Lene Lovich does not equal Joni Mitchell... or does she?

I've read a lot of interviews with people who state that their earliest musical memories involved Joni Mitchell. I always thought this was funny, because I don't think I could name one Joni Mitchell song without looking her up. Usually it works like this:

Interviewer: Tell me about your early musical influences.
Interviewee: My mom used to play a lot of Joni Mitchell albums...
Irene: [Snorts]

(I guess you could substitute Carol King for Joni Mitchell. I don't know any Carol King songs, either, except for the theme song from "Gilmore Girls." No, that doesn't embarrass me.)

(I also realize that as time marches on, Carol King and Joni Mitchell will soon be swapped out for, I don't know, people like Lady Ga Ga and Katy Perry. Personally I hope Lady Ga Ga and Katy hop on a plane to the Bermuda Triangle, along with Adam Sandler, Coldplay, and the entire Kardashian family, but I realize that this is something that I have no control over.)

Anyway, since my mom was not very interested in music, my earliest musical influences came from my brothers, who introduced me to bands like Journey, Def Leppard, Ratt, the GoGo's, the Talking Heads, and the Cure. I like to think that Belinda Carlisle was my Joni Mitchell. David Byrne. Steve Perry was my Joni Mitchell!

(Okay, in all truthfulness, my mom did introduce me to music, but since it was Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, I'd like to just pretend that never happened. I refuse to state for the record that Tammy Faye Bakker is my Joni Mitchell. Tammy Faye Bakker is not my Joni Mitchell.)

Anyway, so I was thinking about how we've been shaping JP's musical upbringing, and I like to think that we're doing a pretty good job. If there's one thing I have confidence in, it's my taste in music (and yes, I recognize when I like something totally laughable, like Andy Gibb. I don't take myself that seriously).

When I was still on maternity leave/baby bonding time, the mornings were fun, because I'd fire up my iPod with ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" almost every day for that first diaper change of the morning. JP wakes up happy most of the time, and that is one happy tune. When I was struggling with breastfeeding, "Barracuda" by Heart was his theme song. For awhile, I was singing Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "You Don't Have to Cry" to him every night at bedtime, but I've switched it up, recently. I was singing the Beatles' "Blackbird" but he doesn't seem to like that one very much; plus, I always forget the second verse. Sometimes I sing "Hey Jude" or, oddly, "Happiness is a Warm Gun". Now that I'm not home during the day, and Patrick is the one who gets him ready for daycare, they listen to "Toddler Tunes" on Music Choice (it's a channel on our TV...) in the morning. Those songs are geared toward kids, and they're a lot of fun: Sesame Street, and Raffi, and that kind of thing. Patrick knows a lot of them by heart. I figure that since he gets a lot of kids music with Patrick, that I don't have to play that stuff for him, so on our days together, I tend to play whatever I want to listen to (Patrick also listens to his own music, when they're out in the garage, or he also plays a lot of Beatles, because our nephew loves the Beatles, and just started playing the drums; Patrick is familiarizing himself with Ringo's style; so JP gets exposed to whatever weird music Patrick listens to), which is just whatever: classic rock on the radio in the house while we're eating or doing stuff, classical music on the TV while we're playing, random iPod selections in the car.

Lately I have gotten to be obsessed with 80s artist Lene Lovich. If you're not immediately familiar with her, her big hits were "Lucky Number" and "New Toy." I knew those songs but I've been listening to other stuff by her. "New Toy" is total earworm material - I've had that song in my head for about 2 weeks. I'm still discovering more of her music - she's pretty cool. But I started thinking about this. Is Lene Lovich going to be JP's Joni Mitchell? Thom Yorke? (God forbid) Dave Grohl? or Adrian Belew, David Byrne? Captain Beefheart?

Who will JP say was his musical influence when he gets asked that question in 20 years? When Terry Gross interviews him (and you know she will, because my boy is exhibiting musical genius qualities already), what will he say? I can only hope it's not "Justin Bieber" or "Ke$ha." Or Coldplay.