I have terrible, predictable taste in music & that is putting it kindly. For years, I didn’t believe it got any better than old-school Britney Spears & to this day, I still have moments when I’m sure the Brit-ster & I would be BFF. My husband, Nate, has excellent taste in music. In college, his Napster collection was legendary. He appreciates everything from bluegrass to R&B, & can recite the lyrics to every mid-90′s rock song ever recorded. His first concert? Dave Matthews Band at 15 years old. My first concert? ummm…Britney. When I was 20.
Obviously, I must have some redeeming qualities other than musical taste, considering that he did marry me.
There are “those” that will say you should introduce your child to classical music early to cultivate a young genius. (Who “those” people are, I’m not entirely sure. But they’re out there, trust me.) They want you to hook your fetus up to a set of Bose headphones, pumping Mozart & Bach into your placenta. Personally, the idea of stretching headphones over my INCREDIBLY MASSIVE, heavy, moving eight-months pregnant belly sounded as appealing to me as taking a 24-hour long spin class at the gym. Especially knowing that any beat would send the lad inside into a full on ute-rave, potentially causing permanent damage to my lower ribs & bladder. So instead, I turned up my favorite flavor of girly-pop for nine months & immersed myself in vats of Ben & Jerry ice cream.
So it shouldn’t be a shocker that Harrison emerged with a rather unsophisticated lean towards Top 40 music. I first noticed it in the car when he would settle to me belting out Jessica Simpson ballad’s over his screams. & then when Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” debuted, Nate & I knew we were in trouble. It was the one tune that could always calm Harrison. He could be red-faced, hollering at the world & all we had to do was push play. Miley’s voice would fan out across the room & Harrison would turn into a gyrating, smiling baby. ”Party in the USA” is now the third most played song on our iTunes playlist. & then the world was graced with Ke$ha. Oh, Ke$ha & your “Blah Blah Blah.” & oh, how Harrison loves you even though you burn even MY ears by the fifth replay on the morning commute.
But we’ve accepted this slowly, as we love our son & are willing to sacrifice our souls & ears for his happiness. & last night before bed, Nate said, “There’s a new Ke$ha song out – we should download it for Harrison, don’t you think?”
PS… First comment = stalker
One of our first night's home from the hospital, when R was still in "welcome to the world" shock and could not be settled, my hubby turned on his iPod for some background music. First song up…OAR's "Crazy Game of Poker." And R calmed down immediately. Great…my son has a future as a gambler!
my 8 month old's surefire quiet down song when he was, like, 4 months? that god-awful "fireflies" song. that, and hey, soul sister. but now, he quiets for no one. methinks i'll try 'tik tok' this evening….
I'm am so glad I am not the only one who is the biggest Britney fan. For me though, my first concert was N'sync. I'm sure my little one will be rocking out to Lady Gaga by 2 weeks old. LOL
I am not a big Jimmy Buffet fan, but my husband is and now my six month old is too. Buffet's version of "Hey Good Lookin" calms him down if he is melting down in the car. Go figure!
My taste in music is pretty eclectic. When I was pregnant with Charlie, I downloaded a bunch of free kid's songs. I listened to a couple of them and said, "Awww hell naw." So I have never really made him listen to kids' music – the closest we've gotten are a couple of the Rockabye Baby CDs (which are awesome). But he listens to everything we listen to. And one day I was driving around, and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" came on. Once it got to the part about "I wanna fuck you like an animal," I sheepishly turned it down. Maybe he shouldn't listen to *everything" we listen to.
I knew I was in trouble with my 16 month old boy's face would light up to ANY Lady Gaga tune. I thought for only a second that he should be listening to the likes of Jay-Z or Kris Allen, but hey – if his Mama digs Gaga and he digs Gaga – who's really judging, right?
Huh. Miley Cyrus has the exact opposite effect on me. But, I understand what you're saying. "Baby one more time" by Miss Spears was the only thing that would calm my oldest down.
I am glad you posted this, I finally discovered why I feel so connected to you – Britney! I am ashamed to admit, but my ringtone on several friends phones is "Oops, I did it again.' = it's that bad.
I am glad someone shares my bad taste in music. Now, someone go get that baby a Greatest Hit CD!
I shamefully played Womaniser to my bump back in the day as it was the only thing to get him moving, that and Put a ring on it!
Hysterical- EJ has is own ipod, started with classical stuff BUT he yelled when we would turn it on (we were those people yikes). SO I changed it to momma's favs and now my child loves Dave and WSP and Jack Johnson. So when he breaks out the tie dye and birks its going to be ALL my fault. Total hippie in the making…
The bub's sure fire quiet down in the car song? Kenny Rogers and Reba singing "Mary did you know"….I wish I was kidding.
this is so funny, because my 5 month old son does the same thing with "party in the USA." I first noticed it in the car so I downloaded it , and now play it on my phone when ever he's fussy – instant happy baby!
My music taste has always been eclectic, but moreso now with my boyfriends influence. I just went to my first concert last year, and I was 30 at the time, No Doubt, took my step-daughter who was 10 at the time.
Ha ha ha! That is some seriously funy stuff. Too bad the baby crack soothe and glow seahorse doesn't play top 40!
I love Britney Spears, she's my girl. All of her albums are on my MP3 player, and it is pretty much the only thing I listen to when I work out.
On the other hand, that Kesha song literally makes me want to rip my hair out. That fact that you listen to that song on repeat just to make your little guy happy shows how fantastic of a mom you are. I don't think I could do it!
I have the world's most embarrassing mix CD. We're talking Foreigner, Kenny Loggins, K-Ci and JoJo, Sherrif— basically, if it's a cheesy old love song, it's on this CD. My husband HATES it and refuses to let me play it in his presence. Well, while preggo, my in-utero son and I would listen to this awesomely bad CD every day on my way to work. He's 5 months old now and loves this CD. Loves it! He immediately gets quiet when I turn on the first song & always falls asleep a few songs in. I'll be sure to remind him of his affection for cheesy, dramatic love ballads when he's in middle school.
Long time lurker ~ first time poster.
I could have written that post almost word for word substituting Hubby's name and a few other minor details. (I say this to myself when I read a lot of your posts. And I think if we knew each other IRL we would be BFF's and could share crazy college stories and PPD rants and compare reflux baby projectile vomit stories and working mom woes and have I totally creeped you yet and overused the word "and"? )
Anyway…Hubby makes fun of my love for Brit, but I'm a stand by your pop-star kinda gal, even when they go all out bat-shit, ham-sandwich crazy. I will always love her a la Whitney Houston song.
If I had my way, Peanut and Little Man would totally rock out to Top 40, but thanks to Hubby they both have a wider range of musical tastes. But i say, let them love what they love!
I read somewhere that babies' brains actually aren't mature enough to "handle" classical, that it's better to play simple repetitive music (which is probably why so many like pop!)
(Off to Google Ke$ha :-$ )
Julia always calmed to Sugarland's "Stay" when she was a baby. Now, she gets in the car and asks for "Low". Ben calms right down when he hears it.
when i was pregnant, one of the first times i felt jack kick was a definitive boppin along to Lil John.
my taste in music is about as, er, intellectual as yours (which reminds me that i really want some old school n sync on my ipod). thank goodness all of those baby toys we have that play music play the classical stuff to counteract all that Lil John i was pumpin.
Track numbers 1 and 3 of Faith Hill's Cry cd are the only two songs along with my rendition of the ABC's that will calm Hailey down. Lol. I am so sick of those two songs! Haha
the other day my almost 2 1/2 year old daughter starting singing "all the single ladies…all the single ladies…" all on her own. i don't listen to that kind of music often, and i don't remember her hearing it with me, but it's so cute to hear her sing it and i love it!
I have a video of Bella at 3 months screaming from colic, until "Party in the USA" turned on. She stops, slowly turns her head, and lays in complete silence listening to it. We did it every night after. So funny.
I heart Britney. And the Spice Girls. I still have them in my iPod. And let me tell you, it will be a cold day that they get replaced.
I have no taste in music either. I only like popular stuff becasue I only here it when it becomes popular. My family laughs at me for it too. My first concert was Boys II Men, my second, third and fourth were backstreet boys. LOL
Not only does Sophia LOVE "Party in the USA" , but also "Cowboy Casanova" by Carrie Underwood. We played it over and over and over and over and over again.
Great post! Bad taste in music? Hell no! Britney all the way!! She was also my first concert, woot woot.
Im not sure if I'm liking Ke$ha. Her music is all the same beat :S But whatever floats Harrison's boat lol
OH MY GOD.. As I started reading this I already had my comment in my head to say “Me and Owen’s favorite song is Party in the USA” and the next sentence was “when Miley Cyrus’s ‘party in the USA’ debuted…”
Priceless. At least he shares my awful taste and we can share it together… and when people accuse me of liking Miley and Britney??? “Oh no, it’s just the only thing that calms Owen down!” ::wink, wink::
lol @ "ute-rave"!
Sorry darling, but I don't think I'd know a Britney Spears song if it smacked me in the face. Bluegrass, jazz, even some indie, that's more my thing
Can we still be pals?
xoxo
Oh ACK! My comment has a SMILEY in it! I HATE smileys! Here's me making a [not round and yellow cartoon] angry face:
Whenever my daughter cries in the car, I put on Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and she stops crying immediately!
My two yr old is OBSESSED with Boom, Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas. It can stop almost any tantrum.
When I was pregnant with my daughter regae was what got her moving- still the same. Nick jr. plays some animated thing with a marley song and she will stop whatever she is doing to dance- maybe I should be worried.
It’s Taylor Swifts You Belong To Me over here, and tons of Josh Groban — that’s our ‘culture’! BTW, YOU and DIANA over at Hormonal Imbalances inspired me to start my own blog. It was the PPD that did it . . . thank you. When you have time (har har) check it out!
So my hubby, a music teacher, totally stretched a set of Bose headphones over my belly each night to listen to Beethoven, not Mozart cause he doesn't like that music, but after monkey listened to Beethoven she listened to every other music under the sun. She now loves music! She will even sit still on my lap watching daddy play in his concerts.
just wanted to share that there were indeed people who stuck headphones on pregnant bellies.
However monkey's favorite music is my country top 40 list on the radio. Just don't tell her daddy.
It's so true – I definitely think my baby heard the music I listened to while I was pregnant and then was born preferring that music. My music style could probably be classified as alternative/rock, and my son totally prefers it to other kinds of music. If we switch to a different radio station in the car, he will literally wrinkle his nose and become visibly irritated. It's pretty funny.
I love britney too!
Hey, whatever happened to your series of family posts?! You left me hanging and I'm dying to know what happens next!
It's written!! Just haven't found the right time to post it
& I should have Part 4 finished before I post Part 3 so people don't think I'm an ogre by the end of Part 3.
This is great! I wrote a blog post about this a few months ago about how I listened to so much Lady Gaga when I was knocked up with B that now when he's throwing a fit in the car I put Lady in and he just simmers down. It's amazing.
I am laughing right now because Geoffrey LOVES Ke$ha! I have danced him to sleep many a times with "Tik Tok" blaring in the background.
hahaha this whole post cracks me up. my husband and his two cousins have an unhealthy obsession with ms. cyrus..we may have tortured nashville with them playing it over and over again on his droid and trying to get every singer to sing it.. there was a hilarious line about her in hot tub time machine that my wonderful husband took me to see last night as well! oh and my friends son would totally get happy and excited for apple bottom jeans.. it was hysterical ha
hahaha. my students can't get enough of Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga bad romance. If I hear baby baby baby ooo one more time I'm gonna scream.
OMG, you're killing me! You mean you have family part 3 written and you aren't letting me read it! This is torture!
I kid. Sort of. But I am looking forward to it if you can't tell.