One of the helpful items our daughter Naomi gave us for this week – along with the three detailed pages of baby-care instructions – was a selection of “Praise-Baby” DVDs (Plus, fortunately, a Thomas the Tank Engine, and a Baby Einstein.)

The Praise Baby tunes are great, they really are… if you like toned-down, vanilla, semi-contemporary Christian selections arranged to appeal to the musical tastes of the very young.

Our grandson David enjoys listening, and the messages of faith and encouragement are spot on. The tunes provide a ring of familiarity for him; the music keeps him connected to his routines; it’s all good.

It’s all good, that is, other than the part where grandaddy Derek wants to throw his favorite iron skillet through the tv screen.

ROCK-&-ROLL: And so, kind of as a public service for grandfathers born in the 50’s and early 60’s, I’d like to propose a “Rock-Baby” series. I don’t just believe there’s a market, I’m convinced there’s a crying need.

I’m worried that today’s youth are undernourished musically. Over Thanksgiving I had two of my nieces in the car for 90-minutes; it was just enough time to make them listen to the entire Eagles “Hell Freezes Over,” CD. Sadly, the only song they recognized was Desperado; they said it had been parodied on an episode of Veggie-Tales.

The experience encouraged me so much that I made them listen to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in The Wall. I was shocked to find out it was the first time they’d heard of the song. I can’t imagine how they can be remotely ready for college if they haven’t taken the right kind of stand against education, thought control, dark sarcasm in the classroom, and the force-feeding of beets!

SOUND TRACK OF MY LIFE: But I knew I was making progress the next day when I came home to find Jordan and Lindsay washing windows with the stereo on full blast. It was Polythene Pam from “Abbey Road” by the Beatles, pretty-much the epicenter of classic Rock-and-Roll. I felt so proud. A tear formed in the corner of my eye, and left them to enjoy the rest of the album.

Obviously, there’s work to be done. If not now, when? If not Pink Floyd, or the Stones, or Queen, then who (not “The Who,” even though Roger Daltrey and friends would do a great job) is going to stand in the gap against the Bieberization of our grandchildren’s future? No, it’s not pretty, but we can’t dance around something this serious.

CRASH: Anyway, back to where we started, it turns out that the kid likes HGTV, especially those yard-crasher and kitchen-crasher shows where the sound track is all metal.

Grandaddys of the world unite. We are the champions, my friends…. (Queen, News of the World, 1977)