Me, My Son, & Music

Connecting with my son over music is something I will always cherish

Music is something I loved when I was younger. I still love music today, but the music from my past overtakes my body and mind with nostalgia — something today’s music can’t do. I’m not convinced I was fully enjoying my life back then; even so, the music adds what feels like a sentimental soundtrack to my early adulthood.

My 15-year-old son has been getting into music over the past year or two, and his music taste reminds me a lot of the songs I played on repeat in my early twenties.

We have started a ritual each week when we drive to his bass lesson. He gets to take control of the music, connecting his phone to my car radio and showing me his new favorite songs. Sometimes he shares what he is currently learning to play on his bass guitar and I am often annoyingly excited when it’s a song I know from my youth.

This week one of his songs made me think of Stone Temple Pilots and I got him to play Vaseline, which reminded him of Pearl Jam — he knows who Pearl Jam is?!?! He already loves the Foo Fighters (they weren’t ever my jam, but I like that he is into their music), Nirvana, and Weezer, so I am a proud mom. I also got him to play some Silverchair and Bush.

When we pulled into the driveway back at home we had just started Bush’s Glycerine. I was of course singing off tune as he listened, trying to decide how he felt about it. His only comment about the song was, “Why does he say it like that? Glycerine.”

Well, I was not expecting that. Of all the things my son could have said about the song, that was it. I love the song and he couldn’t even enjoy it because of Gavin’s dialect.

He now knows that in the UK the pronunciation of the word glycerine is different than it is in the US. And, I now know that Glycerine is not the name of a woman Gavin Rossdale was singing about.

My embarrassment aside, I love sharing music with my son that he adds to his playlist. Now, I am motivated to start a playlist compiling my old favorites to share with him. What were your favorites from the late nineties and early two-thousands? Any suggestions to add to the list for him?

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