My parents knew exactly what type of music I listened to. This is because I played records on a portable turntable. You probably remember the kind, where the speakers opened up like doors and the turntable pulled down.
I turned up the volume when I played music in my bedroom and was not inhibited about singing along. Looking back, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, watching my parents’ reaction to the noise coming out of my room.
I don’t usually hear what my kids are listening to because they listen on their iPods with their headphones or ear buds or whatever you call those little things. C likes head-banging, screaming, angry hard rock that I can hear — as long as we’re in the same room — even when it’s playing right into his ears. G gravitates toward what we now call “classic rock” — there’s a reason I like riding in the car with him! And K, a “Glee” fan, loves Taylor Swift, among others.
So imagine my surprise when the sounds of Eminem came floating down from the upstairs bathroom. K turns on a radio while she showers and I was pretty sure that’s what I heard. She confirmed it, saying she likes Eminem. That his lyrics aren’t demeaning toward women like most of the rap that’s out there, although she does admit he uses foul language. But, she reminds me, the bad words are omitted on the radio, so she doesn’t hear them. I’m not sure I buy all of that. Think I’ll need to do a web search on his lyrics.
At least she’s not singing along! That would freak me out.
I am BEYOND impressed that you could discern the difference between Eminem and, say, JayZ! You rock! [...er, rap?] Two memories: 1) my 11-year-old listening to rap music in 1988 and me thinking, THIS will never last, and 2) a history teacher in 1967 who told us that the next time our parents ridiculed the lyrics to ‘our’ music we should remind them of their generation’s #1 hit – “Cement Mixer, Putty, Putty.” Honest, that’s all they sing, throughout the entire thing! Oh, one last thing – my husband has an acquaintance who believes that ceasing to understand the younger generations is nature’s way of preparing you to leave this earth. Maybe we should, at the very least, learn to hum along to Eminem??