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The Ramones Didn't Play Kids Music - Or Did They?

Fill in the blank: Hey! Ho! __________!

I gotta admit that I never really got into the Ramones. I mean, sure, "I Wanna Be Sedated" is a freezer blast of a song (that fill in the blank above is part of the American cultural DNA now), but when I was in high school, I took the geeky route and went for the brainy bands like They Might Be Giants.

Which probably explains why as a parent I'm still going more for the brainy bands like They Might Be Giants for my kids than punk bands. Especially since "I Wanna Be Sedated" is lyrically dicey once your kids start asking the meaning of words. ("'Sedated,' son? It means, uh, 'clean'.") And punk for kids still is primarily in the phase of "hey, let's take every traditional song we know and make it punk -- hee hee, 'All the Pretty Horses' shouted and in triple time!"

But eventually folks'll get tired of that and bands like the Ramones-inspired Chicago-area band The Boogers have been working their way out of that culdesac. Take a listen "I Don't Need To Be Worried" from Road To Rock, played live in Texas, and tell me that it wouldn't get some kids pogoing (and maybe even feel a little more confident).

The Boogers - "I Don't Need To Be Worried" (Live)

Tags: boogers, kids, music, punk, ramones

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Comment by Diggy on August 5, 2009 at 9:41am: My kids are big fans of Blitzkrieg Bop. Luckily, they don't know the name of the song. To them, it's just Hey Ho, Let's Go.
One of my proudest parenting moments came recently when my oldest (he's 4) was in the car with me and The Ramones came on. It was a song that he hadn't heard before, but he asked if it was The Ramones. It almost brought a tear to my eye.

Comment by Alan on August 5, 2009 at 10:37am: Thanks Stephan! I can't wait to show this to the Dragon later.

Comment by Mommagrrl on August 5, 2009 at 10:48am: Eli always appreciated the straight ahead pounding of The Ramones when he was a baby. I think little kids like simpler rhythms. Coldplay just doesn't cut it!

Comment by Lea on August 5, 2009 at 2:11pm: I love punk, have since I was a teenager. And we are naming our child after Ian MacKaye (if it's a boy) from Minor Threat. That's what a fan I am :D And right now I play punk for the little one all the time and sing it to it too, lol.

As for the lyrics, please all music has dicey lyrics.

The music in the Boogers song was pretty good. And the lyrics were very age appropriate

Comment by Zooglobble on August 5, 2009 at 8:38pm: Sorry, JTC, TMBG still wins out in our family...

Mommagrrl, agreed that the primal drumbeat of the Ramones will win out over Coldplay. Probably across a fairly wide age spectrum.

Lea, I disagree that all music has dicey lyrics, though diciness is in the eye of the parental beholder. TMBG probably has a fairly high percentage of child-safe lyrics in their non-kids-related stuff, though not everything that is child-safe is child-appropriate.

Lea, you need to get the "Play" compilation from Desoto Records, pronto. Not quite punk, but I think you'd appreciate any album where Mudhoney offers up a track for the kids. Really great album, all the way 'round.

Comment by Lea on August 5, 2009 at 8:59pm: Zooglobble, we'll have to agree to disagree :) Though some lyrics are dice-ier then others I think "sedated" is pretty inoffensive and not any worse then most out there today. I do have some punk that would be wildly inappropriate for kids, but then I do not plan to play it around my children.

You could be right about TMBG, though I think they probably still talk about sex and drugs just use more metaphors. But I could never play them anyway. I just really do not care for them..

I will however check out the comp you suggested, you never know :)

Comment by Zooglobble on August 5, 2009 at 8:59pm: Oh, and, um, I mixed up my Blitzkrieg Bop with my I Wanna Be Sedated, so clearly any punk advice I give should be taken with a giant-freakin'-sized grain of salt. Duh.

Comment by Andromeda on August 6, 2009 at 5:59am: i love love love TMBG (lea- i 'm pretty sure all they do is kids music these days. probably not something you would want to though!! lol!) even their pre-kids stuff is awesome to listen to with kids. Flood is my absolute favorite album.

D doesn't care too much for punk... yet. he does show signs of liking the "harder" music on the radio however. personally, i can't stand most of the whiny, spoiled, rich-kid rock that has been coming out the last few years. i must be getting a little old too, edamame.

before D could talk, i never really censored my music around him. that led to him requesting the "boom boom song" (I like the Way You Move by Outkast). that song drops a couple of N-bombs that i just didn't feel like explaining OR having him learn. so, after a while poor Outkast had to make its way out of rotation. (although, i still put on The Love Below every now and again for Roses and Hey Ya. i don't really mind D singing "Crazy Bitch. ol' Punk-ass bitch...." my husband does, but i'm a bit more... liberal than he is. lol!!

Comment by Andromeda on August 6, 2009 at 6:00am: and that should read, "before D could talk a lot...."

Comment by Lea on August 6, 2009 at 9:45am: Andromeda I have to agree, I too hate the "whiny, spoiled, rich-kid rock that has been coming out the last few years". I also dislike the crap on the radio they call punk. It is not.

I figure seeing my husband and I love punk so much, our kid will rebel by hating it, lol. Isn't that how it works, lol.

The Ramones Didn't Play Kids Music - Or Did They?

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