Have I Become That Which I Once Mocked?

Sunday, June 26/16

Music does some weird things to me, it can brighten my day, it can make me want to jump up and bounce around, it can make me cry, and it can darken my mood.

I absolutely love finding new music and my son is a great source as he seems to be like his father in that he is constantly looking for new artists and sharing them with me every chance he gets. Now I'm usually pretty happy with most of what he shares but last Wednesday was one of those exceptions.

As he drove home from lunch he plugged his iPhone into the USB jack and played some new stuff he'd found and for the first time that I can remember I didn't really like it and actually thought it sounded like 2 cats fighting in a trash can at 3am. When I shard this observation with him he gave me one of those looks that said I was just too damn old to appreciate the new music.

I remember having those same kinds of conversations with my own parents when I was the same age as my son, thinking they just didn't get it and really none of my stuff was that bad...think Journey and Van Halen, never got into death metal so there was never any Pantera or Death Snake playing lol

Am I too old to appreciate the new music? I don't think so but like every one else in the world, we come across some stuff we just can't wrap our hands around, or in this case open our ear too.

Now where this story gets funny is on Thursday night as he was walking past my home office to grab a water from the kitchen he stopped in the doorway to hear what was playing on my computer as I was doing some online banking.

I was playing today's suggested song "Dark Necessities" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and really lost in thought as it sort of had my mind wandering all over the place when it ended and transitioned to "Can't Stop" by the same group and I heard him give me a "harrumph"

I looked up at him and asked what was wrong and he just frowned at me as he replied "So you frown at the songs I shared yesterday and here I find you listening to this banshee of guitars and bass"

I stood up and looked him dead in the eyes and in my most authoritative dad voice replied to him "Don't ever disrespect the bass in a RHCP song: Flea is to bass what the sun is to photosynthesis"

He stood there for about a minute just staring at me before shaking his head and laughing as he replied "I can't believe you just used a standardized test question format to respond to me, maybe you aren't the lost cause you pretend to be dad" and walked away.

I think it is those moments that are my reward for being a parent and I cherish them when they come about.

Am I too old for today's music? Hell No!!  I just now what I like and can usually almost always find a song or ten in any genre that can make me feel something....good or bad....and both work for me as it means I'm alive to the world.

It's funny that I didn't appreciate the Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was younger but have been really getting into some of the lyrics the past few days.

Rock on Flea!!!!!!

Marcus