The funny thing about Michael Jackson is that he's never been more popular among kids than he is now.

as an album; and hell, even if the news is full of stories about some wack-job in California doing something unsavoury, the footage on the telly will show a bloke who looks nothing like the chap on the front of the album. I actually prefer Bad as MJ albums go, but he's starting to look kinda white on that 'un!

First album i ever bought myself as an 8 year old was the Beatles 20 greatest hits (as i've said in another post earlier on here) and i consider it to be the album that opened me up to the idea that just 'cos it's not in the charts today doesn't mean it's bad - such prescience in one so young, eh!

Get her the 'One' Album by the fabs...it's not a classic 'album', but to be honest, you don't want to turn her into a complete anorak at the age of 10 - just let her learn the joys of sweet infectous life-affirming pop music.

The Very Best of Aretha Franklin is, in my experience - ie my daughter and her friends - pretty popular with ten year old girls; particularly if they're into Alicia Keys or pretty much anyone that owes something to Aretha. Which they're bound to be.

I can't speak for ten year old girls, but I do know what goes down a treat with small boys (based on my own two) and that's punk. It's loud, it's bouncy and it never goes on for more than two and a half minutes, which matches the average small boy's attention span. I burned a CD for the car with Ramones, Damned, Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks tracks - it goes down a treat every time and I get a warm feeling of paternal pride whenever I hear my offspring singing "New Rose".

Ten is when I decided that I liked The Beatles. The early stuff, obviously. Helter Skelter would take a while longer.

All ten year olds should be given a Madness greatest hits CD and DVD.
In fact it should be illegal to neglect this sacred duty.
Madness is the pop equivalent of the classic Disney films - timeless and essential for every generation that passes through.

My daughters are now married but when they were around the age discussed we had lots of music on cassette in the car for long drives to visit Nana and Gramps. The strongest reaction, in the sense that they sang along most, remembering the lyrics, was a compilation of Steeleye Span. Strong rhythms, good singing - and entertaining for Mum and Dad in the front to hear two young voices singing loudly that 'he never shall have my maidenhead'. God knows what they thought it meant.

Depends if you were on the M4 at the time, I suppose.

My daughter is 8 and is developing her own taste in music. She loves the obvious candidates like pussycat dolls,sugababes, Rhianna etc but I bought a Carpenters best of for my wife (I know!!!) and she absolutely loves it.

She decides she likes some pretty eclectic stuff though,for example:-

Let it blow - Richard Thompson
Moonshadow - Mike Oldfield
My beloved monster - Eels
And pretty much all of an Arabesque - African compilation.

Age shouldn't be a roadblock to introducing them to good stuff although you may have to draw the line at say Trout Mask Replica.

now there's a thought!! Not so sure that the Sex Pistols would go down too well but the Ramones might do the trick.

So, possible list:
Thriller - Michael Jackson
One - the fabs
Very Best of Aretha Franklin
Some Madness
Some Ramones
Maybe some Carpenters

As I'm completely unfamiliar with Steeleye Span myself I'll wait till next year for them so I can check 'em out myself first.

That's a pretty eclectic bunch to be going on with.

Any more suggstions are more than welcome though.

What is going on here? Damned & Eels? Eight & ten year old children? Good God.
Are there no mothers on the forum?
They should be set on the right road with a copy of this
or this.
If you've got any money left, a pair of Start-Rites and some crayons are always welcome, too.

Pet Sounds?

Or the Beatles - Help, Hard Day's Night, Sgt Pepper?

I've just compiled a mix CD for my three year-old nephew, and found that I could have made it almost entirely of Beatles songs. Yellow Submarine, When I'm Sixty Four, Here Comes The Sun, She Loves You, Drive My Car... they wrote so many fantastic singalong tunes for kids!

to confess that I'm not much of a Beatles fan?!!

Blasphemy I know.

I'm waiting to be converted but I think I'll have to start another thread on that...

My nine year old nephew loves Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. I was nine when it came out and I loved it then too. Maybe that was secretly the target demographic and we never knew it...

Neal, I note from your other thread you are not much of a Beatles fan but they do seem to have a (near) universal appeal which is definitely worth re-visiting. Like others on this thread, I have found that my children love this music: my 5 y.o. son seems to favour Lennon compositions, his current favourites being "Help"; "Revolution" (No.1, not No.9 though!); "Mr Kite" and "Come Together". The latter was a recent source of parental joy when I heard all three of them (including the 2 y.o.) belting out the chorus to this psychedelic masterpiece in the back of the Zafira.

by The Pet Shop Boys. Great songwriting, well performed, timeless and a wonderful starting point for anyone voyage into popular music!

I was a fan of Deborah Harry and co. from quite an early age. It's nice and poppy, but with a bit of edge too. A best of would be spot on. I also second suggestions of Ramones (the Anthology is excellent, and quite reasonably priced for a 2 CD package) and a bit of Beatles.

Shes's Ten --buy her High School Musical,Hannah Montana and any other Disney Mind control music and leave her to it,and in a few years she'll come begging you to rescue her and loan her some good music,but till then it's a lost cause i'm afraid.I'd give her a copy of Born to Run by the way.