Rebel Girl

I’ve wanted to buy the video game Rock Band for a while but it was kinda pricey, like over $180! So when I saw that the Hollywood Virgin Megastore was going out of business I jumped in like a vulture eyeing an overturned stagecoach. There is was, Rock Band 2 for the Playstation 3 discounted to around $90. Score! Audge gave me “the look” but then also realized it looked like fun and approved the purchase.

So we got it home and it took forever to setup the guitar, drums, and microphone and figure out how to work everything. But then we were off! I played guitar, Audge played the drums, and Bella sang (even though she can’t read yet) and Griffin bounced happily in the jumparoo.

Bella’s favorite song was Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, the most ironically named band ever. At first she liked the song because they played it so much at pre-school. OK, it was cheesy when it first came out (we all knew it back then) and I have to say it works perfectly in a pre-school environment. “Music for little ears” as the annoying Baby-Einstein sales pitch goes.

But then, Bella discovered another song by Bikini Kill called Rebel Girl. Then all of a sudden something clicked in her four year old brain. She had never heard music like this before. Between The Wiggles and 80’s Pop at pre-school, Rise Against and Coldplay from me and Michael Jackson and Chaka Khan from my wife, there really wasn’t any screeching Grrrrl (I’m never sure how many “R”s to put) power punk anthems that had reached her little girl being. Until now.

She wanted to do the song again over and over and over and over. She got good at it. I didn’t even have to use the guitar save at all. She was even learning all the words. Thankfully, Rock Band omits certain words and phrases that would cause some uncomfortable conversations, so she doesn’t need to know about them just yet. Let her learn cursing and derogatory slang in school, the way we did.

Through music and a video game, I think I got a glimpse of what was to come. It was a weird moment, and you never know when those moments are going to occur. At that moment I knew our daughter would grow up to be powerful, willful and strong. She would be her own woman and follow her own path. I also knew the teen years were going to be a real pain in the ass. Thankfully I still have almost 10 years to prepare. By then we should have brain-chip tracking systems installed, right? Whatever the future holds, I know it will be a blast and I’ll always be there for my little Rebel Girl.