Springtime for the Grateful Dead

We've established quite a few family traditions for our nuclear family. On Christmas Eve, we each open a wrapped gift of new pajamas. Twice each year we create a family CD that is a mix of new hit music and timeless hits from the previous generation. Lately, the kids have begun to develop their own taste in music and they have played an increasing role in selecting the music we squeeze onto each new 80 minute family CD. These family CDs are an intentional "soundtrack of life" for our family to stir up memories when they are bound to be played again long, long from now.

Then the unexpected happened. First Philip kept asking me to play an old Jefferson Airplane Marty Balin ballad on one of my car CDs. Curious, I played some Grateful Dead music for Philip. Before I knew it, both Philip and Chloe had decided they liked the Grateful Dead.

Isn't there supposed to be a sacred generation gap between parents and their kids, particularly when it comes to music? It was one thing for the kids to like mainstream classic rock and new wave from the 70s and 80s: Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, Blondie, Queen and the B-52s. And somehow it was cool that mom and dad liked Nickelback, Coldplay, Linkin Park and even the Jonas Brothers. After all, as a adolescent I could enjoy Elvis, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles.

But I needed to be an adult before I could enjoy Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller. I feel this is uncharted territory. The Grateful Dead is so then, and so not now. Philip and Chloe were suposed to say, "Ugh! Put on something else!!" Instead, Chloe turns on Shakedown Street or Touch of Grey and starts dancing. Instead Philip sings Dire Wolf and Uncle John's Band under his breath while he cleans his room.

So this turn of unexpected events has led me to adapt the family tradition. As the calendar turned from winter to spring, I sat in front of the laptop with Philip and Chloe listening to 30 second samples of Grateful Dead recordings. A few downloads and a disc-burn later, we had a mid-season family CD of 19 Grateful Dead recordings. I titled our new CD Springtime for the Grateful Dead. It seemed an appropriate name for an unexpected success.

I'd just gotten comfortable with my kids liking the Grateful Dead when I had one of Philip's friends in the car. I turned on the engine and the CD began playing. "Ugh!" the friend said, "What is that? Country? Put on something else!!" I guess the generation gap is still reasonably intact.