An Education

OK. I have a 12 year old neice. She's currently into Beiber and Jay-Z because, why not, she's 12 and she likes dancing and thats all she knows, right?

When I was about 13-14 I started to hear snippets of "weird" music I loved - Visage, Japan, Jarre, etc - and in hindsight I wish I'd been exposed to a lot more a lot earlier.

But of course, you cant dump it all on a young mind at once.

Your task, ILM: I am making a mix CD for my neice for an xmas present. I want it to represent what I loved as a teen, so I want it to focus on new wave, electro, indie stuff.

I open the floor for suggestions. I expect a flood of crud but the idea is someone'll suggest something I forgot. So GO NUTS.

Gary Numan, "Cars"

wouldn't the analog for your niece of what you loved as a teen be something different than what you actually loved as a teen? i.e. i want to show my son sesame street in the next year or two, but that's actually from an ancient era - it would be like if my parents showed me howdy doody

Might she not appreciate a disc of cool rnb/hip hop from the last couple of decades more?

if she's 12 and loves jay-z, i'd guess she's more likely to like his current stuff or at least not have his entire discography - so i'd get her one/a couple of his old classic albums (which also happen to be much better than his current ones...)

tho that's not really what you were aiming for, i guess

let her form her own taste, what makes you think she'll like electro and indie when she's a Jay-Z & Bieber fan...........

if she likes dancing, get her an 80s electro/R&B sort of comp. it would have similarities with the present, but of an earlier time. cant imagine anyone into jay-z these days really going for his older stuff that much. plus, if shes young, would you really want her to hear stuff like is that yo bitch? hopefully not.

This sounds like a great idea. As long as you don't run down the stuff she already likes, then you are letting her form her own taste. Worst case scenario - she doesn't like it, so what. If you do want songs from way back then I'd recommend some bridge-building, dancey artists like Shannon or the Tom Tom Club, so it's not such a huge leap from what she likes already. Songs that people she likes have sampled can be good as well, just for the recognition factor, so why not Alphaville's Forever Young? Like you say, Trayce, the stuff that affected you when you were that age was in the same ballpark as mainstream pop, just slightly stranger.

Yeah the idea is not to force her taste at all. The idea is to just leave it with her and maybe some of it'll sink in later down the line. Stuff she'd not likely come across naturally, kids that age really only hear chart pop. Dorian you get what I'm aiming for exactly with "he stuff that affected you when you were that age was in the same ballpark as mainstream pop, just slightly stranger."

Tom Tom Club's an excellent idea. I was also thinking stuff like MGMT and Junior Boys (assuming she wont have heard stuff like that but maybe I underestimate her!).

idgi, in the whole wide world of music, why MGMT???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I mean it seems like pandering. Give her the good stuff, she's 12 not 8.

http://mp3.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF403412-01-01-01.mp3

cinza de fenix

tbh ive never heard mgmt i just tossed in a random "its current synthy stuff" thing eh anyway. Im not sure why I started this thread, it wont at al get the responses Im after, ohwell.

i want to show my son sesame street in the next year or two, but that's actually from an ancient era

they still make Sesame St fyi

Yeah wtf. Also clasic era sesame st is awesome for any kid.