referred to a major cougar. Bonus points for that.
Hall of Fame is a fairly catchy pop tune, as is the novelty song What Does the Fox Say, so I’m happy there.
The boy is a huge Minecraft addict, hence the presence of several Minecraft songs. They’re a mixture of utterly bland Europop and pop but inoffensive. They’re also rip offs of existing songs. I didn’t realise until I got to Let it Glow which is obviously Let it Go from Frozen. I don’t know enough modern pop to recognise what the Atlanteans is but if you can’t recognise Hacker, you don’t deserve to own a pair of ears!
The rest are a mixture of movie sound track titles, with Shut Up & Dance and All the Small Things chucked in.
Overall, B minus, could have been much worse but forgot some of the stuff he really likes (Don’t Stop Believing being the most obvious omission; he loves that song!)
Fifi
More Jon Cozart. He’s actually quite funny. Progessive Christmas Carols is quite amusing.
The rest is a mixture of three things: Scooby Doo, Angry Birds and one pop song called Rude by some bunch called Magic!.
Bit disappointed by this list to be honest as Fifi probably listens to more music than the rest of the kids put together. I think she was so keen to do it that she rushed it. I may get her to revisit it but at the moment this is a square C from me.
Me
This isn’t a list of my favourite music. I’ll make that quite clear from the outset. This is a list that I put on for the kids when we have a Friday night disco. It’s stuff they can sing along to, has a good chorus and has a good rhythm. Yes, American’s Horse with No Name doesn’t fit but it has a horse in and Fifi loves horses.
Personally I’m currently listening to Barclay James Harvest and some Velvet Underground, but I don’t think the kids are really ready for that just yet…