What does your 8 year old boy listen to?

[4Marmalade]

My ds will be turning 8 next week and he is getting the mp3 player he has been asking for. I have no idea what to put on it. I can think of a few songs and some stories but am pretty much stumped as to what would be cool and age-appropriate for an 8 year old. So, what does your 8 year old like to listen to?

[eclipse]

I have a 9 year old, 7 year old, and 5 year old and they listen to pretty much anything I do. Right now, all three kids are pretty into the Killers. DS1 (the 9 yo) also likes Franz Ferdinand, Peal Jam, Green Day, Mumford and Sons, the Cure, Blink-182, the Smiths - well, pretty much anything alternative rock-ish. I don't really censor music, though, so I'm not sure what people would consider age-appropriate. I know some have swear words, but it doesn't bother me. I just try to steer my kids away from the young, poppy stuff because I can't stand it and don't want to hear it.

[Ellien C]

Justin Beiber is hot with that age group - boys and girls around here.

[4evermom]

Ds has a bunch of Pokemon theme songs on his computer that he'll play when he wants to have a dance party.

I don't know if that's something easily accessible for putting on an MP3 player though (I still listen to music on audio tapes ). For a while, I was jotting down songs that ds said he liked. Usually, they are things he has heard in a movie or something. For instance, he likes Father Christmas by the Kinks because it was in the movie Unaccompanied Minors and he was tickled by hearing the full lyrics (the version in the movie censored out the kid asking for a machine gun). I've noticed he likes a good beat that sounds like it would be good background music for a video game. He likes happy music with nice sentiments like some Beatles. He doesn't like raspy voices or jazzy sounds but prefers clearing cleaner sounds. Anyway, I just pay attention to what he likes rather than going with a particular band. I don't know the first thing about what's popular...

[TEAK's Mom]

My 8 year old is a girl and she likes showtunes and sarcastic parodies (and Poke'mon).

What about audio books? There are a ton of really wonderful ones out there.

[4Marmalade]

Thanks for the ideas. I just checked out our local library and there are some audio books that would be great for him. We are definitely not up-to-date on current music so we'll have to let him take the lead there . We got a free Cd with a song from the Magic Tree House musical and both he and dd1 love the song so I may look into getting more. Dh and I will put some of our favorite songs on and see what he thinks.

[LuckyMommaToo]

DS loves Queen, Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Weird Al and some one-offs like "Eye of the Tiger."

He also loves the audio magazine Boomerang.
http://boomkids.com/

I tend to make playlists of songs I think he'd enjoy (because I like doing it), and then we branch out from there depending on what he thinks.
0e

[Petie1104]

DS 9 yrs. old, likes the contemporary and traditional jewish music, classical, soundtracks to certain movies, some country, a lot of classic rock, and some more modern stuff that his 13 yr. old brother listens to. So basically a good mixture of everything.

[marsmom]

Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants is awesome! And Snacktime by Bare Naked Ladies. Both have gotten thousands of hours of play around here.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by marsmom

Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants is awesome! And Snacktime by Bare Naked Ladies. Both have gotten thousands of hours of play around here.

Oh yeah - my kids love the They Might Be Giants albums - they also have "Here Come the ABCs," "Here Come the 123s," and "No!" Some of their "adult" music is also really appealing to kids - my kids learned aaallll about Istanbul vs Constantinople from TMBG!

[fairejour]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I have a 9 year old, 7 year old, and 5 year old and they listen to pretty much anything I do. Right now, all three kids are pretty into the Killers. DS1 (the 9 yo) also likes Franz Ferdinand, Peal Jam, Green Day, Mumford and Sons, the Cure, Blink-182, the Smiths - well, pretty much anything alternative rock-ish. I don't really censor music, though, so I'm not sure what people would consider age-appropriate. I know some have swear words, but it doesn't bother me. I just try to steer my kids away from the young, poppy stuff because I can't stand it and don't want to hear it.

Hmmm, as an adult who listens to Blink and Green Day, I don't think that it is age appropriate for younger children. There are a lot of songs about sex and drugs.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by fairejour

Hmmm, as an adult who listens to Blink and Green Day, I don't think that it is age appropriate for younger children. There are a lot of songs about sex and drugs.

Absolutely! Especially The Cure, which is one of my fave bands from when I was in college. But goodness, just look at the lyrics to Disintegration and sheesh... you can see their music is not appropriate for kids.

Dd is 8 and listens mostly to books on her MP3. She has a few favorite songs, but the music she does listen to at home is what we listen to... a very eclectic mix that includes some of my old favorites like Fleetwood Mac, Rush, some one-hit-80's-wonders, and newer music like British dance, French and Italian chanson music, and much older opera, baroque, and medieval canticle and liturgical music, including one of my all-time favorites, Arvo Part. We are also lovers of world music, so we will listen to Greek (ex. Haris Alexiou), Turkish (ex. Tarkan but also older music dh grew up with), Pakistani (Nursrat Fateh Ali Khan (sp?)), and Cheb Mami (Tunisian? Mali?) and many, many others. Another fave is Peter Gabriel, especially his Last Temptation sources and soundtrack. We are older, so have no clue who is popular today... and don't really care to find out.

[Hey Mama!]

Originally Posted by fairejour

Hmmm, as an adult who listens to Blink and Green Day, I don't think that it is age appropriate for younger children. There are a lot of songs about sex and drugs.

I don't care for Blink-182 but Green Day has several songs that do not include sex or drug references.

OP I put songs that they have heard on the radio station I listen to that they like (clean versions if there is cussing) as well as Disney songs, songs from the 90's, Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, etc.

[beanma]

We have a large collection of good kids' music by contemporary pop/rock artists. It's not schlocky at all and is really wonderful stuff.

From that, for the 8 year old set I would definitely third or fourth the recommendation for They Might Be Giants "Here Comes Science". I think he would really like that and learn something, too! "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Come the 123s" might be enjoyable, but they skew a little younger than 8 in my opinion. "Here Comes Science" is absolutely perfect for 8, though. My 9.5 yr old and my almost 7 yr old love it.

Any Dan Zanes! Wonderful folky stuff from a former rocker.

Billy Jonas is a fantastic family performer with a world beat kinda style. He makes his own percussion instruments.

Justin Roberts is just chock full of hooks. Very catchy stuff. Songs about losing teeth. He has one album (the seamonster one) about Bible stories, but the rest are just great kids tunes.

Ralph's World is Ralph Covert. He's got some really catchy stuff, too, that is 8 year old friendly, like songs about getting a new bike.

Then there are a lot of bands like Brenaked Ladies and The Asylum Street Spankers among many others who do an occasional children's album.

I could go on and on, but I've got to make breakfast. At any rate there is some really great kids' music out there right now that is not Taylor Swift or Hannah Montana or Justin Beiber or Raffi!

[SubliminalDarkness]

What we do. He hasn't yet discovered his own music, and maybe he never will He's not really THAT fond of music, to be honest.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by fairejour

Hmmm, as an adult who listens to Blink and Green Day, I don't think that it is age appropriate for younger children. There are a lot of songs about sex and drugs.

Originally Posted by velochic

Absolutely! Especially The Cure, which is one of my fave bands from when I was in college. But goodness, just look at the lyrics to Disintegration and sheesh... you can see their music is not appropriate for kids.

Well, the good thing about the advent of digital music is the ability to put individual songs on an MP3 player, rather than whole albums. I think there are plenty of individual songs by all three of these groups that are pretty appropriate for the age group, even if you are more likely to censor than I am. As for the Cure - nothing can get my kids singing and dancing like a dose of "Love Cats!"

[HollyBearsMom]

mine loves reggae, ska, and most new wave-the english beat, the clash, elvis costello, etc. Oh and he loves the Police and Sting.

However in the car his likes pop radio-lady gaga, selena gomez, big time rush, jonas brothers, taylor swift, etc. Oh and he just recently got in to pop/rap. Have you heard the words for G6?

[4Marmalade]

Thanks so much for all the ideas. I'm going to try to find some stuff tomorrow while he is at school and get him set up with a few new songs and stories. I've heard about They Might Be Giants a few times so I'll definitely check that out.

[marieangela]

My 7 year old (8 in Jan) has created his own playlist on itunes. This includes Michael Franti and Spearhead, Sondre Lerche, TMBG, Citizen Cope, The Avett Brothers, The Killers, Beck, 7 seconds, Langhorne Slim, and many more. I guess that doesn't help much, though. He just listens to our music and takes what he likes to make his own playlist.

[MJB]

We don't censor music either.
My almost-8 yr. old likes the Beatles, John Prine, Lady Gaga, Johnny Cash, pop-punk and very poppy rap.