The Best Bands My Girls Introduced Me To

One aspect of becoming adults and having children is sharing our love of music with our kids. We have a jump start of anywhere from eight to ten years on them in the regard to music choices. We have to make the most of this window of opportunity to set them straight about cool music.

Early on, they are strapped into a car seat, held against their will, and subjected to whatever the hell we choose to play while driving in the car with them. This gives us the edge on programming them to enjoy whatever tunes they hear repetitively from us. We must choose wisely, as these are their formative years.

My daughter grew up hearing bands like Queen, Guns ‘N Roses, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Journey, and many, many other classic rock greats. I can still hear her singing, “We will… We will… ROCK YOU.” as a two-year-old. She learned so many other great choruses of all of my favorite hits. She seemed to have a love for most of the music I played.

It got to the point where she asked for drumsticks when she was in the first grade. She’d wail away on the passenger’s side backseat with them any time we were driving alone. It was both impressive and hilarious, seeing this tiny child whacking the backseat to Rush or Van Halen. She kept awesome time, too.

When we first met Mai, Kazden, and Kiera in 2011, we all learned even more about music. K&K learned more about the music I love from riding in my truck with me and when I’d play music when I cooked. Avery picked up on the ABBA songs Mai would play each morning while getting ready for work, and from the songs she’s have going in her car. We all also bonded over Guitar Hero and Just Dance.

As the kids got older, they started getting into their own music. They discovered a lot of music that I’d never heard of. Mainly because I tend to listen to old favorites in my truck or while cooking. They had their fingers on the pulse of newer music, as younger kids tend to do.

I decided right away that I’d never judge their music without listening to it first. I’ve never liked how many adults just dismiss their kids’ newer music as crap, automatically. That’s such a lazy, non-caring thing to do. If you want to be closer to your children and have a healthy relationship, take an interest in their stuff.

This includes their music. Listen to their songs. Watch the videos they show you. I’ve spent countless hours being a bit bored watching the videos they tell us are hilarious when in fact, I just didn’t fully get it. Fuck you, Annoying Orange. You lived up to your name, for real.

Most of the time though, the things I’ve been shown by my kids were entertaining. Especially their music. When you have a more open mind and are less judgmental, it’s easier to enjoy things that are important to them. You might just be surprised at how wonderful their music can be.

I’ve learned a lot of newer, cool music through my kids. I’ve heard bands and artists that I not only somewhat enjoy, but honestly will choose to listen to on my own, even if the kids aren’t around. Here are a number of awesome bands and songs you should check out, courtesy of the Provencio/Kohtz Kiddos.

The Pretty Reckless

Cindy Lou Who belts it in this video. Taylor Momsen is an even better singer than actress, in my opinion.

The Pretty Wreckless was first introduced to me by my daughter Avery. At first, I had no idea that the band was fronted by Taylor Momsen, who I remembered as the adorable little blonde girl in Jim Carrey’s The Grinch movie. Cindy Lou Who has grown up and come to rock.

Since putting out her band’s debut album Light Me Up in 2010 at the age of 17, she and her band have recorded three other albums and have toured with some of the bigger names in modern rock.

The first song that Avery showed me was titled, Make Me Wanna Die, and I loved it immediately. Every one of the rest I’ve listened to is just awesome. I Highly recommend them, if you enjoy gritty female vocals and a rockin’ band.

Seether

I love their cover of the George Michael classic, Careless Whisper. They knew how to turn it into a rock hit.

Seether is a hard-rocking band from South Africa. Founded in 1999, they’ve put out 8 albums of alt-rock hits. I had heard a few of their songs here and there, most notably the song Broken, a duet with Amy Lee of Evanescence.

I didn’t get into their music fully though until we heard that they’d be playing our local fair here in Boise. The Western Idaho Fair generally has a featured band performing each night of the fair. They’ll usually have a classic rock show, a country one, an alternative type band, and someone that’s in the R&B or rap genre.

My girls were stoked to hear that Seether would be there as the alt-rock choice last fall. I was glad to take them to that performance and to learn more about their catalog of music before we saw the show. They’re definitely one of my favorite bands that my daughter Kiera has gotten me into.

Halestorm

Lzzy’s powerful vocals on their cover of the Guns ‘N Roses classic “Out Ta Get Me” has to be heard loud to be fully appreciated. Crank this one to max volume.

This is another band that my daughter Avery played for me once recently while we were cooking dinner. I don’t recall which song she played first. I only remember that each one seemed to rock harder than the previous one. I became an instant fan.

Their lead singer Lzzy Hale‘s voice is insane. She has the heaviest, most aggressive, whisky-soaked sound of any female vocalist I’ve ever heard. And besides this, she’s also one hell of a singer. Plus she plays guitar.

I discovered that they had done a number of albums of rock covers, including the song in the video above, Out Ta Get Me, by Guns ‘N Roses. GNR is one of my two favorite bands ever, tied with Queen. So for them to do justice to one of their beloved hits, it’s insane. I’d recommend checking out every one of their albums of cover songs as well as their own original material. You’ll be glad you did.

Panic at the Disco

This one is my favorite song of theirs. It was incredible to see them perform it at the concert we attended.

Panic at the Disco was the one band of the four here that I knew fairly far back. They had a huge hit called, I Write Sins, Not Tragedies. It was their first huge hit in 2006.

I actually attended high school with the fella that made their video, Shane Drake. It won the MTV Video of the Year award. Shane was a hilarious kid back in the day, I’m not surprised he’s had such success. He’s directed many more videos for famous artists such as Carrie Underwood, Timbaland, Paramore, and numerous others.

Kiera was very into their newer at the time album, Death of a Bachelor. This song in the video above, The Ballad of Mona Lisa was the first song she played for me after getting way into the band. I just adored it.

I soon found out later that they’d be coming to Boise and I picked up tickets for her, Avery, and me to attend. I didn’t tell them about it until the day of the show, and both were shocked and thrilled to get to see them. Here’s a pic from that super-fun concert.

There you have it, four amazing bands that I would not have fully appreciated or gotten into nearly as quickly had it not been for my daughters. I appreciate them sharing some of their favorite bands and musicians with me.

If you have kids or teenagers, don’t automatically dismiss their recommendations. For the many years that we’ve subjected our children to the music that we love and cherish, the least we can do is give theirs a chance. To give a blanket assumption about any genre of music being automatically lame and not as good as our old favorites isn’t very cool.

Kids know what’s up. They tend to have good taste in current things. After all, we raised them to appreciate great music, right? Chances are, they’ve found some pretty cool bands and artists on their own. I’ll always give my girls’ music they recommend to me a listen. &:^)