Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 11 years and 8 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Driving home with my daughter the other day I was “forced” to listen to 101.5, her current favorite radio station. I really don’t listen to the radio anymore (not since getting my first MP3 player in 2002 and then switching to the iPod in 2006 and discovering podcasts) but she’s at that tweener stage where listening to popular music on the radio is just something kids do to expand their musical horizons.

I just think it’s unfortunate that the current music she listens to is so bad. 🙂

I know, I know … I sound like some cranky old man yelling at you kids to get off my lawn. But after hearing LMFAO and Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry repeated over and over I can’t help but wonder if my parents felt the same way in the early 80s when I was the same age my daughter is now.  When I look at the top songs from 1983 and 1984 I see a ton of songs I have in my music collection and still listen to regularly (“old man music” as my daughter calls it). I’m not naive enough to think that all of it was “good” music (although I tend to disagree with Adam Carolla when he rants on Duran Duran), but it had enough of an impact on me back then that I still enjoy it now.

I do take small pleasures in pointing out to my daughter that some of the music she likes is actually the same “old man music” she makes fun of me for. One example: Jennifer Lopez’s (and Pitbull’s) “On the Floor” samples “Lambada” by Kaoma. When I first heard that song on the radio with her in the car, I quickly pulled up the “Worldbeat” album on my iPhone (I actually bought that CD from the Columbia House record club back in the day, remember that?) and played it for her. The look of shock and recognition on her face was sufficient to prove my point had been made. Another one was Rhianna’s “Please Don’t Stop the Music” which samples “Wanna be Startin’ Somethin'” by Michael Jackson.

Anyway, all of this re-mixed, re-sampled stuff my daughter is listening to will be a source of nostalgia for her in 30 years, which is a little sad, but it won’t stop her “old man” from continuing to expose her to the “classics” from my youth. In fact, when school starts next week I’m going to begin an “Old Song of the Day” routine, playing a different 80s song for her each morning. Hopefully we’ll find a few gems that might actually stay on her next playlist.