Most people don't associate heavy metal with soothing baby lullabies. But for Lisa Roth, putting the two together gave rise to a surprisingly practical conception.
In a moment when Roth-vice president of CMH Records-was blinded by pink, fuzzy and squishy while shopping for a friend's baby shower, the idea of rock lullabies was born.
"Rockabye Baby!"-an album series that softens timeless rock songs into lullabies fit for babies-has an obvious appeal. These lullabies offer parents a chance to bond with their children over the music they grew up listening to. And more importantly, they also give parents an active way to immunize their children against contracting bad musical taste from their unprotected peers.
Baby Rock Records, a label created specifically for the series, has released five albums so far, with lullaby takes on che Cure and the Beach Boys coming out Tuesday. They plan to release a bundle of others in the coming months.
The process of creating the albums is simple. Roth compiles a list of highly loved bands from the suggestions of her co-workers and hands it over to Michael Armstrong, a professional musician.
In charge of arranging, recording and producing lullaby renditions of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and other greats, Armstrong is a one-man show. He strips away the original lyrics and castrates the songs in order to fit the gentle listening preferences of infants. Each song is deconstructed by ear and reconstructed using the glockenspiel, vibraphone, mellotron, harp and bells. Depending on the level of harmony involved, Armstrong is usually able to crank out lullaby covers of classic songs within a few weeks.
Granted that any rational music-loving parent should jump at the chance to subject their newborn to repeated plays of Metallica, Björk, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana lullabies, some parents aren't as enthused. Over-cautious parents may worry about the possibilities of the Metallica Effect (like the Mozart Effect, but with a possible increase in aggression and hatred rather than spatial-temporal reasoning skills).
However, one listen to the lullaby version of classics such as Metallica's "Enter Sandman" will quickly put their fears to sleep-the intimidating musical force that is the glockenspiel has tamed Metallica's fury.
On the other end, hardcore metal parents may fear the degradation of heavy metal in its lullaby form. Their fears are well-founded-and fortunately so. The lullabies have been softened, but for those diehard fans who think playing lullaby Tool for little Timmy is akin to decking him out in pink polyester, they shouldn't worry too much-the original versions will always be there for their little shredder.
"Rockabye Baby!" is a baby shower gift with attitude, perfect for any budding head-banger or punk-rocker. After listening to just one lullaby from a beloved band of yours, you'll probably agree with Roth that the idea of rock lullabies is indeed quite logical and just a bit satisfyingly twisted.
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