My 3-year-old boy loves music (always has) and so when we found a low-quality record player at a yard sale, we jumped. I brought out "the spindle" (a stack of crackly 80s earworms on 45 from a free bin) and grabbed a few more 45s from a local record store's 50 cent bin, a cheap seller on Disquogs, etc., and told him to have at it.
This could have turned out terribly if he'd been drawn to the terrible records on the spindle, but thankfully he has pretty good taste. His top jams this week:
Gap Band "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)"
I think he likes it because it is ostensibly about a car going fast, but the handclaps and synth bass seal the deal. Also, from my perspective, sweet video, and this stanza is just awesome:
You told me to go up the block
To get you a strawberry pop
When I got back to the flat
You had burned rubber out the back
Strawberry pop?!!!!
Other hits: Raydio "Rock On," Michael Sembello "Maniac," the Royal Guardsmen's "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" and "Return of the Red Baron" ("Snoopy for President" went a bit too far).
He also loves the Ramones and can name every track on All the Stuff and More, both volumes 1 and 2. Some of the Ramones' more... esoteric interests feel a little weird to be discussing with a 3-year-old, but it is pretty great to sing "Today your love - tomorrow the world" along with him while he pumps his fist.
