Sharing Music with Dad

It's Fatherhood Friday again so stop by Dad Blogs and check out all the great posts before you head off for the holiday weekend. Happy Independence Day to everyone!

I have never been a music crazy kind of guy. I don't even own an iPod. I like to listen to music in the car. I love hearing some good tunes when I'm having a beer with my buddies. Music certainly is a part of my life even if I have never been a music freak.

Growing up I listened to country music with my Dad on the way to the farm. I still love the old country crooners like Merle, Waylon, Willie, and Johnny Cash. Dad also listened to the oldies station which was not my favorite. Some day Braden and I will have to share the airwaves. I wonder what we will listen to while going places in the car. Of course with satellite radio and TVs in many vehicles the experience won't be the same. I will probably be forced to adapt to Disney tunes.

Until that day comes my music enjoyment will involve listening to classic rock on the FM radio in my truck. I don't have satellite radio so I am still doing the FM thing. Recently I was thinking about the definitions of classic rock and oldies. When do my favorite classic rock tunes become oldies? Is there some sort of constitution on music classification? Is there an instruction manual? Do songs just become oldies after a set amount of years like cars becoming antiques?

When Braden gets older will the things I like to listen to be on the oldies station? One day will I turn to easy listening and find Jimmy Page rocking the guitar solo in Heartbreaker? Will Eddie Vedder become an oldie in a few decades? Maybe one day Braden will beg me to change the station from the Doors or Guns n' Roses after referring to it as oldies garbage.

I once went digging through my Dad's records as a teenager. I found Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix albums among others. This was probably the first time I ever realized that my parents might have been cool once. I still listen to those groups on classic rock stations today. I don't think they will ever become oldies. It seems like "pop" music goes the way of oldies channels. As ACDC once sang, "Rock and Roll will never die." I hope they are right. I hope some day Braden will enjoy the classics like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix just like my dad and myself.

I am aware that through his teenage years he will like whatever is popular at the time. He might even like pop music or rap. I haven't admitted this in a while, but I used to love rap music when I was in high school. So I certainly won't judge. Whatever music he likes is fine with me.

I do think it would be cool, however, if one day he found an old Pearl Jam CD of mine and decided to listen. Then upon hearing the band he would me amazed. He would come to me saying, "Dad, who is this Pearl Jam? They are awesome! Do you have any of their other CD's?" He might even come to the same realization I did years ago that his Dad could have possibly been cool once. That could lead to us talking about all my old favorites.

Good music is timeless. Classics never die, and being able to share them with Braden would be just another great connection between father and son. And to borrow from Bruce Springsteen, it would give me another chance to remember the "Glory Days."