One of the things many parents of our generation wants to do (I think) is try to interest our kids in the music we like – and especially the music we grew up with. Towards that end, the Guitar Hero series has been a tremendous boon. Because of those games, my kids know and love bands like Boston, Bad Company, The Police, and many more. I like to think I’ve had some small success in starting them down a life-long love for all the great music that came before them.
But technology and the internet are making it even easier with services like Pandora or LastFM that will let you customize digital radio streams. Picking all 80s music is a piece of cake, and so we can do even more to bring the great music from our youth to our kids. But one thing has been missing until now, I think. Haven’t we all been missing, almost as much as the music, the DJs of our youth tying everything together with their slick banter and zany hijinks?
Well, thanks to our friend Wil Wheaton, I have been made aware of something that fixes this.
Well, for those of us who are determined to live in the past, when each day brought new episodes of The New Detective and Rodney on the Roq was introducing us to strange new acts like The Vandals and Dramarama, I present Kroq of the 80s. The playlist is what you’d expect from classic KROQ: Devo, Depeche Mode,
INXS, Boingo, Blondie, etc., but what makes it truly awesome are the old station IDs and drops from classic KROQ personalities like Freddie
Snakeskin and Scott Mason.
KROQ was THE cool station in the greater Los Angeles area in the 80s, and it has now been recreated as an internet radio station, playing all the great hits of the era. This seems like the perfect tool for a GeekDad to get his kids into the good stuff. Take a listen!
Link to Wil Wheaton’s post on Metblogs.
