The 'listen to rock 'n roll hormones' have recently kicked in with my 13 1/2 year old son. He will spend his entire evening (if I will let him)searching iTunes for music to download onto his iPod. I have felt very priviledged the last few evenings that he has invited me to sit with him and listen to many of his selections. He has chosen a whole bunch of decent to really good classic rock from the 60's and 70's - so I've been listening to the likes of the Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, ACDC. And he is introducing me to newer stuff - Weird Al whasisname, Green Day, Cake, some ready-for-prime-time rap. Also, the complete soundtrack to Monty Python's Spamalot, which he finds absolutely hilarious, Red Hot Chili Peppers (boy, they sure don't sound like they did when they were local boys playing around Chapel Hill and Carrboro) and orchestral music from the soundtracks to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Star War movies. Plus a bit of stringband music from the Bing Brothers.

I've noticed him checking out Dylan, but he hasn't aquired a taste for him, and otherwise has little affinity for folk or trad. other than some stringband music (but only the instrumentals.) He shushes me when I sing around him. "You've got such a good voice, Mom, but I can't stand those songs you sing. They're all so stupid." And I still have not been entirely forgiven for accidentally causing some field recordings of a capella hymns and work songs to be downloaded onto his iPod. He has absolutely no tolerance or appreciation for a capella music of any type.

All-in-all, though, not bad selections at all for a 13 year old kid who can not carry a tune in a bucket.

Listening with him is a blast from the past for me, as well as an introduction to newer popular music.