Listening to ‘mom music’

The television is blaring with something that Madison, my teenager, has assured me is music. To my ears, it sounds like a cross between two cats screeching or a warped cassette tape, but I hold my opinion and watch the video she has pulled up for us to watch together. I am trying to spend more time doing something with her as opposed to passively spending time with her, both of us glued to our devices.

It’s tough work, but after not knowing who the performers from The Billboard Music Awards were, Maddy insisted I learn the performers. Although the awards are long over, I need to prepare for the summer hits, and this way I will be ready for the next music awards. When I pointed out that these awards are two months away, Maddy informed me that I needed all of the time I could get to prepare.

“Who is that?” I ask of a rapper, who bouncing up and down on stage screaming into a mic. With a sigh and an eye roll Maddy shares his name: Wiz Khalifa.

“Who?” I ask, genuinely confused because I really thought that Wiz Khalifa was a group. I mention as much, and the television is paused while Maddy gives me a look and educates me.

A One Direction video is up next. I’m excited; I know this song! It’s that “Beautiful Girl” song and I know the words! Or so I thought. “Mooooom!” She is annoyed and once again stabbing the pause button on the remote. Instructions to not sing follow, and we listen to the end of the song. She can’t stop my head bop.

Videos from Marina and the Diamonds, Lana del Rey, Beyonce, even some Taylor Swift follow, and it is at this moment I become painfully aware that I have embraced…mom music. Without realizing it, Mom Music (or Dad Music, it doesn’t discriminate) is the musical decade in which one gets stuck, convinced that those tunes are the bomb, the best, the hottest, when in reality….it’s just not. This is not to say that the music is no good. It’s just a little dated.

I love that my child is willing to listen to different genres of music, but I am lost. My decade of choice spans from the late-80s to mid-90s, and these are the songs that I car dance to, that I howl along to during my car concert and jam. In my attempts to listen to today’s hits, I find myself fumbling through the radio stations trying to find something that I can car dance to and sing along with as I roll towards my destination, but I find that it’s more comforting to listen to my Rachee mix. These are familiar songs that I grew up with. Songs, that ironically enough, my mom would demand that I wear headphones with as I listened because it sounded like a warped cassette tape or cats screeching to her.

Maddy is giving me quite the education, some days she’s more indulging than others. As I learn who sings which songs, I realize that this new music is not so bad. Some of it is perfect for car concerts and house cleaning jams, but for now, I will control the radio when driving and encourage Maddy to grab her headphones.

Bonus: Rachee’s Mom Mix

Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf: For when you want to boogie like no one is watching (and no one will…you can’t dance)

The Bangles’ Walk Like an Egyptian: For when you want to get your whistle on.

Dexy’s Midnight Runner’s Come on Eileen: It’s early 80s but lends itself to lots of off key singing of “Tu ra loo rah too rah loo rah ay….”

Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby: Stop…Collaborate and Listen! (You know when you hear the dun dun dun dunna dun dun, you are praying that it’s not Queen’s Under Pressure)

M.C. Hammer’s Can’t Touch This: Because… the hammer dance.