The Best Kids Music You've Never Heard

In my underslept and overstimulated opinion, it is one of the primary scourges of parenting young children not yet plugged into their iPod to be forced to spend hours upon hours in the car, in the living room, at the party, at the concert ... wherever ... listening to snivelly, cutesy, campy, and generally uninteresting, unrocking music. And I won't mention any names, but if I hear anymore Raffi or Dan Zanes, I'm going to throw my juice box at the speakers.

That's why discovering Music For Aardvarks has changed my life. If you haven't heard David Weinstone and the Music For Aardvarks Band, then you are in for a thrill. Should you have my musical tastes, that is. And if you don't, enjoy your Baby Beluga.

Simply put, Music For Aardvarks is awesome. Fun. Beautiful. Creative. Wonderfully produced. Inventive. Full of 'tude and just plain rockin'. Weinstone is a brilliant song writer, channeling everything from The Velvet Underground, Neil Young, David Bowie, and The Ramones to all those great camp songs and lullabies that get you singing and shouting with joy and tender feelings. He knows how to write a song that makes you bang your head and jump up and down and cry a sentimental tear. Sometimes I think I like Music For Aardvarks more than most adult bands, which is kinda sad, but that's what breeding does to your brain.

As TimeOut NY Kids said in its premier review: “It's no exaggeration to say that Weinstone has changed the musical geography of kids music. As creator of the MFA (Music For Aardvarks) classes that take place all over the country, his music has gotten thousands of tiny toes tapping.” No exaggeration, indeed.

Do yourself a favor. Put in the Aardvarks. And then you can give your kids a little culture lesson when they ask why you're holding your lighter in the air.

Photo via Music For Aardvarks.