Sex, Drugs and Kid-Friendly™ Rock 'n' Roll

It's hard to explain my fascination with these albums, but every time a new Kidz Bop Kids CD comes out I am right on iTunes and listening in both horror and fascination. You see, someone in the record industry thinks that kids only like to listen to other kids singing songs, or perhaps that parents don't like their kids listening to real music unless it is purified by the voices of under-10-year olds. Either way, they get innocent children to cover today's biggest hits without any concern for appropriateness and with a seemingly blatant disregard for irony. At the very best it's hilarious and at the very worst it's still hilarious.

For a limited time, you can listen to the full length Kidz Bop 12 over at AOL's Free CD Listening Party, or you can cringe along with the previews at the iTunes Music Store in both Canada and the USA.

On this particular album, keep an ear out for the kidz hey-heying over the questionable lyrics of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend", imagine a kidz-only music video for Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around...Comes Around", hope that the kidz are literally singing about an "Umbrella" by Rihanna, and marvel at the kidz's grizzled, world-weary performance of Chris Daughtry's "It's Not Over".

While you're there, make sure to check out their extensive back catalogue of one-hit-wonders, awkward hip-hop, squeeky-clean indie rock, songs by bands and artists you once respected, and innumerable lyrics that no child should be forced to sing, or, for that matter, listen to.