Cleaning Music

It's not an enjoyable chore but it's one that has to be done.  If it has to be done, then it has to be done right, so sayeth my grandfather.  And to do it right, you must have very loud, very hard core music.  Metal if you have it, grunge for when you are feeling nostalgic and perhaps some 80's ballads thrown in as you silently wonder where today's culture gets their craptacular music. 

The house isn't going to clean itself and you can bet your ass Hossmom won't help.  She'll pretend to help but honestly, she just makes it worse.  She knows how to do it and when she does it, it's actually pretty good.  What she doesn't know how to do though is to clean house with 3 kids trailing you.  Sunday her job was to do laundry.  She was able to wash a sock. 

But that's ok, this is my wheelhouse, I've been doing this for 5 years.  What she is missing is the hardcore music.  She'll have some Celine Deon blaring but that just makes matters worse.  Nope, you need something better. 

A little Black Sabbath is how I always start.  A little N.I.B. or perhaps War Pigs.  Yup, that does it.  Now the juices are flowing and I can get those floors cleaned because Bacon Hoss is now mobile.  Bacon learned to crawl a couple of weeks ago and now he pretty much follows me around the house like a dog.  Which is good because I'm supposed to be watching him.  From watching him I have noticed that he likes to eat paper and poop himself.  Not much gong on there but I appreciate the company. 

After Sabbath finishes up, we get a little SpaceLord, followed by Blur, NIN and Taylor Swift.

I can really vacuum well to some Blur and Taylor. 

Fuck.  Wait, no Taylor.  Just a mistake on that one as we push the fast forward button on our ITunes. 

This is what you need to know about being married with 3 kids, one of whom is a 7 year old girl with a mother that loves the show tunes and sing alongs.  Eventually, you will all just have the same ITunes account.  And then it will all download on your phone.  That's cool, no problem.  I like to see what my wife listens to and what she allows my daughter listen to.  It's no Metallica mind you, but it's wholesome music.  A bit sappy for my tastes, a bit teen angst without the rightous anger, but it's ok.  She can sing about Romeo and Juliet with Mom, coolio.  Sure, I could make my own playlists but that would require quiet and 10 minutes of piece.  This is something I do not have. During the day we adventure, during the night I referee and spend 3 hours doing bedtime for everyone because they need a drink of water, or to be tucked in, or to check a closet, complete a last minute school assignment, snuggle the baby, get more water, the toilets clogged, let's talk about our day and Oh look, Hossmom found a spider and is now hiding in her car. 

My point is, it can get a bit busy.  I am writing this at 11:30 at night. 

I quickly change the Taylor Swift and her broken heart.  I have to go past Aqua and their smash hit "Barbie Girl" and I die a bit inside.  I end up on Rage Against the Machine.  Yup, this will do it.

I am the father to two sons, Bubba Hoss and Bacon Hoss.  It is up to me to show them the ropes, to introduce new challenges to them and to show them the difference between emotion filled classics by Motley Crew and shield them from the travesty that is "The Cup Song" which my daughter and every other 7 year old currently loves.

Rage can get to me, I like the anger, the anti-establishment of some of their stuff.  I don't know why as I have always been pretty much the definition of a rule follower.  Maybe it's the freedom that I can feel through the lyrics, even though I'll admit I can't understand half of them.
 
"Empty ya pockets son; they got you thinkin that
What ya need is what they sellin
Make you think that buyin is rebellin"

That gets me in the mood to start punching stuff.  And when they continue

" 'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y"


That right there gets the blood flowing.  Crapola, wait, that's not rage.  Sorry, a little Katie Perry snuck herself right in there didn't she?  At least the song is uplifting, which is good for my daughter.  I'm a 38 year old man trying to clean house and then go build something out of wood.  I need mood music of my generation, something with a good video with it.  Nirvana, there ya go.  A little teen spirit was the anthem of my last year of highschool.  We all wore black boots and flannel in the Texas heat.  Fuck we were cool.  And in the video when they had the goth cheerleaders, hot.  And it means something although none of us knew the lyrics with Senior Mushmouth but we didn't have to damit!  We just assumed it was about oppressing the suburban kids with high school letter jackets and how we needed to keep a poker face because when it's love , if it's not rough then it's not fun.  God damint, Lady Gaga.


See, this is what shows up on my Itunes.  It's hard to get myself motivated when I've got The Offspring one minute and then Julie Andrews belting out the Lonely Goatherder the next minute.  And don't get me wrong, The Phantom of the Opera is a great set play list and I'm glad my wife and daughter enjoy singing together on it, but would it kill you to throw a little Primus in there?  My Name Is Mud is so under rated. I feel my daughter should know this. 


And let's be honest, I can't get my clean on while Katie Perry roars at a tiger which makes no god damn sense.  You know what makes sense?  Tool.  That makes sense.  Those weird ass video's of little wooden puppets walking around some Hellraiser world.  That spoke to me in my pseudo "I've got problems" early college years. 


So I put on Tool and I angerly scour the toilet.  That's some toilet scrubbing music if there ever was any.  With all of us in the house, our toilets get a work out.  And it's my job to make sure they are tip top shape.  Tool is what is needed, Tool is what I get. 


Then La Seine comes on. 


This is the French version, perhaps you have heard of it.  It's from a movie called Monsters in Paris.  My daughter loves the movie  and the song.  So I found it for her.  I couldn't find the English version but no matter, we sing it in French. 


That's right, I rock right along beside her.  I have no fucking clue what I'm singing but damnit if I don't sing it at the top of my lungs.  I don't even know what La Seine means, what it refers to but it's a good song.  The only thing I"m missing right now is my daughters voice right along side of mine.  Then Bubba Hoss can do a little funny dance that always ends with me tackling everyone and playing tickle monster until we are crying.  Bacon will struggle over and want to get into the action as well so I just throw him on top of the pile and it's a French beat down. 

I get the bathroom done then I put on "The Cup Song" video.  I'm going to learn it and teach it to them when they get home from school.

Bacon Hoss continues to eat paper in a very grunge way.  I am happy.