Yesterday my daughter and I took her mom (and my wife) to Boston, where she will undergo a transplant over the next three weeks. We had a nice trip down, spent some time saying goodbye at the hospital, and then began our return trip. It was very pleasant, until my daughter said “Can we listen to music?” Those of you who have 14 year olds may understand why I cringed on the inside.
My daughter listens to Mariah Carey. Lovely voice, but she has 13 albums, and a couple of songs does me. I’m not hating, honest; it’s just not my cuppa. So, when she went for the radio instead of putting in a CD I didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief, or go for the earplugs. She usually aims for pop radio, and that means Lil Mix and One Direction. Ad nauseum. Not only do these stations play music that gets on my last nerve, they balance music and advertising in a way that seems to favor the latter at the expense of the former. About twelve ads into the first commercial break, she starts scrolling up the dial and then she did it; she stopped on …
Black Sabbath – “Snowblind”
And she says to me “I love electric guitar.”
Wha!?!?!?! We listened to ZZ Top’s “La Grange,” AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” some Offspring, and a bunch of stuff I didn’t recognize. Finally, they played some ads (why does pop radio give you two songs between ads, but AOR stations give you about ten?) and she started up the dial again.
And then she stopped on a station that played Elwood’s Blues Show. The song that was playing when she stopped dialing was Luther Anderson’s cover of Hound Dog Taylor’s “Give Me Back My Wig.” OMG! She was interested in who Hound Dog Taylor was, and how Chicago blues are different from Mississippi blues, St. Louis blues and Indianapolis blues! Holy smokes.
We listened to Sue Foley’s “New Used Car” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_jUmILVQa0, and you should, too), some Carlos Santana, and maybe eight more blues songs before we got home.
She and I are going to both enjoy driving together, and now that i know we can find music we both like maybe I won’t get quite so grumpy over the stuff I don’t care for (as long as we get to mix it up a bit). Also, I need to remind myself to watch “The Blues Brothers Movie” with her.
I hope the transplant is successful and all goes well in the recovery. Best wishes. Musical tastes of a 14 year old? Oh boy….:p
Thank you. It’s been a long haul to this point (the transplant, not the music, although… ). Luckily, it’s a stem cell transplant, so she doesn’t have to worry about anti-rejection medications, or anything. We do have to worry about the fact that they kill her immune system with chemo in order to make the transplant work properly. Bleah. And she’s six hours away for three weeks.
As for the musical tastes of the 14 year old, I am being reminded more frequently every day how much I am like my father. I just don’t get the music kids listen to these days! lol
Wow… true words (“how much I am like my father”). Dad was relatively intolerant of my music and I was only slightly more tolerant of my own kids’ musical tastes (or lack thereof). I also “don’t get” their music. I suspect I’m quite a bit older than you with your fourteen year old (I’m 67! LOL). My musical tastes run pretty much along the early years of rock and roll (late 50’s to mid-60’s). We’d dance to our music by filling the juke box with dimes and sometimes even quarters in one of our favorite malt shops after school. I doubt kids do this today and furthermore, I doubt they can even dance to much of the stuff I hear them listening to on their iPods. Gettin’ old, Noah. Anyway, hope all goes well for your wife. Sending good thoughts and prayers. 🙂
My father was certain that my music would turn me gay. LOL
My daughter has seen a couple of Jukeboxes, though she’s never experienced the old ones with the 45s inside. The pizza place we go to has little table jukeboxes that enthrall her.
My wife endured the two days of mega-chemo, and was engrafted with stem cells today. She sounds both very nauseous, and very happy 🙂
I’m glad for you both. I truly hope this will be her answer. God grant her many years! 🙂