Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Music makes me want to dance with you

I am afraid I'm corrupting my children's innocent minds. And their musical tastes. We just spent an hour hopping around the living room, "dancing" to a wide variety of tunes. We jumped, we sang, we held hands and twirled. Girl Terror favours Ace of Base, and Boy Terror likes anything he can headbang to, so he was happy whenever Def Leppard came on. Both of them are big fans of "Mambo #5". It's a good thing Hubby likes quality (read Classical) music, or my babies would be stuck with 80's music all day long. I keep telling myself that at least I'm giving them the opportunity to listen to many different styles. Growing up, we had one kind of music. Religious. Not even Amy Grant religious. Nothing with an obvious beat, or anything too bouncy. We might be tempted to dance (gasp!) and that would be a sin.
I remember my first secular concert. A friend asked me to go to see Air Supply with him. Such rebels, eh?! I was sure my parents would flatly refuse, but they surprised me. They thought it was a fantastic idea. I cautiously told them, in case they were confused, that this was NOT gospel music. They smiled and nodded. I mentioned that the band had been heard on the radio. "Oh, so they're famous?" asked my mother. I told them that we would be traveling into the City of Sin (Toronto) and would probably not be home until late. Maybe even past midnight. My father said "I know, Leroy said it might be 2 or 3 when he got you home." What the hell?! Then it dawned on me. As long as I was with Leroy, they would be thrilled. His father was also a minister. Leroy was every parents dream for their daughter, at least in our circle. He was going to be a pastor. He was good looking in a clean cut, open and honest way. He was polite to parents, friendly to everyone, and showed all the signs of being halfway to heaven already. The devil's music could not hurt me as long as I was with Leroy. Silly parents. Leroy had them fooled, but that's a story for another day.
One time, my parents sat us down and we watched a video about the evils of modern, secular music. Bryan Adams was going to make me promiscuous. Led Zeppelin was not a stairway to heaven, no sir. I didn't bother to point out that I never, ever played my tapes backwards, and therefore I wasn't hearing the messages from the Dark Side. By the end of the weekend, my mother had thrown out all my piano sheet music that didn't have the Gaither name on it. My younger sister declared she would devote her life and singing talent to being a good witness. My father hummed hymns under his breath, confident that he had saved me from being lured into Hell by the siren songs on the radio. Little did they know, I was just biding my time, collecting music to use in the corruption of the next generation.

Edit: If you recognize the title of this entry, you're a parent. If you recognize the Gaither name, maybe you were a PK, too!! Let me know if you recognize either one.

11 comments:

Nina said...

The music played backwards makes me think of the movie Little Nicky. There's a whole scene about the hidden messages in music. Cracks me up!
(I won't describe it in case you've seen it...if not and you want to know, just ask!)
I recognized the Gaither name only because they have that tv show or videos or whatever it is.

carmilevy said...

Anything that accelerates them past the Barney and Wiggles phases is by definition a good thing. Sounds like your kids are very well grounded musically. Good on ya, Mom!

Prego said...

Air Supply in Toronto, eh? With a kid named LeRoy nonetheless? You really lived on the edge. I grew up in an immigrant household with 100% Venezuelan parents. My mom would always sing these obscure ditties in the kitchen. I miss that. My dad, on the other hand, got into Anne Murray (your peeps, I believe) Neil Diamond and even a comical country phase that featured Alabama. Needless to say, they weren't too keen on my metal phase, and even less thrilled about punk rock.

Music plays a large role in my boys' lives. Granted, they'll think all the things we listen to sucks at some point in their lives, but they'll look back nostalgically, I'm sure. And that's pretty goddamned cool.

PS Forgive my ig'nance (I don't beat the Jesus drum) but what the heck is PK?

Mrs. Falkenberg said...

Sadly, prego, I now adore Anne Murray. Summer camp was just down the beach from her place...
And don't be making fun of Alabama! (See, I DO have a wide variety of music!)
A PK is a Preacher's Kid.

Kitty said...

I don't recognise either but then I'm neither a parent nor a PK and by definition a very sinful woman ;) I do however recognise all the music your darlings are dancing to, good on you!

P.S. I'm currently working in the home town of Def Leppard, and I saw them in concert here many years ago, Great band.

Lisa said...

I think my parents watched the same video yours did, because one afternoon, my mom built a fire & burned, I don't know how many, "secular albums." She was convinced there were subliminal messages from the devil in the lyrics.

Fortunately, I always kept my albums hidden in my room, so they were spared, but my little brother has yet to forgive my mom for the above.

And no, we weren't "PK's" (at least I don't think we were). "What are PK's, anyway?"

"Are you religious now?" I am, just not in the crazy/bizarre way my folks were.

"What about your parents? Still practicing the PK ways?"

Anonymous said...

My daughters listen to a varity of music also. When they were small they also went through the Barney and Blue's Clues stage. I listen to 80's and country music, my husband use to listen to the rap music then evened out to the late 70's and early 80's. So... now my teenage daughters listen to new country and the pop music going around today and alternative rock. I try to steer them away from rap(today), but they somehow sneak (download)it into there collection. They have turned out okay so far. I try to remember how I felt when my mother wouldn't let me listen to a new band that was going to rot my brain and send me to hell.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

"Gaither" is familiar, but I can't for the life of me tell you why.

Twisted Cinderella said...

I think the love of music stimulates their mind! My Little Princess has this thing where if she is trying to remember something and she can't she sings it. It is sooo cute. I had similar experiences as a kid but it was just with modern music anything old was fine.

Malnurtured Snay said...

So, Led Zepplin ... not the way to heaven, then?

(I've wasted my life.)

Anonymous said...

I'm not PK.. worse maybe? an MK from a legalistic church with a mission !!!
All the f*** I heard unbelievable.