Last night, I spent about an hour and a half helping my littlest brother choose songs from my music collection to upload to his new mp3 player. He’s 10 and a total technology junkie. He’s wanted an mp3 player for ages, in spite of the fact that he owns all of one CD and wouldn’t recognize a Top 40 song if it ran over our cat.

In spite of his general musical obliviousness, he knows what he likes: strong beats, fun hooks, and songs about pirates. Lucky for him, Big Sister was able to deliver in all three areas.

So far, there haven’t been any complaints on the parental front. This is probably due to the fact that Mom likes The Pirate Song as well and Dad gave up on my taste in music around the time I started listening to Japanese pop.

Maybe it’s this way in other families, too, but in mine, we get the musical technology before we get the musical taste that would enable us to truly enjoy it. I got my first CD player when I was in junior high (oh, it was such newfangled technology back then) and didn’t have anything to play on it until my first ten CDs arrived in the mail from Columbia House. 

This shipment included CDs by Mariah Carey, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, En Vogue, Queen Latifah, and Whitney Houston. I chose them because I recognized the names of the artists and I had heard some of the songs on the radio.

Not terribly long after that, my best friend Michelle dragged me into Spencer Gifts and made me stand there until Green Day’s "Basket Case" came on the radio, which resulted in my eventual purchase of "Dookie" and a tendency to swipe my dad’s Beatles’ CDs. I didn’t think of it as an intervention at the time, but looking back it may have been.

Over the years, I’ve listened to everything from Polish black metal to Bollywood movie theme songs. I’ve written CD reviews for an indie pop culture zine and DJed college radio and college parties. Based on the knowledge I’ve acquired, the best advice I can offer to my brother as he embarks on the journey of discovering his own musical taste is as follows:

Don’t worry about whether your music is cool enough for anybody else, because chances are it won’t be. One man’s Beatles is another man’s Backstreet Boys. Listen to what you enjoy, and listen to it as loud as you feel like and with all the car windows rolled down. Also, try not to have friends who embarrass easily. 

In the meantime, though, my littlest brother likes The Pirate Song. It’s really called "Sayaendou" (which means "Peas") and is performed by Japanese boy band NewS, but Littlest Brother tends to give up halfway through the title:

"Saya-whatever. You know, The Pirate Song. The one with the cute little animated pirates that look like they’re cut out of felt."

Due to the generational gap/cultural divide/whatever you want to call it, my dad initially thought this was The Pirate Song in question.

Extremely fun and a favorite of our family (the poor host didn’t know what hit him), but unfortunately not a candidate for the mp3 player due to its lack of cute animated pirates with pigs on their heads.  

Littlest Brother was disappointed that I only had the song, though. His mp3 player holds video clips as well and he really wanted to be able to watch The Pirate Song wherever he went. He was even more disappointed to learn that not only did I not have the video or the song for another YouTube clip I had played for him, but that the song itself hadn’t even been released on CD yet.

This led to the following exchange: 

"Just because something’s on the Internet doesn’t mean I have it." 

"Oh. So how do we get it?"

"We have to preorder it. And then we have to wait for it to come out."

"Oh, OK. When does it come out?"

"March 12th."

"That’s not too bad."

"Yes, but then we have to wait two or three weeks for it to come in the mail."

"What? WHY? Why that long?"

"Because it’s coming from Japan. Where do you think Japanese music comes from?"

"Will the video come with it?"

"No. It’s a CD." I didn’t even bother trying to explain the concept of DVD regions.

"Oh. Well, let’s buy it anyway."

And of course, when you’re ten years old, "let’s buy it" really means "Teresa, buy it." So towards the end of March, I will be the proud owner of Kanjani8’s latest single, "Wahaha." That’s Japanese for "Wahaha."

Here’s Littlest Brother’s review: "I like it because that one guy’s hair catches on fire. And the way that other guy punches the little people in the locker. And the lady who hits that guy with the mallet."

Here’s Teresa’s disclaimer: "That’s not a lady, that’s Ohkura. He’s a guy. They’re all guys. Basically, this song is about laughing even though things get you down sometimes. The premise of the video is that the guys are working at a public bathhouse, scrubbing out the tubs and having various accidents, and making the most of a not-so-fun situation by laughing anyway and having as much fun as possible."

Thanks to some kind fans, this version has English subtitles.

In order to qualify for free shipping at YesAsia.com, you have to spend at least $25. Since I’m a wonderful big sister, I ordered another Kanjani8 CD to qualify. 

It would’ve been cheaper to just order the single and pay for the shipping, but it’s all about helping my brother, right? And if on the way to him discovering his own tastes, I get to add songs like "Osaka Obachan Rock" and "Zukkoke Otokomichi" to my own mp3 player, well, that’s something I’ll just have to live with. Sometimes you have to take one for the team.