This kid doesn't need the SOMB help, he's already got better taste than most of the people here. Get him to submit an albums list so Paramore has a better chance!

Seriously, how up their own ass is this board when they suggest "Buy him The Beatles", because what thirteen year-old doesn't want to listen to a mostly-dead band that their parents dig?

Some stuff that he'd probably dig:
-The Get Up Kids (Anything off "Something To Write Home About" or "Four Minute Mile")
-Saves the Day (Anything off "Through Being Cool")
-Sinclaire (Little heard Canadian emo outfit)
-Cobra Starship
-Reggie and the Full Effect

I'm sure there are some 13 year-olds who are exceptions to the rule (and they'll probably post here eventually), but by and large, come on. Do you really think a kid who listens to emo and nu-metal is gonna listen to Of Montreal or most indie rock? Seriously. Best you can hope for is to have him listen to something similar/better and expand from there.

We will forgive him for Linkin Park, obv. He's only 13.

i agree with sausage in this thread

for the most part i agree that shitting indie down a kid's throat at christmas would be lame but i also think there is no reason why a kid who likes paramore and fall out boy wouldn't appreciate some classic punk like that suggested in the first reply

Don't get him an iTunes gift card. I did that with my 13 year old nephew and he downloaded nothing but incredibly offensive hip hop/rap songs with an EXPLICIT rating. My attempts to turn him on to decent stuff through the Beatles and Johnny Cash (among others) failed apparently.

I had shitty taste in music at 13 too.

Try Billy Talent.

That's what 13 year old boys do though. When I was 13-14...I thought 2 Live Crew were modern day Shakespeares, and "Hey We Want Some Pussy" was their Hamlet. But 2 Live Crew eventually led me to Ice-T, NWA, BDP, Public Enemy, De la Soul, etc.

That said, I really liked Capt. Midnight's suggestions:



Nice mix of balls-out metal and critical acclaim. If he wants to explore deeper and more underground stuff...this list is a pretty good start. Maybe throw in some Metallica or Black Sabbath as others have suggested.

Sausage-being a freak sucks. i hate aspergers.

Slackmo-yeah, i read that. but my freakness aside, when me and my friends were 13 in 1987, we had all that hair metal shit out. and i'm not talking about Ozzy and Metallica, i'm talking about this:

Whitesnake's self-titled album
Motley Crue with "Girls, Girls, Girls"
Poison's debut album was all over the airwaves (released the year before)
Cinderella's debut album was all over the airwaves (released the year before)
Bon Fucking Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" was all over everything (released the year before)
countless other shit bands

that music drove me and friends into so many different directions we couldn't give a fuck if we didn't conform to what was being accepted by our peers. if i ever see one more Overkill shirt, i swear...in fact, the only thing i can listen straight through from that year in hair metal to this day is "Appetite For Destruction". i think that was the first year i dove headfirst into College Rock/Radio instead of the usual catch a video or two of it over the years on MTV or if a mainstream radio dared to play one song every once in a while. and i never looked back. so i guess that there are other freaks like me lying around in the ditch somewhere.

THE MELVINS
MCLUSKY
HELMET
THE PIXIES

Why yes-- I was, as I said in my post: "When I was 13, I was learning to play guitar, so I liked the blues. Then I discovered Led Zeppelin, and I decided they were the best rock band of all time. I've listened to a shitload of genres since, but I still say that I already had it right, when I was 13."

And I didn't have the internet. I had 2 1/2-ass radio stations, one record store, and a big brother.

Yeah, what kind of dick likes The Beatles still.Fucking dead jerks.

Sasky's right. Metal speaks to the teenage mind. Perhaps some Maiden?

Get him the Deftones and Nirvana. That's what I listened to when I was 13 in addition to Linkin Park and SOAD.

you're half right.

I love how this thread treats indie rock as the peak of a musical pyramid that you have to work up to. All musical appreciation is just a road to the inevitably of being an indie rock acolyte. Because, like, Spoon are so complex, obviously.

I think the peak of the pyramid is anything besides rock. You know you really have a palette when you have favorites in every style of music, and not just rock. That's what I would want for my kid-- just to appreciate all music. Not just to like what I like.

But if he brought home some of that Hot Chip, I swear to God, I'd put his jammies on the curb that night.

Here's a copy/paste job from my neighbor's myspace. He is 14.

sum 41,
him,
Papa Roach,
The Offspring,
Nickelback,
Disturbed,
Metallica,
linkin park,
The basement jaxx,
Green day,
The red hot chilli peppers,
Sean paul
Daddy yankee,
The gorillaz,
Blink 182,
Angels and airwaves,
The Beatles,
Thousand Foot Krutch.

I've tried to influence his taste, because his parents are so out of touch, but he keeps swaying back to the above.
It's not all bad, but I can't understand why my Blur recommendation fell flat.

edit.: I forgot he liked Jay Reatard's Nightmares and My Shadow, so all is not lost on the boy.

you must be new here




ftr: i agree with your sentiments. one look at my last fm profile, and you will see why i dont post as much on the music side any more......

Mentions of Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, and My Chemical Romance are all seconded (thirded, whichever). Maybe check out Say Anything? They can be a bit vulgar, though.

The Format is a fantastic indie band popular in the emo scene, but it can be kind of a leap (last album, at least) from Fall Out Boy. I love both; then again, I'm 23.

I think the pinnacle of music is Talk Talk's last two albums and mark hollis's solo

i called her on the phone and she touched herself
she touched herself
she touched herself


yeah. most vulgar song i've heard on the radio in years.

This made me smile.

lol you know a board is pretentious when 464 posts is considered newbie

System of a Down
Korn
RATM
My Chemical Romance
Blink 182
Nirvana
Weezer
Green Day

Are the best suggestions so far, I would say, maybe Pixies at a stretch. Bossanova or something.

yeah he thinks of montreal and bands like that are weird. i see nothing wrong with the music he is into. hes 13 and was raised on gospel music (his dad). so i think hes doing pretty good at finding stuff on his own.

i hadnt checked this thread since the night i made it. nice to see so many posts. im still wading through all the bands. thanks everyone.

The first album in my indievolution. I read the Pitchfork review of it when I was 14. LOL

Most people I know are fully functioning 20 somethings who think Of Montreal are weird, so yeah I wouldn't say you should be trying to put him onto a path to stuff like that. Especially when he seems more of a budding metal fan.

kid would def be into atreyu

yeah, hard to remember what i listened to when i was 13...seems long ago. definitely give him Thursday's "Full Collapse" album. not only will he be into it, but it's also a great album that may get him looking at more "obscure" things later on. it worked for me...

Nonpoint's vocalist & heaviosity are similar to Linkin Park's but Nonpoint is, like, legit. Recoil has my favorite foreign-language song in it ("Rabia") and To the Pain is also decent.

Tool. Get Lateralis to start with but you can't go wrong with Ænima or even 10,000 Days.

dredg--El Cielo.

early Incubus--S.C.I.E.N.C.E. or Make Yourself.

Alien Ant Farm--TruANT or ANThology.