So, my nephew is now 9 years old now. Yeah, I can't believe that shit either. It seems like just yesterday we were bouncing around the bad-ass bouncy house on his, like 4th birthday.But that's neither here nor there now. Old boy's no longer interested in much else but video games and mp3s.
The last gaming system I remember kicking ass on was, let's be honest, Sega Genisis which leaves MP3s for us to whittle our time away with! I can do MP3s!
No problem. I have a ton of music to share and I've just been waiting force upon share with my sibling's offspring.
And we've been doing pretty well. Whenever I visit I bring my computer and we jump on iTunes to actually purchase music legally. And it's been a blast. The kid's been listening to the radio and watching MTV, so of course he's asking for like, Fallout Boy, and Good Charlotte and even crap from that Avril chippy. Fine. Whatever. Kid's a sucker for a power-pop hook, and hey, I was listening to "Cool it Now" and Air Supply in a very un-ironic fashion when I was his age, so I can't deny him.
But I do slip a few of my favorites on his MP3 playa playa when he's not looking, you know, just to make sure he's getting some of the old stuff like The Clash etc. Even though he does skip over a lot of it. That's fine. He'll love it later, probably in college while on some sort of retro bender swilling beers talking to his friends about how his crazy aunt used to force crappy oldies on him and shit. Back when cars ran on gas and didn't fly.
Anyway, so far I think one of my favorite things about our experiment has been listening to him sing along to "Lola" because when he gets to the part "I can't understand why she walks like a woman but talks like a man!" it's just so funny. His dad, my conservative brother, cringes and I just laugh and laugh.
Hey man, dad's only rule was "no swear words." He never said anything about swilling champagne and gender bending!
Besides, there's some Ashley Simpson song about La-La-ing that's all about rough sex and whatnot that he sings along to on one of his video games. And his grandmother bought that for him, so I think Lola's like a nursery rhyme at this point.
Anyway, the point is, when I am with the kid we talk music. And this past Sunday when we were all visiting my sister and her new baby (hello pretty niece #2!) I threw a little quiz the nephew's way:
Me: Quick! Name 3 legends of rock!
Him: Umm....The Beatles.
Me: K, fair enough that's one....
Him: The Rolling Stones...
Me: Okay...one more, kid!
Him: ....
Him: (obviously feeling pressure) ...
Him ... Wham?
Me: .... so much laughing I started crying.
Yeah. I am not exactly sure where that came from, but I think someone's been rooting around his mom's CD collection from the 80s just like I used to steal my pop's James Brown 45s and play them on my Winnie the Pooh record player when I was a kid.
Clearly, my work is not done.
Next time: The Ramones!
One, two, three, four!