Can we talk about "Dad Rock"?

Im a big Ocean Colour Scene fan and Dad Rock is a term I see floated around them all the time.

Ive seen the term thrown at the recent Phish albums as well.

It seems to almost always be used in a negative sense to imply said artist is making "safe" or "boring" material that, I guess, your old man can get jiggy with.

Or something.

What artists do you consider Dad Rock? Does the term annoy you? Do you really enjoy any of these artists?

 

Probably the top 30, maybe more, bands discussed on here would qualify as Dad Rock to the wider population.

 

Eagles' Greatest Hits is the highest selling album of all time and I blame dads for that

 

Paul Weller - "edgy" Dad Rock.

 

I don’t think that’s true.

The Beatles and the Grateful Dead, the bands I see discussed most here (and everywhere, really) aren’t what I think of as ‘dad rock’.

Wilco is dad rock. Steely Dan, the Eagles, any band with Michael McDonald. All dad rock

 

I usually see "Dad Rock" used simply for classic rock that isn't considered particularly hip by younger folks. You could think of it as basically being "Stuff on Homer Simpson's iPod." Grand Funk, Bob Seger, Bad Company, BTO, Iron Butterfly, etc.

Does the term annoy me? No.

Do I enjoy those artists? Yes, very much so.

 

Are you a Dad?!?

 

The only reason the Beatles are not classed as Dad Rock is because they don't license their music to compilations very often (at all?), otherwise they're as Dad Rock as it gets!

 

Do you rock?

 

Can we talk about "Dad Rock"?

Sure..if we can talk about Spoiled Little Snot Pop!!!
Now get your face out of that screen and clean up your room!

 

I think Dad Rock - which first came into vogue about 25 years ago - has become a pretty obsolete term. Grandpa Rock might be more accurate.

When so many of today's dads grew up listening to things like NWA, Eminem, Guns N' Roses, Metallica and and Nine Inch Nails, I'm not sure it has any real meaning any more. The stuff their kids are listening to is tame by comparison.

 

Dude, I'm in the group for grand dad rock!

 

Speaking on behalf of all millenials, Michael McDonald is considered cool by our legion, Warren G sampled him on one of the biggest Hip-Hop tracks there is and there's also a drum and bass remix of the same song which makes the rounds in our meetings

 

I blame soccer moms for that.

 

The butt hurt will be strong in this thread...

 

The Urban dictionary has it down as "The term 'dad rock' refers to older music listened to by men who try, without success, to introduce this music to their children and other younger people. Music can only be counted as 'dad rock' if it is music that has failed to remain popular with younger generations, e.g. Dire Straits, The Yardbirds etc., whereas bands of the same era such as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones would not count as their music transcends the generation gap and is still popular with younger people"

Other artists/groups that fit into the dad rock category by that definition are The Who, Genesis, and Bruce Springsteen. They're not artists/groups that Millennials or Gen Z tend to be into. For example, The Who's monthly listens on streaming services is low compared to some other classic rock groups (The Beatles, Queen, Zeppelin - all groups still listened to by younger generations). Streaming services are overwhelmingly used by Millennials/ Gen Z) as well.

 

One of the Kings of Dad Rock is Huey Lewis and the News.

 

Since when are these dinosaur bands popular with younger people? Not in my world.

 

In the mid to late 90's, in the UK certainly, there seemed to be a never-ending glut of bands who were hugely popular but were deemed to be making safe, dull and unexciting indie music. Yes, OCS were lumped in along with Travis, Cast, Stereophonics, Starsailor, Paul Weller, Oasis, Toploader etc. In my opinion, grunge had crashed and burned, nu-metal was inexplicably all the rage and the only genuinely exciting music was being made by dance acts like The Prodigy, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Orbital etc.

 

The Grateful Dead is more like rock for granddads in America.

 

Try to find a used LZ album in a record store that young people frequent. Good luck.....

 

Here's a trio of "Dad Rock" favorites .... Boston, Kansas and Rush.

 

I've been aware that they've remained popular. Even putting real life and social media aside, as I said, streaming services are overwhelmingly used by Millennials/ Gen Z), and the numbers reveal they've streamed a hell of a lot (The Beatles and Queen in particular).

 

A key part of the original sentence was "popular" ... There might be a few younger people into ancient rock music, but the vast majority? -- no way. Most LZ albums are probably trashed by now. It is probably hard to find them anywhere at this point. After all, it's been 40-50 years ago.

When I was in high school, I certainly didn't get my groove on to Perry Como's classics.

 

"Dad Rock", "Dinosaur Bands"... call them what you will, but many of them smoke the lame stuff out since then...