Now, give me a break everybody. What’s with all this, “Just be happy he isn’t listening to rap” shit? I wouldn’t have a problem with my kid listening to Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane or the likes. Not all rap is “gunz bluntz and hoez” bullshit.
Thank you for saying that. I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who got that vibe.
As others have pointed out and you seem to have concluded yourself, what he’s listening to is pretty mild stuff.
But if you really want him to stop listening to it, here’s your plan.
Listen to it with him when you can. Riding in the car or whatever. Let him know that you like it.
Then make sure he hears you singing it in the shower. This is very important.
He’ll be listening to something else the very next day. Nothing is as uncool as the music your parents like. 
Clearly this is a timely issue…if it was 1985…
bloody druggie music if you ask me. Heavy metal is fine if the kid is balanced, the best thing to do is listen to his music and pretend to like it. If you think it is cool he will hate it!
Even if your posts didn’t show your join date, it would be obvious that you’re new here.
Somewhat new.
I just felt the need to defend intelligent rap music, of which many examples exist.
Unless he’s really, really, really getting into Norweigan black metal, i wouldn’t worry about it at all.
I hung around stoner metalheads when I was in high school, although I didn’t do drugs and wasn’t too keen on metal. I had excellent grades, did a lot of extracurriculars, and was accepted to one of the top 10 universities in the US. I then proceeded to drop a lot of acid as I got my degree, but still turned out okay.
Those stoner metalheads? They formed a group which is–10 years later–extremely well regarded in the sludge metal scene, and are doing reasonably well.
But if you’re worried about a connection between drugs and music and want to know what to listen for, here’s a rough guide of what I think when I hear certain music (links broken just in case):
Straight-as-an-arrow: (Dragonforce)
ht tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfPeHqdZZOw&feature=related
Weed, malt liquor, and cough syrup: (Weedeater)
ht tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQkTQIN_5Fk
LSD, mushrooms: (Plaid)
ht tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDDnuZAL9ps
That last clip has no lyrics at all and sounds pleasantly melodic – Shocking music shouldn’t concern you. Weird music should.
Anyways, I think you should be more concerned about what your son can find on the Internet. I was 13 in the late '90s, when parents knew very little about what was online. I looked at gore sites like rotten.com and weird porn pretty regularly, and that likely affected me more than any music I listened to.
I listened to Ozzy Oabourne, Frank Zappa (who’s lyrics are far more offensive to most people than anything these other bands put out) and whatever when I was 13/14. As for bands like Slayer and Disturbed, it’s not music I like, but I had friends who liked it when I was that age. My parents never really cared what I listened to, because my father was thrilled that I was into the same things he was, and my mother listened to bands like The Bengals, so it was a non issue to her. They were more concerned when I bought The Best of Donna Summer.
I listened to Slayer and Ozzy Osbourne when I teenager 25 years ago, too. I was an honors student. OK, I also smoked pot. The kids who listened to dance and rap music did cocaine. Who’s better?
As far as the music goes, as a Slayer fan for all of those 25 years, I can tell you that their music is very aggressive, their lyrics are generally violent, satanic, and occasionally vulgar. They’re probably the most extreme of all of the bands mentioned. I highly recommend them.
On the other hand, Dragonforce is about as kid-friendly as metal can possibly get.
He’ll listen to it whether you let him or not, so I’d let him keep the CDs. If you’re concerned, I’d recommend talking to him, understand the appeal, and also make sure that he understands that liking the music doesn’t mean he needs to fit any type of image it may be associated with.
I listened to a surprising amount of stuff from my parents’ generation. But every time they disapproved of something from MY generation, I would listen to it 27 times just cause I was a contrary kid.
If they just hadn’t cared, I wouldn’t have cared either.
Yeah, I was gonna say.
It was ridiculous in the first place to blame Ozzy for that kid’s suicide, but I wonder how many kids have had their depression alleviated somewhat by heavy metal.
Lots of people just love metal. It’s not necessarily a matter of social pressure. I don’t get it, but they really do enjoy listening to it. So if you just think the music sounds like noise, well, it does to me too, but so what? I can show you a Physics major with a 3.6 GPA who is taking Honors Accelerated Advanced Calculus II right now who will not stop talking about metal for the life of him.
If you’re worried about violent messages, stop being worried about it now. Teenage guys are not (despite what some parents seem to think) into violence and gore because of social pressures. It’s because they have enough hormones in their body to kill someone your age.
Just let him do what he wants to do. Really, it doesn’t matter that much.
Greg Graffin has his PhD from my alma mater!
Our kids listen to what we listen to. My hubby loves metal, and my music runs the gamut from classical to metal to country to rap. The kids don’t listen to rap, but they like everything else. We will talk about the lyrics that they don’t understand, and I’m honest about it: but I will tone it down to a level that my two will understand. I figure that, when they get to the rebellious stage, they’ll start listening to the polka. 
Living with a thirteen year old girl is not what I thought it would be. I imagined girly things and pop/dance music, friends over all the time and curfew issues. Instead I got a quiet, artist who spends most of her time reading, who also listens to dark, metal/rock music. I don’t know when or how it even started but she began to listen to bands like Three Days Grace and Seether around eleven but she has never changed, actually if I did take the music from her she’d become different. She isn’t violent or anything, so my thoughts are don’t ban your son’s music.
Who knows maybe he’ll like you more since you have dealt with this music ‘issue’ instead of bothering him about his ‘dark’ music. I don’t listen to this kind of music, and was worried about it at first, but I waited to see what happened and she turned out fine.
Srsly. Was the OP on the Parents Music Resource Commission or something? Every time I check up on this thread, I feel an increasing desire to crimp my hair, check out the latest Bloom County strip, and wonder what Gorbechev will do with the Soviet Union.
I remember one time walking into the living room where my son (Then 13-14ish) and a couple of his buddies were playing video games.
On the CD player, they were jamming out to one of my old Ozzy albums.
I couldn’t help but to smile and think: “Yes! Score one for MY generation!”
I damn sure wasn’t worried about if my kid should be listening to this.
Shakes: Former stoner, former Slayer, Ozzy, you name it fan, college graduate and current home owner.
Jus’ say’n.
When I was a teenager my mom stole my cassette tapes and shredded all of the ones like Madonna and Prince (and others, but I remember those specifically) due to ‘lewd’ content. I showed her. I’m now a 40 year old that listens to rap and bands with names like Starfucker. Tread carefully.
Seriously though, I agree with the suggestions to check the lyrics although I leave you with one more anecdote - I often hear songs I remember loving from childhood only to be shocked by the lyrics as an adult. There were a lot of songs I had no clue about, but had my mother made a big deal about them at the time I would have been very aware.