A Song I Hate

I dislike to use the word hate, although I'm sure that I probably do use it (and often) when I'm not paying attention.

The thing about this list I'm working through is that it asks for my choices in music that it asks me to share music that I hate, used to love but now hate, consider a guilty pleasure from a band I don't like and so on. My husband is a musician, he plays all manner of musical genres and both of our music tastes range from on end of the spectrum to another. For the most part I can't say that I hate any one song or band or artist because on a certain level I can look at the music and see what it is that others see in it, them, him or her.

That is with the exception of this song:



I'll be honest here, I despise this song. I have never liked this song and I go out of my way to steer the Peanut (and now the Bean) from crossing paths with the big purple dinosaur so that I won't have to listen to it or be forced to watch the big purple dinosaur over and over and over.

Thankfully there are a few artists out there that make their music pleasing to both adult and toddler/kid audiences. Bobs & Lolo leaps to mind as does They Might Be Giants. There are also some fantastic compilations of kids songs out there done by rock and pop artists that are like a nice thick milk shake on a summer day. Mary Had a Little Amp jumps to mind as does the benefit album Do Fun Stuff put together by the uber talented photographer and blogger Ryan of Pacing in the Panic Room. These albums are ones I can listen to on repeat for a good chunk of time which; if you are a parent you'll know this, is generally what happens to a song or album when someone under the age of 5 or so (and sometimes those of us older than that) becomes obsessed with it.

Your turn: Is your hated song sung by an animated Doodle Bop? or is it an overplayed pop ditty? Write about a song you don't like and leave a comment here with a link to your blog post and I'll do my best to get to your blog and leave a comment.

Driving music

Once upon a time when I was young and impetuous I left the dance club with a good friend (also a boy whom I had a huge crush on at the time but he was also a friend first so that's not really the point) at 2 in the morning and drove from Red Deer to the Edmonton Airport to pick up some luggage for a hotel guest. My friend was working as a hotel bell boy at the time and had promised to get the luggage for the guests in hopes of a big tip. Only problem was he didn't drive and didn't have a car. Enter me with both car and license.

My friend was great conversationalist and had the same taste in music as I did (we were both big Depeche Mode fans) and the 1.5 hour trip was pleasant as was the two hours spent in the temporary parking lot waiting for the airline desk to open. One of the discussions we had while driving on the moonlit highway was what songs were good for driving to. I happened to have Martin Gore's Solo EP in the car at the time which kicked the conversation off as we agreed that the whole EP was an excellent soundtrack for a road trip; it has a kind of dreamy quality to it that seems to go well with the broken lines of the highway flashing past as you move forward.

Over the years my road trip music has varied a little but there are always a few good standards that we always end up playing. It's been a few years since we've been in a car for any length of time but we'll be bringing the I pod and car adapter for our listening pleasure. With the Peanut on board we'll have to include some of her favourites; Weezer's Pork and Beans and Depeche Mode's Wrong as well as a good sprinkling of Joy Division and Talking Heads are on her play list.

What's your favourite driving song?

I know I'm not alone in this

I really don't like kids music. OK for the most part I hate it H. A. T. E. It. There is one, maybe two exceptions to this and I'm not going to go into what they are right now. What I do want to talk about is all the non-children's music my daughter likes to listen to.

1 Weezer-Pork & Beans. This is her number one all time favourite song. If it comes on the radio she sings along, if it comes on the TV she stops what she's doing from 5 rooms away and listens. At least once a week (if not more) she requests it. Once it's been played she asks for it again and again and again.

2 Snow Patrol- just about all of their discography. Her daddy plays bass in a group that covers a few of their songs and she likes to dance to them.

3 Muse- Starlight. She wiggles in her seat and bops her head to this song whenever it gets played.

4 The Clash-London Calling and Train in Vain. We were once listening to this band and she spontaneously started running around and stopping to bounce to the beat. It's especially cute when she nods her head to the music too.

5 Fear Factory- my baby likes it heavy

6 Talking Heads- Psycho Killer. We changed the words to Psycho Kitty meow meow meow hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss

7 Depeche Mode- all of it. I could be biased here but she was in the womb at the last live show I went to see with her. I distinctly felt her moving in there during the opening riffs of John the Revelator. and she likes to sing along to Dave Gahan when he chants "Wrong" in the new single. Also she seems to know most of the words already and when I play the video she runs into the room and gets mad when I take the video off the screen to listen to the song (it's a little to graphic for her to watch).

8 Cold Play-The Scientist. Again in the womb, it was the only song that she would stop kicking me when it was played.

She's also been seen bopping her head to Tool and Keane.

I have to admit that it's a little gratifying to see her enjoying music that goes a little further than Raffi and Sharon Lois and Bram