I gasped earlier this evening when I got a text from my best friend, asking me if I’d heard that rapper Heavy D. had passed away. There are very few — and I do mean very few — rappers who managed to wrangle up cross-generational appeal in my family when I was a kid. Heavy D. was one of them.
My grandparents liked to watch him dance. My mom liked the beats that his DJ used. And my cousins and I just loved the fact that, aside from being a dope rapper, we could enjoy his songs minus their moans and groans because he seemed like such a nice guy.
There’s music, that catchy yet disposable stuff we sing along with when it comes on the radio in the car, and then there’s music. That’s the kind of material that will take you back to a specific time and place whenever someone plays it 10, 15, 20 years from now. And there are classic artists kids should know, even if they’ve been dead and gone for decades.
Much to her chagrin, most of the time anyway, Teen Girl has been getting a healthy dose of them for as long as she can remember. I may be power-to-the-people, but I do have pretty broad musical tastes, with everything from Green Day to Mongo Santamaria to Jay-Z in regular rotation. I’m happy to report, though, that Michael Jackson and Bob Marley are both in heavy rotation on my child’s own iPod.
These folks are not the only timeless musicians by any stretch of the imagination. But in a crunch, if kids could only absorb (or stand to hear about), say, 50 artists, these 22 are a good place to start. In my humble music lover’s opinion, anyway.
Janis Joplin
Aerosmith
Muddy Waters
James Brown
Fela Kuti
Aretha Franklin
Patsy Cline
Queen
Bob Dylan
Celia Cruz
The Rolling Stones
John Coltrane
David Bowie
Ray Charles
Bonnie Raitt
The Beatles
Bob Marley
Simon and Garfunkel
Elton John
Billie Holiday
Stevie Wonder
Michael Jackson
Who are the classic artists on your must-know list?
Image via Dj Crazy Gabe/Flickr
New Mom Accuses MIL of Giving Her Newborn a Cold Sore
Kanye West Announces He's Running for President in 2020
Mom Feels 'Violated' When Babysitter Quit After She Read Private...
20 Series to Watch This Summer That Are Generating Buzz
20 of the Most Rewatchable Movies of All Time
Share this Story