The NOW That’s What I Call Music! series has never been especially thought-out, the unifying factor among every volume more or less being “Here are some songs that are popular.” Every now and then, however, their legacy designation of a hit you love has the power to make you reckon with your own mortality. Writer Sam Maggs experienced this very sensation in a tweet about a semi-recent chapter in the NOW saga called NOW That’s What I Call Dad Rock:
The shock is palpable as Maggs and several other Twitter users of a particular age realize that, to paraphrase True Detective, time is a motherfucker, and yes, Sum 41's “In Too Deep” and Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” are both nearly 20 years old at this point—long enough for the songs’ respective writers to date, marry, and get divorced. For someone in their 30s, any early-00s hit is now just as far-removed from them in years as anything from the ‘70s or ‘80s was when they were in high school.
Still, it’s worth noting that NOW’s idea of “dad rock” is rather ill-defined. While the tracklist is populated by many radio contemporaries of Sum 41 and Lavigne, there are also ‘90s stalwarts like the Spin Doctors, not to mention a laundry list of more traditional “classic rock” artists such as Queen and Eric Clapton. In fact, Queen’s “We Will Rock You” opens both NOW That’s What I Call Dad Rock and 2015'S Now That’s What I Call Classic Rock, which also strangely includes a 2013 song by Bring Me The Horizon. Not to be outshone in the laziness department, the Dad Rock comp features “The Sound” by The 1975:
So what exactly is the criteria here? And just what is the difference between “classic rock” and “dad rock”? It doesn’t matter. The point is, you’re old, the music you grew up with is old, and, if you’re not old, you will be soon. Best to just follow the lead of @AmandaDoiron11:
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Obvious? Well the “rock” label is less obvious, I guess in the broad scope of music they fit there. I’d go with “pop rock” really. The New Radicals reunited and played the inauguration at the request of Biden and Harris this seems very obvious. I’m more interested in funnier categories “Dad Electronic” would be fun. Chemical Brothers, Underworld, who else?
Orbital, The Crystal Method, Prodigy, early Moby…
Yeah, that nails it. Although I feel like “Dad music” is supposed to hit an intersection of intense familiarity within a certain demographic and complete obscurity to everyone else. So really I think Jamiroquai is the prime dad-electronic band.
I think dad music is just music you can imagine someone blasting while drinking beer in a garage.
let’s not forget DJ Food, Autechre, Coldcut and Amon Tobin, or will they be the Nuggets, artifacts of the psychedelic 60s garage of electronic music?
Weird that you mention those, as at least Autechre and Amon Tobin are artists that have not stopped releasing stuff which is not psychedelic but experimental, pretty avant garde and all. Now, if you talk about Mouse on Mars…In any case, there is no more daddy electronica than the 00s jazzy electronica semi mainstream, like Parov Stelar, Quantic (this hurts), Jazzanova (given their latest output) or, if I may, all those Naked Music producers which, independently of the quality of their productions, are now pure artifacts.
Good point. And quite frankly, although I like Amon Tobin and DJ Food and a few other things on the label, there’s a lot of stuff on Ninja Tune that has kind of middle-aged vibes and probably did the day it was released. A lot of their smoother, jazzier stuff is strictly for people who want a sonic backdrop to sip cocktails to.
which reminded me that the dark moody trip hop was replaced by the cafe del mar sound. Which turned into self parody very soon. I listen by songs from Afterlife or A Man Called Adam and it is so well produced and so cringy. That is not even dad electronica: that died buried and burnt.
None of those guys sold any records to anyone who read Rolling Stone. They were a big thing for a small crowd.
I really enjoyed seeing the record industry try to sell electronic music to THA KIDZ in the late nineties and absolutely failing. It turns out kids who dug a bunch of Nirvana soundalikes and early Korn records weren’t quite ready to get into house. Who could have predicted it?
The US never really got “dance music”, not after Disco anyway. It was seen as unmanly. Despite inventing most of it in Detroit and Chicago, the pioneers had to find work in the UK and Europe. We just liked getting fucked up and dancing so we got straight into it. Every time the industry has tried again the in US, it’s failed, as you say. Even EDM, the absolute Taco Belling of dance music, ended up as bottle service bullshit for douchebags in Vegas. I’d fucking love to go clubbing again – we have so much great and interesting new electronic music now – but of course that’s not possible. Sigh.
Well, most music scenes end terribly, with shows full of obnoxious people and lots of money being thrown around, but I’m amazed that EDM got even that far in the States. The culture was really resistant to it for a long, long time. I’m amazed they managed — eventually — to sell it to the average American teenager for more than five minutes. I would have bet against it forever.
As for the music, you’re right: to older techno listeners like me, it sounded incredibly boring and sanded down. Dance/rave techno often doesn’t work off the dancefloor, and that’s fine, but the stuff in the eighties and nineties was at least spirited. EDM was electronic music with all the bite of the original surgically removed. Some cranky listeners have an aversion to “big room” techno generally, but EDM made big-room nineties acts sound like Slayer in comparison. Oof.
Crystal Method definitely (aren’t they Bones intro?), Massive Attack, Sneaker Pimps,
Yes, Crystal Method is the Bones intro. And Massive Attack did the House M.D. song. I think you’re onto something.
Gonna be honesty, this is mostly my current playlist for doing shit around the houseMe, while folding towels on a Saturday with my headphones in – “I’m a firestarter”My Kids – “Dad, didn’t you say we shouldn’t play with fire?”
FSOL, The Orb, Thievery Corporation, Propellerheads, I could do this all day probably.
Thank you for the reminder that this exists:
I loved that album back in the day, but I swear I haven’t thought about it since the early 2000s.
Fat Boy Slim, DJ Shadow, and Moby are definitely Dad Electronic. The Orb is the Pink Floyd of Dad Electronic. Aphex Twin is like the Rush of Dad Electronic.
Fat Boy Slim is a good call. I went to a … performance? It was with a bunch of people who wanted to go and still it was so dull. Having seen Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers prior I assumed he’d have some sort of show, he did not. DJ Shadow us like the hipster prog rock Dad, maybe Tricky with that?
Yeah, DJ Shadow and Tricky and Massive Attack are for aging hipster dads like me, can throw in Portishead too. Dad Trip Hop is where it’s at.
Hooverphonic? Stereolab kinda goes with that and Pizzicato Five even though not really trip hop it kinda went together with it.
I feel Lamb always gets left out of this convo. Fear of Fours is fucking solid.
Basement Jaxx?
The Orb, Orbital, C.J. Bolland, Aphex Twin and Fatboy Slim would also be in the U.K. cohort.I’m having a hard time thinking of anyone aside from Moby for the U.S. [deep sigh] Armand Van Helden, I guess? Feels like House music had more mainstream appeal than other Dad Electronic genres in the U.S. — most of the producers I can think of stayed underground.Edit: France gets Daft Punk, of course, which sort of relates to what I was saying. ‘The French Touch’ is just an amalgamation of the many sounds of Chicago, yet few people can name a single Chicago producer.
Sub category to that could be clubby dad, so like Danny Tenaglia and other loved DJs back then.
Haha, true! You could also toss Mark Farina in there. I vaguely remember him being booed off the stage by EDM kids in Vegas, so Clubby Dad works.
This anecdote is killing my soul, fucking kids
I messed up the details, but that’s the gist of the (infuriating) story, yeah.https://5mag.net/features/mark-farina-marquee-vegas-kicked/
Gawd! Sounds like it was the “bar star” crowd as we called them back in the day who aren’t even there to dance, ugh. And it’s crazy they were complaining over two of my fave DJs of all time, Miguel and Mark!
Hahahahahaha wow, barstars… that takes me back. Were you also on the West Coast?Yeah it’s especially crazy because I’ve seen Mark Farina play in different cities, and he’s always really good at tailoring his sound to the crowd. He’s really not one of those ‘love it or leave it’ DJs. He’s a real pro, and can get any dancefloor going.
Yep, west coast! Yeah, same about Mark, never seen him not get a dance floor poppin’!
Don’t forget Darude, DJ Tiesto, The Prodigy, and DJ Baby Anne!
I think the Hackers soundtrack (or the Spawn OST) would be a benchmark for that.
As someone who likes industrial and metal and punk you’d and I thought at the time the Spawn soundtrack would be great. It was not and I’m one of the few that truly enjoyed Atari Teenage Riot back in the day.
*Can* you trip like I do though?
I too liked ATR (they still pop up on my random playlist sometimes), but I actually liked maybe 50% of the Spawn soundtrack. Whether it was good or not though is kind of besides the point though, the lineup really is a peak 90s electronic artist lineup.
I remember liking ATR at the time but all my friends hated them.
I had that soundtrack and your assessment is spot-on. It was bad.
I think the Trainspotting soundtrack probably deserves a mention here. That one was so many people’s My First Electronica Album, even though it’s not all techno.
GG Allin?
Are you Todd as in Todd Phillips?
That fucking Moby album (you know the one) was Dad music the day it came out. Ditto Dirty Vegas. Hell, I remember forty-something white men trying to talk about techno in the late 80s.
Wasn’t Dirty Vegas immediately a Cadillac commercial or something like that. I really did not like them(?).
Mitsubishi commercial, I think.
Run Lola Run soundtrack, Massive Attack, maybe Nine Inch Nails?
Or go even earlier on the “Dad Electronic” and add Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultze, Kraftwerk, or other electronic space music. Back when everything was analog and you had to have shit tons of equipment to create the music live. For instance, here is JMJ recreating one of his albums live on the original equipment.Now he can pretty much play it by himself.
Earlier! They’re actually pretty good and it’s definitely interesting. For babies? well whatever, who can say I wouldn’t think so. https://www.factmag.com/2017/03/05/raymond-scott-early-electronic-masterpiece-soothing-sounds-baby-reissue-vinyl/
I’m a dad in my early 40’s and if Mushroomhead, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and other 90’s staples aren’t on it, then it’s not MY dad rock.
Mid 40’s but yup. Just think: Rage Against the Machine is Dad rock now!
I guess that would make Pantera, Metallica and MegaDeth dad rock as well. I think it’s better than the golden oldies cassette tapes I was forced to listen to in the car, however.
My golden oldies was by and large classic rock, as my parents were first gen boomers. Although the old man would play 50’s greaser rock and pre-Beatles surf rock which I did (and still do) love.I’m sick of Zep and the Doors, and basic beer commercial blues rock if that makes sense.
I think there’s a clear distinction between Beach Boys/Jan and Dean vs. more garage surf music like the Ventures. I can’t stand the Beach Boys, Pet Sounds and all. But garage surf music is outstanding. And 50s greaser rock is up there with the best pop music of any time period. Eddie Cochran… Buddy Holly… Rockabilly. I was just thinking about the revival in 1960s music in the early 1990s. Everyone I knew was buying and listening to the Grateful Dead, CSNY, Led Zepplin, Janis Joplin, the Doors and on and on. My kids know Nirvana from the iconography but that’s about it. I’m not knocking them but I just wonder what’s different. Well, my daughter actually is interested in Riot Girrrl but I’m not sure how many band names she knows. Her cousin/my niece went a little deeper with that and was listening to the Runaways and Joan Jett… I dunno…
I remember the 60’s revival in the late 80’s: all of a sudden my school had flower power kids and hippies wearing tie-dye shirts. By say 92 was when the 70’s seemed to come back: I can remember going to ‘disco nights’ and if memory serves they kind of reference it in “Reality Bites” with Janene Garofalo’s character.
Mid 40’s, not a dad, but when Nevermind turned 20 was my “Oh shit, I’m old!” moment.
The River turning 40 was my “I’m old” moment.
As a fellow person in their 40’s, I have a confession to make. I can’t stand most of 90’s rock. Give me classic 70s Rock, 80’s speed metal, early 00’s Nu-Metal. I’ll eat it up. But you play Nirvana or Alice in Chains, and I’m bored out of my mind.
I dig it all. It’s only been in the last 5 years or so that I have found a new love and appreciation for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc however I have always been a Van Halen (seen all 3 incarnations of the live) and KISS fan. I frequently go see this local 80’s band called Breakfast Club, the name alone should tell you what kind of music they play.
I’ll agree on the 80’s speed metal but Zep and other ‘classic rock’ does nothing for me, unless you add Big Star and punk from later in the 70’s.I honestly do not get the appeal of Nu-Metal. I thought rap-metal was going to be awesome: we had Rage, Anthrax and PE and shoot most of the Judgement Night soundtrack. Instead I got Limp Bizkit, Korn and other abominations.
Well, much like dads themselves, this track list appears to really run the gamut, quality-wise. But amazingly, yes, I can easily imagine every single song here being listened to by a dad while doing dad things (in the case of my dad, fixing things around the house and being emotionally unavailable).Alle the more recent stuff, like (*shudder*) Hozier or the goddamn Lumineers, was pretty much dad rock on arrival, we certainly didn’t need to wait 20 years to make that call.
In the 90’s Counting Crows was Dad Rock immediately.
True that. Where are they on this list? Seems like a rather egregious omission!
As was Huey Lewis in the 1980s.
“(in the case of my dad, fixing things around the house and being emotionally unavailable)“
It’s unfortunate he didn’t find time to put his shitty child in a burlap sack and toss that in the river.
Pop music isn’t dad rock.I’m not saying this to be dismissive of pop music – I like pop music! – or of dads – I am dad age! – but dad rock is now Foo Fighters and bands that sounds like the Foo Fighters.
Dad Rock has such a wide net, though. I’m old enough to have an 18 year old kid without it being remotely off-putting how old I was when said child was concieved/born, but I don’t think that mid-2000’s metalcore and deathcore would be considered dad rock.I personally classify Dad Rock as almost anything Drew Magary would regularly listen to.
Great…so now that I’m in my mid-30’s, Burn the Priest and Prayer for Cleansing are now dadcore.Doesn’t really have much of a ring to it, does it?
I was ready to adopt dadcore for my music tastes, but on a hunch I looked it up, assuming that since everything has a *core now, dadcore would exist.Sure enough, it does… at least, there’s an Urban Dictionary entry that defines it as what we’ve been calling Dad Rock, along with the commensurate “dad” outfit of crispy white New Balance shoes, khaki shorts, and tucked in polo.So, now I’m rejecting dadcore.
Damnit, millenials ruin everything!
I appreciate your conviction.
My pop listens to rock.
I can’t wait for Gen Z or whatever they fuck they are going to be called to start blaming us for all their issues like millennials are currently doing with the boomers.
Yeah, I’d have to say my definition of “Dad Rock” would include both being, ya know, rock, and have a certain ubiquity during the time the “Dad” in question was 16-22 that ties that music to that time period plus be the type of music that some 18 year old would be blasting in the car and singing along to during Just the BEST SUMMER EVER.
So Avril Lavigne? Not so much. Sum 41, unquestionably. Offspring, you’d better believe it. That one Puddle of Mudd song? Yup.
Neither Avril Lavigne nor Sum 41 are dad rock. They are, and always were, kiddy rock. Along with the Fallout Boys and Panic at the Discos of the world. Amazing how much American pop rock sucks.Sidenote: there should be an angry 10,000 word essay as to why the Stone Roses are on this crappy compilation album.
Word. The term “Dad Rock” should be applied to newer music that appeals to dads (e.g., foo fighters), not old music that current dads remember from way back when (like, uh, also foo fighters, I guess).Otherwise we have to call bands like Goreguts and Cephalic Carnage “dad rock”, just becausd an old dad like me loved them 20 years ago, when everyone knows old dads like me are more into bands like Pissgrave and Witch Vomit nowadays. Y’know, dad stuff.
There are a lot of people who wouldn’t accept Foo Fighters as rock music let alone Dad Rock.
I am not a big defender of the Foo Fighters, but they definitely fall under the definition of Rock. They are not even close to anything else.
This headline, on this very site, just reminded me of this conversation:Is the Foo Fighters’ new pop-oriented album a triumph or a turd?
https://music.avclub.com/is-the-foo-fighters-new-pop-oriented-album-a-triumph-o-1846181363
I think we can definitely count Sum 41 as rock especially when you look at their current output.
Yeah, I can consider Sum 41 rock. Avril Lavigne, not so much, and Natalie Imbruglia – who is also on there – not rock at all.
Whoa whoa whoa pump the brakes I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept of “time,” and now you want to throw heavy concepts like “aging” and “zeitgeist” at me???
Watching Millenials realize their favourite pop culture is now viewed as old or obsolete has been one of the few bright spots for me in the last year.
Just wait till TV and movies start being really nostalgic for the early 2000s
“Fffff-rosted tips!” ~ Dads, after stubbing toe and trying not to swear
Let’s not let early to mid 00s fashion come back.The greatest argument against? Early Veronica Mars.
When were those hideous Janco jeans that looked like bell bottoms on steroids?
Mid-late 90’s. And shut up, they were NOT bell bottoms, they were a uniform width all the way down! And some were only moderately baggy, and didn’t look like you were wearing a dress. I will admit that they looked a bit crazy on the smaller, spindlier kids that wore them, but for me (6′, 190 lb football player) they just looked like above-average baggy jeans. If they didn’t have the unreasonably huge pockets, I don’t think you’d really look twice.I’m still very bitter about the direction jeans went. I just want somebody to bring back baggy jeans.
I miss my Jnco’s, though I’m pretty sure I’m too old to make them work. I’d just look like a senile old man who couldn’t manage to dress himself.The irony of those giant, baggy pants being so highly-regarded by a community of kids whose favorite “sports” (skateboarding and hackey-sack) required constant use of their feet is somewhat humorous in hindsight.
Yeah. In my late 30’s, I doubt I could pull it off anymore (as much as one can pull off Jncos), but fuck, why did every jean manufacturer decide, seemingly in unison, to chop the baggy jeans off the top and replace them with skinny jeans?I get it, market forces, cost, demand, etc… but surely there’s enough market for reasonably baggy jeans for one company to continue making them.
Yeah, I just stick to my Red Kap pants and Levi’s. They’re somewhat baggy, even in 28×28 (I had to buy the Levi’s from the boy’s department at Kohl’s). lol
You know, “reasonably baggy” jeans never went away.
They’re called 501s, they’ve existed for decades, through all our lives and before up until now, and we most usually call them something else: Dad jeans.
501’s are not baggy, they are just regular jeans. If 501’s classify as “reasonably baggy”, then we are truly lost to skinny jeans.
As someone older than you who had the ball crushing jeans of the 80’s, I want a happy medium. But even at 6′, there’s no way you looked dignified in these…
Yeah, no.. nobody looked good like that. I thought those were dumb even then. I had ones that looked like this.
That’s perfectly normal. It’s definitely not bell bottoms: it just reminds me of baggy jeans in the 90’s.As a short guy most of my jeans looked like that in the 90’s…
Yeah. Those had/have a 23″ opening, and were the smallest they made back in the day. I had one pair that had a 26″ opening, but I didn’t like anything bigger.I think most people associate Jncos with the ones that had 36″+ openings, because honestly the 26″ and especially the 23″ ones just look like baggy regular jeans, dumb gigantic pockets aside.
Did you miss the buzz around the Sharkboy and Lavagirl sequel last month?
Is there anything to be nostalgic for? 9/11, 7/7, the DC sniper, The War on Terror, thousands of dead Americans, millions of dead in the middle east, the third coming of boy bands, Dick “Frankenstein” Cheney.Best of luck to the showrunners gutsy enough to try it, I guess.
I’d say the 00 were the fucking worst but it is also the decade where I met and fell in love with my wife and my oldest son was born. But I doubt anyone is gonna make a show about those things
I was nostalgic for Band of Brothers while I was watching Band of Brothers.
Okay, GenXer.Wow, we don’t even get a witty retort. I guess. Whatever.
Classic Rock – older rock songs that people still want to hear on the radio however many years later. A lot of stuff from the 90’s and early 00’s is entering this category – if you put on a classic rock station you’ll hear songs from Soundgarden or Oasis mixed in with the old standbys everybody associates with Classic Rock (AC/DC, Queen, etc.).Dad Rock – new songs that appeal to white, middle-class, suburban dads. Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and U2 are great examples. It’s easy to just call it all pop-rock but there are also bands like Wilco or The National that don’t fit the pop-rock label but are definitely dad-rock.So personally I wouldn’t consider Sum 41 or Avril dad-rock but that’s just me.
Is Avril Lavigne even a father?
Why’d you have to go and make things complicated?
Funny story: Avril Lavigne is actually cross-over country. She’s not even real pop-rock!
no she’s a boi.
It’s 2021, so yes?
He was a Sk8er dad, she said see you later, dad.
Hey!You!I don’t like your divorcée girlfriend!
Has anyone been following Matt Cutshell on Youtube? Every time I watch his stuff, I’m reminded of 3 things:A) I really loved “emo” and all adjacent stuff in my youthB) I’m an old now, as all the songs he uses, I still listen to on the regularC) Emo’s not dead!
Serious Question: How do compilations like the NOW series even make money anymore? I see they are on Spotify but since it’s a compilation if I streamed from their album are they getting a piece of that streams revenue away from the artist? I can’t imagine the actual compilation CD business is booming these days either.
Spotify is full, to the gills, of curated compilations.
Why do you think the producers would make money in a different way than any other producer who put the music they own on spotify?
They might do very well among people who seldom listen to music and almost never buy records, which, if you think of it, probably constitute much of the actual record-buying public these days.
Christmas etc. I worked in an HMV a couple of years back over Christmas and all I sold were comps like that and Andre Rieu.
Oh, and those bobble headed toys.
Eh. Whatever. I grew up listening to what is probably now grandpa rock, and even when I was a teen didn’t care. Literally my first two albums were 2BA Master and Will Smihs Big Willie Style And the first two albums I purchased were Sarah Mclachlan’s Afterglow and The Darkness’ Permission to land.
If you were into 2BA master, get a load of this: Yea, that’s Jason Paige, the original singer.
*works on car in garage, humming to self:“I don’t wanna waste my time, become another casualty of society…”
I reject this at my very core. No no, no no no.
I love my son, but the suggestion that Imagine Dragons is Dad Rock would push me to get a vasectomy.
The popular definition of “dad rock” seems to be “any song older than 15 years no matter the genre,” but I would argue it SHOULD be “rock so embarrassing a dad could have written it.” Imagine Dragons falls into that category.
I’m mostly on board with the embarrassing part*, although I imagine it more as affable corniness.*as much as little to none of my dad’s favourite music is cool, I also like most of what he listens to just fine. Except the Eagles, who are the same kind of obnoxious as Imagine Dragons, but at least have some talent.
I’m not a dad, but I’m old enough to be one, and I mostly just listen to current music.
Zygote Rock is the only true, perfect form of music that is impervious to ridicule.
What about child support check rock? As good as dad rock, or nah?
“What is this ‘Rock Music’ you speak of?”- Gen Z, probably
it feels good.
As far as I can tell from looking at the list, it’s “Dad Rock” because you’d probably hear it at sporting events but it’s distinctly not Jock Jams.
Meh. Own what you like and ignore how other people categorize it. I guarantee your life will be better for it.
DESTROY DAVE MATTHEWS
This is a primary staple of m’lords overarching regulatory doctrine. All “Daves” are to be destroyed on sight. There have been some unfortunate casualties I must confess…
Even these Daves?
David Schwimmer?
Not all Daves
^^^^This is why Zod is President.
More proof that words no longer have meaning. “Dad Rock” can’t just be what people who are old enough to be fathers are listening to. That makes “Dad Rock” nothing but a literal description. Hence, completely useless as a descriptor of a style of music with shared cultural relevancy.Not to be cheesey, but “dad rock” is an essence, a lifestyle. Men who once listened to music that their parents told them to turn down because it was hurting their ears. Now, domesticated and burdened with debt and family, they turn to the past for nostalgia and escape from day-to-day drudgery of wife, kids, in-laws, mowing the lawn, paying taxes. Boring shit. The opposite of what the music they loved once preached.And the music itself has to be somewhat timeless. So you’ve always got your Steely Dan, your Dire Straits, your Fleetwood Mac, your Wilco (we’re going a little younger here but the spirit remains the same), your Pearl Jam, your Nirvana, your Alice In Chains.Dad Rock will never been Sum 41 or Blink 182 or Avril fucking Lavigne (are you KIDDING ME?)—no disrespect to her or her very real legacy, but in no way shape or form with she ever be “dad rock.” Come on people, I know the world is tough right now but let’s not lose our minds.Just because something is 20 years old does not mean we’ve collectively added it to the cultural smorgasbord. We still need to grapple with mall punk and early 2000s alternative and pop. What did it all mean? What is its relevance today? How and why does it stand the test of time?I’m in my early 40s. I still listen to old Slayer albums. Does that make Slayer “dad rock”? Come on. I also still listen to 90s punk and hardcore. Is that “dad rock”? LOL, no. Okay, that’s all, I have to go mow the lawn and think about the one that got away…
I must be listening to grandpa rock because I don’t know who they are.
It feels a bit like a kick in the balls. Just like when my Gen Z/Alpha cousins call me old for being 31. Fucking teenagers
So much for my happy ending…
Now that’s what I call an outdated and unnecessary medium for music. Seriously, talking about relevancy, why do these Now compilations even still exist? And I don’t mean just on CDs, I mean why are compilations of music at all (outside of soundtracks or greatest hits albums) still put together? We all have the likes of Spotify and can make playlists with just about any song ever and have the compilation we want for that moment. Compilations, Now especially, seems completely pointless in this day and age.
Avril can’t be “dad rock” if she never rocked in the first place.
Hands up any dads who are listening to this music…
Wow… anyone?No?
Okay, not dad rock.
How does it feel to know that Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne are “dad rock” now?Complicated.
This Dad listens to Tool.
I laugh every time Donny Wahlberg and his buds suit up and perform as The New Kids on the Block. The Wahlberg boys can never be accused of not being ballsy.
Everyone. You might want to sit down. Because this an uncomfortable truth. My advice is simply to lean into it, to accept your place in the universe. Ultimately to look your impending death in the face with joy. Here we go…At this point, all rock is Dad Rock.
I was thinking the same thing. Granted, I’m not the most with-it person, but as far as I know, younger people these days are not listening to rock music in significant numbers. And there certainly aren’t any new rock acts gaining anything near widespread attention among younger generations.
It’s like boxing. There’s a large culture that follows it and occasionally a breakout star pierces the mainstream consciousness, but its time of mainstream cultural relevance has passed.
There’s only one song any dad ever needs.
Dad Rock is Classic Rock for millenial fathers.As an aside, Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne were the epitome of Hot Topic pop punk. Sum 41 in particular seemed to fancy themselves in the vein of Rancid/The Damned and I could never see them as anything other than posers. I feel like Canada had better to offer.
Death Grips – Dad Rock.
Isn’t shitty guitar music from 20 years ago the definition of dad rock?
Welcome to the world of the elderly…
That’s What I Call Boomer Dad Rock! It’s just three hours of Fox News on in the background, punctuated by the sounds of household chores, coughing fits and muttered swears!
I’ve been introducing my 10yo son to my own “dad rock” for some time, which is the somehow even older Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana back catalogue. (Radio edits for some songs, of course.)
At 40, I was just starting college a few years when the above songs were huge.
Lol, I’m 47. So I’ve gone through Bon Jovi and Def Leppard being dad rock and I was still loving it. I’ve dealt with 90’s music being classic music on the radio and still liked some of it. I’m ready for all the music from the American Pie movies to be Dad music now.Welcome to the party kids, you are old like old farts like me. Not as old, but old! Deal with it, as the ice hand of death slowly comes for you! :)It’s funny how when you are young you never think this day will come but in 10 years Katie Perry will be old people’s music.