Whatever

Oingo Boingo. Lots of nifty EC Comics imagery, but nothing I was worried about letting my daughter listen to.

Cambias:

Yes, but the majority of Oingo Boingo's output is pre-1995, with most of their best known work pre-1990.

Folks, please remember to keep it from 1995 onward.

You are evil to suggest that any child listen to anything by Cher.

Clearly.

Catchy, bouncy, 1995 or later, and none of the violence or sexy. Well, they do say that limitations help creativity:

Barenaked Ladies. Especially "One Week" and "It's All Been Done"
Fastball's "The Way" and "Out of My Head"
Hanson--"MMMBop" was the unofficial tween anthem of 1996-97. I remember that "Where's The Love" was also pretty good.
The Cardigans, "Love Me"
Some of the Spice Girls' songs might be appropriate; I'd suggest "Say You'll Be There" and "Spice Up Your Life"

Okay, a little early (1994), but Spin Doctor's "Two Princes"

I have to recommend the Decemberists. The language is beautiful, and the songs, especially on Picaresque, have a funky, cabaret quality and can be sung along to. The adult material is subtly handled, to the point that the nuances will go over their heads until they're older.

Incidentally, how old are these boys?

A couple of my kids' faves whilst they grew, but some pre-1995:

Sample the Dog, Timbuk3 (1990 or the live version from 1993)
Not Yet Gone, Timbuk3 (1995)
If I had $1000000, Barenaked Ladies (1996)

Lately, though, they're playing older stuff than I usually listen to (Floyd, Zep, Who), when they're not headbanging to German industrial (Rammstein) or Dark Wave (Beborn Beton)

My five-year-old is listening to a bunch of Who/Kinks/Hendrix/Bowie/Talking Heads/Clash that a good friend burned for her, and I've had no problems either thematically or in terms of understandability. (Pete Townshend, it turns out, never wrote anything you wouldn't want a kindergarten girl to hear. Who would have thunk it.) Turns out this isn't all that hard of a problem. Go for something poppy and hard, with clear lyrics, written before 1985, and you're probably good to go.

As for the actual problem described, all I can say for sure is avoid anything by the Black Eyed Peas. Toddlers absolutely love 'em, and then you're stuck explaining lyrics or making excuses for not putting it on the stereo. Endless bother.

My five year old listens to a lot of Audioslave and Incubus. He actually does a pretty good rendition of "Like A Stone" which is amusing when he sings it for his teacher or his grandparents and they have no idea what he is singing.

Another favorite, "Word Up" covered by Korn.

I wouldn't say that these are bands that you can put any song in and let a five year old listen to, though.

I echo the question: how old are these kids?

In any case, I suspect that your other readers will have the "quirky catchy popsong" recommendations well-covered (Oingo Boingo, Moxy Fruvous, etc etc), so I'm going to be a little perverse and try to come up with a quick list of "hip-hop and electronica that's safe for youngsters and yet doesn't suck":

Hip-hop:

Practically anything by Blackalicious, but "Blazing Arrow" first and foremost.
The Beastie Boys: "Paul's Boutique", with the caveat that there's some descriptions of mild hooliganism (throwing eggs, etc) at times and a lyrical quote from Johnny Cash ("I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die") at the end of one of the songs.
De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising"
Lauren Hill, "The Miseducation of Lauren Hill"

Electronica:
Propellerheads: Dex and Drums and Rock and Roll
Underworld: Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Pretty much anything by BT is safe, but start with "Emotional Technology"
The KLF: "The White Room"

And on a completely random note, Apocalyptica's "Inquisition Symphony" is a delight: it's an album of instrumental covers of thrash metal songs performed by a cello quartet from Finland. No vocals, so perfectly safe for youngsters, and yet quality headbanging material.

(Obvious disclaimer: I don't have the lyrics to every track on the above albums memorized. Use google and double-check.)

Awww... My son is 7 and his favorite song is by the Ramones. I guess that won't work. He also likes:

Hooverphonic (Mad About You, Sometimes, and a few off the latest)
Curve (Alligators Getting Up)
Komeda (Victory Lane)
Creature Feature (Greatest Show Unearthed)
Ladytron (Destroy Everything)

-Neil

Gosh, this is hard...I have way too much music in other languages. Have you suggested she get the kids into Broadway show tunes? *scrolls through her iTunes*

Hanson are pretty devout in their religion so there is nothing objectionable in their music, period. They have...four, five albums out now? Love them all.

I'm gonna hafta stick in Trout Fishing In America again. Their normal album is good, but please don't throw out the kids' album Big Trouble. I love the kooky songs on it SO MUCH.

You already pointed out the brilliance of THEY, so I won't.

Dar Williams for the win. Everyone should be exposed to her work, period...and except for Flinty Kind Of Woman which talks about how some angry mamas took justice into their own hands re: a perv who flashed their kids, the songs are very safe. Another Dar soundalike is Cady McClain...she just has gentle, folksy-pop songs.

Eiffel 65. Everyone remembers Blue! Well, the rest of their stuff is poppy and fun, whether they are singing in Italian or English. I'm very fond of their newish songs Voglia Di Dance All Night and Non E Per Sempre (both Italian, but the former does have an English version) off their self-titled album.

The Frames. Irish rock at its finest (these guys rival U2 in their home country...)

Harry and the Potters. Yeah, wizard rock. What of it? It's fun and extra hilarious if you read the books.

Hellogoodbye. Also fun and light. Here In Your Arms has officially hit the radio but I was a fan long before...you'll be singing to Touchdown Turnaround for daaaaays.)

Kelly Clarkson has been getting better with each release.

Matthew Good (and his Band, if you are so inclined)...you may have to screen for content but he IS one of the greater Canadian musicians the country currently has.

Our Lady Peace. Yeah, they've had several IRRITATING songs that somehow wormed their way onto the radio, ("we are aaaaaalllllll innocennnnnnt") but they really are good musicians.

Regina Spektor is another folksy type but she's not an angry woman like, say, Ani DiFranco. Her vocals are very similar to Tori Amos.

Nothing wrong with Shakira, although I vastly prefer her in her native language.

Steve Burns. Yes, the Steve from Blue's Clues. He's REALLY good, I promise.

...and that'll about do it for the English, pretty kid-safe stuff.

My son is 4 years old and loves music. I happen to work in the music industry. I manage bands like the Flaming Lips. Here are some songs that he hand picked for a CD that we gave to his fellow classmates on the last day of school this year:

Modest Mouse - Float On
R.E.M. - Superman
Cake - Mahna Mahna (from a compilation record of contemporary bands doing children's songs called "For the Kids"
Yo La Tengo - Speeding Motorcyle
The Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
The Flaming Lips - Buggin'
U2 - Beautiful Day

The rest of the tracks are pre-1995 - so, I'll follow the rules and not put them on here.

There's a wonderful French children's music compilation put out by Putamayo called "French Playground" - he picked a couple tracks from that as well. I have no idea when those songs were recorded, but the CD is recent.

He also loves a new band I work with called Colourmusic and picked several tracks by them.

Texas polka band Brave Combo totally rocks, and their 1995 album Polkas for a Gloomy World is — beginning to end — one of my all-time favorite CDs.

Look to the swing fad of the late '90s: Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Since their best albums are outside the time frame, I won't bother recommending South African band Johnny Clegg & Savuka, whose 1988 Shadow Man and 1990 Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World have a ton of great beats and melodies.

Hm, let's see:

"Banana Pancakes" and/or "Better Together" by Jack Johnson (he did the soundtrack to the Curious George movie - dunno if that's any good but In Between Dreams sure is). Nice mellow vibe.

"The Fox" by Nickel Creek

"This Side" by Nickel Creek

Anything off of Tanto Tempo by Bebel Gilberto

"Come In Out of the Rain" by Engineers

"Walkin' After Midnight" by Madeline Peyroux

"House of Tom Bombadil" by Nickel Creek

"Como Ves" by Ozomatli

(Keeping in mind that I have no small children, but if I had some I'd want them exposed to music from as much of the world as possible...)

Some of Audioslave's more recent stuff, like "Doesn't Remind Me." Audioslave is hard rock/alternative.

Peter Cetera's One Clear Voice album came out in 1995, so I guess it's up to you whether the cutoff date is inclusive or exclusive. ;)

Anything by Nightwish is probably safe. They have a website with full lyrics posted for every song, if people want to check. It's symphonic metal from Finland, with a female lead singer trained in opera. The lyrics are all in English. I'm presently obsessed with "Creek Mary's Blood."

Kent, which is sort of folksy soft rock, should be very safe if the kids don't understand any Swedish. :) My favorite song of theirs is "mannen i den vida hatten" (I think; translates to "man in the white hat"). It's vaguely like October Project.

Shinedown's "I Dare You." I also like "Lady So Divine" which is mostly instrumental. They're a southern rock band from Florida.

Delerium's Karma and Poem, and possibly some of the ones after Poem (I stopped keeping track when they looked like they were headed for pop rock). Anything before Karma might count as too dark for kids (musically). They're electronica/ambient.

On the other hand, if by "safe" you mainly mean lyrics, but musically industrial would okay, I really like "Mini Mini Mini" by KMFDM. The lyrics are in French, and as far as I can tell they're nonsensical rhymes about things that are small.

Then there's a bunch of German rock, like Schandmaul and Wizo, which are in German.

oh, now I look up and realize that you specifically said "under ten." Hm. Blackalicious might be lyrically a little over-their-heads then, although they might still like the beats. The Beasties and Lauren Hill could be judgment calls for a 9- or 10-year old, maybe a no-go for 8 or under.

But of course: read the lyrics and know your children.

Looking through the collection for things that my 3yr old likes:

Putamyo - Afro Latin Party. Esp the Pepe and the Bottle Blonds track, Cuentame que te paso. No idea what it's saying, but I doubt that it's too risque. Very Bouncy.

The Omar Torrez Band - Sangre Mia. Afro Cuban Flamenco Funk. And Bouncy.

The Cowboy Junkies, Whites off earth now, Trinity session.

Jason Webley, Against the Night, esp Back to the Garden. Also, for younger kids, the aardvark song.

I'll second the Steve Burns recommendation. He is actually working on a children's album with the help of Steven from the Flaming Lips.

This is a tough 'un. I always approached music the way I approached books--the most "grown up" I could get my hands on, the better.

I have no problem letting my kid listen to BNL, Our Lady Peace, or Gorillaz. "Weird Al" Yankovic is good, as being generally "kid friendly" and also a pseudo-survey of pop music. All of them have quite a few "all ages" songs, though they do also deal with what the MPAA might call "adult themes." BNL, though, seems to be very good at getting to things on a kid level. "Shoe Box," "Just a Toy," and "I Live With It Every Day" from Born On A Pirate Ship come to mind there, though none of them are particularly "juice boxy."

And "If I Had $1000000" is so not 1996. Gordon was 1992, and I'm sure the song was one of their first demo tracks.

When I was ten, my parent's only rock album was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". They never played it (they liked Classical), but would never mind when I played it.

Even as a little kid, I loved that album.

Mmm, didn't see the stern Update until after I'd posted. Sorry, dude. I will, on your behalf, fine myself $5.

I'm looking at an itunes mix of my six year old's favorite stuff. Non kid-specific songs on that list from the past ten years include:

"What Else Is There", Royksopp
"Us", Regina Spektor
"Icarus", Jason Webley
"No Phone", Cake
"Sad, Sad Song", M. Ward
"When The Stars Go Blue", Ryan Adams
"Hallelujah", Rufus Wainwright
"Easy", Emiliana Torrini

Some of the music my sons and I enjoy together include:

"Clocks" by Coldplay
"Settlin" by Sugarland
"Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence
"Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones
"Vertigo" by U2
"When the Blue Hour Comes" by Joan Osborne
The "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack

My younger son leans toward country. ;)

My suggestion is "Jenny's Got a Boyfriend" by Audra and the Antidote. It's the best of both worlds! Post-1995 but definitely sounds like it came smack dab out of the 80s. Love it!!

The soundtrack to the Digimon movie has some of the stuff people recommended in one inexpensive, easy to find package.

http://www.amazon.com/Digimon-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B00004Y6NE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9481092-3225748?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1185850515&sr=1-1

A little farther off the beaten track --

Nickel Creek, a Canadian pop-bluegrass trio with excellent musicianship

Toward the slightly more political, consider Richard Shindell, John McCutcheon, and Solas with an edge (that is, if the kids are closer to teens than tens), and Lucy Kaplansky if you're looking for less-edgy lyrics. They've all done good work both before and after 1995.

Mary Fahl, either solo or with The October Project, would be a good choice.

Unfortunately, Richard Thompson would probably scare the daylights out of them (can you imagine a kid filling in the blanks in "Psycho Street" or "New Me"?). And that's probably true of most of the stuff I listen to anyway.

Hey Jaws - FYI, not that it matters, but Nickel Creek's actually from San Diego. Though I recommended 2 or 3 of their songs, you can't really go wrong with any of their albums.

Albums:

Nouvelle Vague - "Bande a Part" 2006
Sure, there are many covers, but they're interesting covers. Worth it for the covers of "Dancing With Myself" and "Bela Lugosi's Dead" alone.

Various - "Someone Like You" (Soundtrack)2001
Nice and upbeat, with some odd and sweet songs.

Salsa Celtica - "El Agua De La Vida" 2003
Band members from Great Britain, Ireland, and parts of South America make for some great songs.

John Lee Hooker - "The Best of Friends" 1998
It's never too early to introduce kids to Blues.

Various - "Moulin Rouge" (Soundtrack) 2001
Mostly covers, but fun covers.

Songs:
"Hot For Teacher"
Lee Press-On and the Nails - "Jump Swing From Hell" 1997
From their live album. Great songs, but not all of them are kid friendly.

"Ask DNA"
Seatbelts - "Ask DNA" 2001
Opening credits music from the Cowboy BeBop movie.

"Inner Universe"
Origa - "Stand Alone Complex O.S.T."
Opening credits music for the anime series "Stand Alone Complex."

"Sinnerman"
Nina Simone & Felix Da Housecat - "Verve Remixed 2" 2003
Techno/Dance remix of Nina Simone's classic.

"Don't Speak"
Leela James - "A Change Is Gonna Come" 2005
Cover of the No Doubt song.

Here are a few albums that I love

Big Come UP by The Black Keys
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco
Era Vulgaris by Queens Of The Stone Age
Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Shoki Shoki by Femi Kuti

I think the language on these albums are OK except for maybe a word or two on Era Vulgaris which would probably be missed.

Ah, music.
Quite.

One of my favorite novels ever (Perfect Skin, by Nick Earls) featured a guy who drove his six-month-old daughter around while listening to Evan Dando and the Lemonheads.

Let's see. Ten years is roughly second grade, right? Maybe third, tops? This is grade school, then, and not middle school. I'm confused by "thematically appropriate"; does that mean "songs with boogers in"?

So.

Arsenal, Oyebo Soul. Adam Richman is good, acoustic, and up-tempo. All-American Rejects would be a good bet, including (but not limited to) "Swing, Swing." Ashley MacIsaac is a Canadian fiddle player who specializes in crazy, Celtic music, and he's quite spectacular. Air is mostly awesome, and largely electronica ("Alpha Beta Gaga" is sublime).

And that's just the "A"s.

Anything Dave Matthews would be quite good, I would think.

If you're already going with classical, Bond is awesome. A string quartet set to electronica.

Every ten-year-old boy should have heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me," because, seriously, isn't that a requirement? Even if they think it refers to a pixie stick, it's still necessary. Quite. Even if it is a little older than was asked.

I'm trying to think of music I was listening to at ten. Bon Jovi springs immediately to mind (what? I'm from Jersey). Plus Bon Jovi and U2, although they're older than '95.

Fatboy Slim. Jet's loud and fun and not obscene. And O.A.R. is lighter and bouncier and more happy-go-lucky. I'd definitely also be playing a lot of Roger Clyne (the Refreshments and the Peacemakers) for my ten-year-old boys, but that's only because I hope my kids would be awesome. They'd probably find the Gin Blossoms on their own. Because they'd be awesome.

And the lead singer of Letters to Cleo (which is a good bet on its own) was Kay Hanley, whose solo CD is quite spectacular, as well.

Are the White Stripes "thematically appropriate"? I can't think of an "explicit language" warning on their CDs, and music doesn't get much simpler than one dude with a guitar and his ex-wife with a drum set.

Nor a whole lot better, for that matter.

Five for Fighting is a good band.

Also, Tom Petty, especially "Free Falling" from the _Full Moon Fever_ album (late 80s, but kids *love* that song. I remember my son falling asleep to it while we were on long driving trips, singing, sleepily, "Fwee, fwee falling..."

There'a *lot* of my middle school students who are into 70s and 80s music. It's preferable to some of the more recent stuff.

Bare Naked Ladies.
Soundtrack (or parts of) from Spamalot.
The new Prince song, "Guitar."

Living, as I do, with two boys, aged 11 and 8, both of whom love music, I go and dig through their diverse collections. I come up with

U2 - 1990-2000 greatest hits is a good place to go. And I echo The Decemberists

The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie soundtrack, which includes The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Ween, and more

Bel Auburn (free download on their website last time I checked - kind of Cold Play-ish)

Cold Play, now that I mention them

Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco

The Story by Brandi Carlile

Smart Kid by The Clumsy Lovers

Foo Fighters

How We Operate by Gomez

The Paperboys (celtic folk with other stuff; much is great to bounce to)

Stephen Fearing

James Keelaghan

There's more, but it's either older (Police) or contains language issues (Green Day).

D

My 5 year old is a big fan of lots of my favorite musics:
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi
Decemberists - July July!
Subliminal Girls - Burn Koko
anything by Robyn Hitchcock (he's been putting out amazing fun and catchy music for 30 years now)
anything by They Might Be Giants (not just the kids albums but ALL their stuff. Her fave song is Dr Worm)
anything by Tilly and the Wall (though they use naughty words from time to time)
anything by the Ditty Bops

She's also into tween pop like Hilary Duff and Hannah Montana which musically is identical to Britney Spears etc but lyrically aimed at a younger audience.

For the record, she does NOT like Tom Waits.

"Soak Up The Sun" by Sheryl Crow

I've really been enjoying the bounce of Mika's Life in Cartoon Motion album. The lyrics seem pretty clean, although Billy Brown fell in love with another man, which might prompt some interesting questions.

Another artist I like for pure fun is Lou Bega - his Mambo #5 is pure joy.

Finally, I'm a big fan of Gwen Stefani's Love.Angel.Music.Baby - every song's sounds original. But I don't know if the lyrics pass muster. I don't remember her saying anything raunchy, but I don't tend to notice that stuff unless I'm listening to the "misogynistic gangsta rap" :)

Banana Pancakes" and/or "Better Together" by Jack Johnson (he did the soundtrack to the Curious George movie - dunno if that's any good but In Between Dreams sure is).

The Curious George CD is fun, and just right for kids 5-8 or so.

"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" Green Day. On full volume, over and over and over and over...

At least that's what my ten-year old likes, which is only marginally better than Elvis freakin' Presley which he also likes for some bizarre reason but I'm not suggesting because that would like violate the rules. You haven't lived until you've heard "Promised Land" fifty times in a day. Arg! We're hoping it's a passing phase, a rapidly passing phase.

Ok Go, "Invincible", "Here it Goes Again", "Good Idea at the Time", "Let it Rain", "1000 Miles Per Hour"

The Killers, "Read My Mind"

David Bowie, "Everyone Says Hi", "Days", "A Better Future", "Sector Z" (might be a difficult one to find, it's with a band called the Rustic Overtones), "Waterloo Sunset" (cover of The Kinks song)

Duran Duran, "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise", "Astronaut"

Scissor Sisters, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"

Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"

Muse, "Knights of Cydonia"

Arcade Fire, "No Cars Go"

Placebo, "Where is My Mind?" (cover of the Pixies song)

Scott Weiland's cover of David Bowie's "Andy Warhol"

Something by The Fratellis if there's a song without curse words?

Across the Universe cover by Fiona Apple off the Pleseantville soundtrack.
And while I'm at it alot of songs off the I am Sam soundtrack. Classic songs by the Beatles that aren't sung by the Beatles.

"Put Your Records On" - Corrine Bailey Ray, self-titled album. I don't think any of her songs would be inappropriate.

"Suddenly I See" - KT Tunstall, Eye to the telescope. Same comment as for CBR.

"Wonder" - Natalie Merchant, Tigerlily (it came out in '95, hah!). A bunch of 10,000 Maniacs more popular stuff would be good too, but is too early.

Most of Norah Jones' stuff would work too. "Sunrise" and "Creepin' In," with Dolly Parton is great.

There's plenty of fun stuff out there, both by well known bands and annoyingly obscure indie groups. Given that 90% of my music collection is annoyingly obscure indie, I'll focus on that.

Who will cut our hair when we're gone? by the Unicorns, and specifically "Jellybones" off that album.

Return to the sea by Islands (especially the track Rough Gem, which is the best Billy Joel ripoff this side of... anything)

I'll echo gB's decemberists recommendation... although you need to be careful of songs like "On the busmall", which are about homeless teenage male prostitutes... "The infanta" off Picaresque is a safe bet, and good fun too (not to mention vocabulary-expanding and educational!)

Oh and both Gorrilaz albums, too.

My kids are a bit older 12 and 15 & surprisingly (to me, at least)into the 60s-thru-90s that mom'n'dad listen to, but they are especially fond of Enter The Haggis.
Great Big Sea is a favorite also, especially the superfast songs like Mari Mac and their cover of It's the End of the World As We Know It.

At 12 and 15, my kids are a bit older, but they love Enter The Haggis. It's on permanent travelling music rotation.

Great Big Sea is popular too, especially the fast songs like MariMac and End of the World As We Know It. There's nothing like watching a dozen 6th graders trying to speed-sing:

"MariMac's mother's makin' MariMac marry me,
My mother's makin' me marry MariMac;
Well I'm gonna marry Mari 'cause me Mari's takin' care o' me,
We'll all be feelin' merry when I marry MariMac!"

Depending on how old yor kids are, Ben Folds has some really good stuff. There are some interesting adult (but too adult) themes, really kickass pop hooks. I got my cousins hooked at 12+15 on pop by way of Ben Folds.

Eek, double post. Sorry.

The Phenomenauts;
http://www.myspace.com/thephenomenauts

I loved the Beatles when I was little but mostly had no idea what they where singing about so using that as my barometer;

Jukebox the Ghost: "Good Day" and "Hold it In"
http://www.myspace.com/jukeboxtheghost

I'll second Mika, likewise selected songs from Scissor Sisters like "I Don't Feel Like Dancing"

If the kids are up for weirder stuff; Vitas

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oX-2upD_9FE

The Beastie Boys jazz/funk instrumental album called The In Sound from Way Out (1996) has cool funky music on it, with no fear of questionable lyrics. May be a good title to broaden their tastes a bit.

Or, it may be too out there. I've no kids--I've no idea.

BeauSoleil - Cajun, blues more than pop, but impossible not to dance to it.

"The Crane Wife" The Decemberists
"Robbers and Cowards" Cold War Kids
"Don't Mess with the Dragon" Ozomatli (good clean rap sino/latino style
Note, this might get your kids started on the indie music track

- U2's whole "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album

- a bunch of good Pearl Jam tracks: "Wishlist", "Thumbing My Way", and "I Am Mine" are all good tracks from recent years

The Folkways compilation album, with U2, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and others playing Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly songs is fabulous.

Anything by Peter Mayer--the one from Minnesota. (http://petermayer.net/news/

My six year old son loves American Pie (the Don Mclean songs) and Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.

Laurie Berkner, a former rocker turned kids perfomer, puts out good tunes, no schlock.

Pink Martini's Hey Eugene.

Geez, Bob, are you intentionally trying to ignore my request not to suggest pre-1995 music or children's artists? I mean, gaaaaaaah.

My kids really loved "The Impression That I Get" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones when they were ten-ish. No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom and Save Ferris' It Means Everything were played to DEATH around 1996 (nothing wrong with that, mind you).

I'd also recommend Hot Fuss from The Killers, Let Go from Nada Surf, and Transatlanticism from Death Cab for Cutie, because the damn kids today can certainly listen to worse music.

John, you're going to have several buzzards picking at your guts for a thousand years for inflicting Cher upon anyone, especially the children. Won't someone think of the children?

Garcia/Grisman album: Not For Kids Only

Willie Nelson album: Rainbow Connection

How about Avril lavigne "Let Go" and "Under My Skin."

Then I'd say the early Nelly Furtado, "Whoa Nelly!" and "Folklore."

Someone mentioned The Killers "Hot Fuss" earlier and I'd go along with that too.

K T Tunstall "Eye to the Telescope"

and maybe some of The Kaiser Chiefs. I hear the song "Ruby" is catchy enough to be loved by all ages, and their albums are supposed to be good too.

My brother (who is currently 12) used to listen to, and still does:

...darn, I was about to say Eagles, Elton John, and Billy Joel, and then realized they're not quite post-1995.

Well, he's good with The Fray, Goo Goo Dolls, Jimmy Eat World, and RHCP. Your mileage may vary based on song.

Sandi Thom I wish I was a punk rocker is a big favorite for my two kids, along with American Pie (the original Don McLean not madonna).

I'd reccommend finding a good alround radio station that plays a mix of old and new music and giving the boys a chance to find their own favorites.

OK here it is.
Are you ready?

BlueGrass.

I mean good old timey mandolin, banjo, guitar flat pickin BlueGrass music.

I grew up with this music always playing somewhere in the background (In NorCal mind you. NOT Kentucky). But what I mostly remember was watching my younger brothers bounce around like little monkies when BlueGrass music filled the air.
Think about it. The music is timeless, its upbeat, and for the most part the lyrics have positive content.

I'll go of into Terra Incognita like Rav and suggest you look into some classic big band swing - Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman. Throw in some Setzer for contemporary comparison. I second Kes' suggestion of Great Big Sea.

But really, nothing beats live concerts.

Gunnar Madsen, one of the founders of the amazing a capella group The Bobs, has released a couple albums for kids. Like most of his songs, the music is complexly arranged, and the lyrics are fun and smart. Plus, he's an independent artist.

I recommend:
- I'm a little twerp
- Don't shake hands with a one-eye pirate
- Tuna Fish

And this one song in particular, which makes my eyes well up just a little each time I hear it:
- Are we there yet?

Add another vote for each of the Decemberists (all of their material mentioned thus far) and the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi...

Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band, both The Seeger Sessions itself and the live release from Ireland.

Anything by Ookla the Mok (flash entry screen and music at intro). I mean, songs about no bathrooms on the Enterprise, Mr. Potato Head, and the immortal "Hockey Monkey" (all on different albums, I fear, but all worth the time).

The lighter songs by Richard Shindell ("Kenworth of My Dreams", "Next Best Western").

Jonathan Coulton (except a few songs ("First of May" comes to mind under exceptions :-) )

And finally, Great Big Sea, the complete discography (noting carefully that except for their self-titled debut, the catalog is from 1995 and later).

I will plug the Be Good Tanyas (especially their debut album, Blue Horse) and autorickshaw (a terrific Indo-Canadian-jazz fusion band; their website is at www.autorickshaw.ca).

I'm sure I can think of more if I put my mind to it.

Hmmm, here are some songs that have been mentioned which I think are pretty good listening.

1) "Such Great Heights" by Iron & Wine

2) "Kaleidoscope" by Kate Havnevik, honestly anything by Kate Havnevik. I have never heard anyone blend electronica and classical music like she does.

3) "Shine On" by Eric Bibb, a great blues piece that is also ironically very upbeat.

4) "Simple Things" by Zero 7, again a mixture of music genres, this time jazz and electronica, but really well done.