Tricking Children is Acceptable in the Name of Musical Education - Springsteen, Frampton and MEAT LOAF!

Music Wed - When my children were little, I desperately wanted them to listen to and like my musical choices. So, when their taste in music did not naturally match my taste, I did what any self-respecting parent and adult would do - I cheated and tricked them into listening to my music. I used two ploys more than once to mixed reviews. The trick they hated most was when I put on my tunes and after two songs they got sick of what I was listening to, I would promise to just play "one more song" and then would pick a 15-20 minute live opus like "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" from the 1999 NYC shows ( http://youtu.be/9qbTSENLK_o), and Peter Frampton's 1976 live version of "Do You Feel Like I Do", complete with the extended talk box solo (http://youtu.be/edSo-8Jp_ho).  The more successful ruse was to play a song or set of songs and tell the girls a story I would make up about the songs in order to hold their interest and distract them from the length of the music I was trying to get them to experience. And my most successful incarnation of this strategy was the stories I would weave around the various songs on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album. I would tell them stories of fantastic creatures, heroines and heroes, and dramatic feats based very loosely on the music and lyrics of rock operatic songs such as "Bat Out of Hell" (http://youtu.be/oOy03kfm-UM), "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" (http://youtu.be/9NTDHjVKQyo  - with the incomparable Karla Da Vito), "Heaven Can Wait" (http://youtu.be/R4r-xw04UcI), and, my favorite Meat ballad, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" (http://youtu.be/Ml5xb4DrhZo). These songs are so over the top in terms of Meat's passionate singing, Jim Steinman's  overwrought music and lyrics, and Todd Rundgren's extravagant production. I love me some Meat Loaf, both as a meal and as a performance artist (for that is what he is, because he is so much more than just a vocalist with his heavily staged performances featuring a changing cast of overheated female duet partners). I dare you to listen to and watch these songs and not smile - Meat's transparent love for Jim's songs just sucks you in and carries you away to the made up world I conjured for my girls as I tried every trick in my bag to get them to listen to this music. Enjoy!