My Kids' Playlist...

So my wife and I got each of our boys (ages 5 and 10) a cheapie little MP3 player for Christmas (Sssshhh... don't tell 'em!!). Our 10 year old has been hinting that he wanted an iPod but we didn't quite have the cash for that and besides, we figured we could test the waters with this one and if he takes good care of it and actually uses it, then maybe we can get him the real deal for his birthday in 2013.

Anyway, we thought it would be a nice idea if we "pre-loaded" the players with a selection of tracks so they'd have something to listen to right away. My wife and I combed through our respective CD's and pulled out two dozen or so tracks that we thought they might dig and I loaded the same playlist onto each of the players. Some of the highlights....

KISS - "Wall of Sound"
Deep Purple - "Smoke on the Water"
Weird Al Yankovic - "Fat," "Dare to be Stupid"
Big & Rich - "Comin' To Your City"
The Cars - "Let's Go"
George Thorogood - "Bad to the Bone"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Godzilla"
Ramones - "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Skid Row - "Youth Gone Wild"
Cinderella - "Gypsy Road"
Misfits - "Monster Mash"
Alice Cooper - "School's Out"

...so what do you think? Are we gettin' em off to a good start?

...I joked about sneaking some Slayer, GWAR or Overkill in there for each of'em, but the wife was looking over my shoulder while I prepped these things, so no dice.

You can always take each youg'n aside after Christmas while the woman is out shoppin and add some Slayer or Overkil.

Oh yeah nice lil playlist.......trust me, the kids will attach themselves to what is heard around the house later on in life. I did with with what my siblings did and my grown up curtain climbers did likewise to what me and the ol' lady listened to.

Good mix of styles.

Thanx fellas. Some of the tracks I contributed are things the boys hear when they're driving around w/me in my truck ("Godzilla," "Wall of Sound," etc.) so I know they'll dig those. Shoot, I hear my 10 year old humming the riff to "Smoke on the Water" to himself around the house on occasion.

My older boy is around the same age I was when I first started exploring music, obviously I'm not trying to "force" him into liking the same kinda stuff as me but it would be nice if he dug some of it.

I daydream about taking my kids to a Metallica or similar show years from now, so I can embarrass them by being the old balding guy in a tattered old "Damage Inc." t-shirt, banging my head and yelling for songs the band hasn''t played live in twenty years. ("Who, THAT guy? No, that's not my Dad... I never saw him before in my life..." )

Cool playlist!!! A nice mixture of you and your wife's taste, of course in a few years they will make up their own minds and load it up with metalcore tunes

manny wrote:

Cool playlist!!! A nice mixture of you and your wife's taste, of course in a few years they will make up their own minds and load it up with metalcore tunes

Gawd forbid! Bite your tongue, Manfred!!

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You can always take each youg'n aside after Christmas while the woman is out shoppin and add some Slayer or Overkil.

How much trouble do you think I'd be in if I snuck Overkill's "F**k You" on there?

Fat Freddy wrote:

manny wrote:

Cool playlist!!! A nice mixture of you and your wife's taste, of course in a few years they will make up their own minds and load it up with metalcore tunes

Gawd forbid! Bite your tongue, Manfred!!

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You can always take each youg'n aside after Christmas while the woman is out shoppin and add some Slayer or Overkil.

How much trouble do you think I'd be in if I snuck Overkill's "F**k You" on there?

I see your wife bringing out the dreaded staple gun if you did this!!!

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I see your wife bringing out the dreaded staple gun if you did this!!!

I can just picture it... my five year old bounding down the stairs singing "We don't care, what you say, F%$# YOU!" at the top of his lungs, and me running out the door and down the street for dear life.

Fat Freddy wrote:

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I see your wife bringing out the dreaded staple gun if you did this!!!

I can just picture it... my five year old bounding down the stairs singing "We don't care, what you say, F%$# YOU!" at the top of his lungs, and me running out the door and down the street for dear life.

Good start on the playlist! Both my kids have ipod shuffles - unfortunately my daughter isn't into hard rock/metal (yet! lol!)

My son's playlist on the other hand included Iron Maiden, KISS, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Stryper, Dream Theater, Black Sabbath, Metallica.

Hopefully you can take your boys to a metal show in the near future (start em young - lol!). There's nothing quite like singing Run To The Hills at the top of your lungs with your son at a Maiden show \m/

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Good start on the playlist!

Thanx. We figured it would be nice for the kids to already have some tunes on the players right "out of the box," and also - since I'll most likely be the guy who adds music onto the players for them for a while (at least in the beginning) - it was a good idea for me to learn how to do it ahead of time. I don't own an MP3 player so till yesterday I'd never even touched one. Ewwwww, 21st century technology. I feel so dirty!

Nice list, i'd listen. My girls don't like much of what I do. One listens more to country and one is into poppy stuff and some rap. We only agree on maybe a few bands like Journey and Bon Jovi. No thrash, nothing power metal except Savatage.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Nice list, i'd listen. My girls don't like much of what I do. One listens more to country and one is into poppy stuff and some rap. We only agree on maybe a few bands like Journey and Bon Jovi. No thrash, nothing power metal except Savatage.

My kids really don't have any musical preferences yet, except one - they hate Justin Bieber! Haha!

...now that you mention it, I did stick a Bon Jovi song in their playlist (at my wife's suggestion) too, can't remember what it was off the top of my head. Probably "It's My Life" but I'm not sure.

I considered a Savatage track but couldn't decide on one that would be "kid friendly."

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Good start on the playlist!

Thanx. We figured it would be nice for the kids to already have some tunes on the players right "out of the box," and also - since I'll most likely be the guy who adds music onto the players for them for a while (at least in the beginning) - it was a good idea for me to learn how to do it ahead of time. I don't own an MP3 player so till yesterday I'd never even touched one. Ewwwww, 21st century technology. I feel so dirty!

LOL!!! I love my ipod, on my second at this point (160GB version.) It's awesome being able to have almost all of my music with me and pick whatever I feel like listening to at the moment (and it's perfect for trips!)

Id throw in a few more KISS tunes and maybe some Maiden too

Fat Freddy wrote:

Dark Horseman wrote:

Nice list, i'd listen. My girls don't like much of what I do. One listens more to country and one is into poppy stuff and some rap. We only agree on maybe a few bands like Journey and Bon Jovi. No thrash, nothing power metal except Savatage.

My kids really don't have any musical preferences yet, except one - they hate Justin Bieber! Haha!

...now that you mention it, I did stick a Bon Jovi song in their playlist (at my wife's suggestion) too, can't remember what it was off the top of my head. Probably "It's My Life" but I'm not sure.

I considered a Savatage track but couldn't decide on one that would be "kid friendly."

"Fight for the Rock" perhaps?

Hadley wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Dark Horseman wrote:

Nice list, i'd listen. My girls don't like much of what I do. One listens more to country and one is into poppy stuff and some rap. We only agree on maybe a few bands like Journey and Bon Jovi. No thrash, nothing power metal except Savatage.

My kids really don't have any musical preferences yet, except one - they hate Justin Bieber! Haha!

...now that you mention it, I did stick a Bon Jovi song in their playlist (at my wife's suggestion) too, can't remember what it was off the top of my head. Probably "It's My Life" but I'm not sure.

I considered a Savatage track but couldn't decide on one that would be "kid friendly."

"Fight for the Rock" perhaps?

Keith is a good dad, he wouldn't subject his kids to that album!!!!

not a bad list, but innocent children shouldn't be subjected to non-Danzig Misfits. it's just bad parenting.

thejokeriv wrote:

Hadley wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Dark Horseman wrote:

Nice list, i'd listen. My girls don't like much of what I do. One listens more to country and one is into poppy stuff and some rap. We only agree on maybe a few bands like Journey and Bon Jovi. No thrash, nothing power metal except Savatage.

My kids really don't have any musical preferences yet, except one - they hate Justin Bieber! Haha!

...now that you mention it, I did stick a Bon Jovi song in their playlist (at my wife's suggestion) too, can't remember what it was off the top of my head. Probably "It's My Life" but I'm not sure.

I considered a Savatage track but couldn't decide on one that would be "kid friendly."

"Fight for the Rock" perhaps?

Keith is a good dad, he wouldn't subject his kids to that album!!!!

Well, he already put It's My Life on their mp3 players, which is pretty much where BJ started sucking anyway, so I wouldn't know. :p
And Fight for the Rock is certainly better than that...In fact, it's not really a bad album people make it out to be at all.

Anyway, define "kid friendly". No lyrics with swearing, Satan, etc., I assume? I think Gutter Ballet would do. If you don't mind killing the Unicorn, that is. :p

No Mariah Carey? What were you thinking?

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Anyway, define "kid friendly". No lyrics with swearing, Satan, etc., I assume? I think Gutter Ballet would do. If you don't mind killing the Unicorn, that is.

Well, no swearing or Satan obviously. There's not a lot of that in Savatage anyway but on the other hand, some of Jon Oliva's old-school "Shrieks of terror" vox may be a little too intense for them

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innocent children shouldn't be subjected to non-Danzig Misfits. it's just bad parenting.

Awwww c'mon, it's a cover of "Monster Mash," it's a kiddie classic!! (Next time I update their playlists, I'll add "Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight." Haha.)

Well, the MP3 players were a BIG hit yesterday. My five year old wanted to know how Santa knew all of his favorite songs like "Monster Mash" and "Bad to the Bone," I just shrugged and said "He knows everything."

Fat Freddy wrote:

Well, the MP3 players were a BIG hit yesterday. My five year old wanted to know how Santa knew all of his favorite songs like "Monster Mash" and "Bad to the Bone," I just shrugged and said "He knows everything."

Cool!!!! Love how innocent kids are!

The kids had me add a few tracks to their playlists tonight - GNR's "Paradise City" (I sez "How do you guys know that one?" ... apparently their gym teacher plays it while the class does warm up exercises), the Ramones' version of the "Spider-Man" cartoon theme and the "Itchy & Scratchy" theme from "The Simpsons!"

... my young'uns are nothing if not eclectic.