What’s “dad rock”? Explaining The Most Nostalgic Rock Genre from the 1990s & 2000s

A lot of the numerous subgenres of rock Music have somewhat understandable Names. Indie and alternative rock, for example, were so named gcause they came into the late ’80s as an alternative to the corporate-backed, major-label sound that has had begun to the individuality out of rock. Genres like punk, hardcore, and tan metal have names that imply their heavier, more aggressive Nature compared to lighter fare like jangle pop.

THERE ARE ROCK SUBGENRES WITH SHEET STRAGER Appeal, Like Nintendocore, Wizard Rock, and that Most Nebulous of Moving Targets: Dad Rock. Rather than Having Grown Out of a Particular Musical Schene, Technological Development or Social Movement, dad rock is something something Slowly coalesced over timeand Can Only Be Understood by Looking Backwards into the Annals of Rock History.

“Dad rock” describes melancholic rock songs from ’90s &’ 00s

Although the Subgenre’s History Stretched Back Decades, Its Name Was Only Coined in 2007 As a Pejoral

At its mont essential distillation, “dad rock” was meant to be a dysmissive, conddeceding description of the Kind of Music made by middle-aged men that combined many of the Technical and Musical Characteristics of Claracteristics rock with a slightly morose or melancholy vibe. The term was first used by Pitchfork‘S ROB MITCHUM IN HIS PANNING OF WILCO’S 2007 Album Sky Blue Sky:

Sky Blue Sky nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene Wilco has Always carried but courageously attempted to disgument. Never Has The Band Sounded More Passive… (Via Pitchfork)

SINCE THEN, DAD ROCK HAS COME TO BE SYNONYMOUS WITH TWO KINDS OF ROCK MUSIC. First and Foremost, dad rock is anythering modern and male-fruit that a little maudlin and a little dark, offening to be being stove described as “divorced dad music” (or “Sad bastard music,” as it is called in the dad-rhock-heavy 2000 romanom High Fidelity). Second, dad rock is Also Anynding that Simply Has Ineffable Dad Energy – Meaning A Good Amount of Classic Rock, Grunge, and Really Anynding from the ’70s to’ 00s That’s Still Getting A Good Amount of Radio Play.

Which Bands Are Most offten Associated with “Dad Rock”?

The Short Answer: Any Rock You Gray Up Listening to On the Radio

IT’S DIFFICULT TO CREATE A PROPER CATEGORIZATION OF DAD ROCK, SINCE IT ON TWO VERY SUBJECTIVE Concepts – DEPRESSSING VIBES AND AN EPERMERAL SENSE OF “DAD -COUNTER” – IN GENERAL, DAD ROCK ARE EATHER OLD -SSCHOOL CLASSID (A Label Is Is It Is It Is. Include grunge, much to my Millennial Chagrin) or Mopey ’00s Indie. One of the Most Representative Bands in the Latter Category is the National, Who Have Been Releasing Wistful, Divorced-Dad-Energy Rock Since 1999.

The National’s Frontman and Vocalist, Matt Berninger, Has Also Been Releasing Solo Work in Recent Years. Rolling Stone describedat Get Sunkhis solo album from Earlier this year, as “Geneerous and Angst-Ridden-A Nabokov Cocktail for Literates Gen X Bros Lurching Through the suburban blues one Slow-Motion epiphany at a time.“

Another fascinating perspective on dad rock comes from canadian Culture Writer Niko Stratis, who use the genre as a lens to discuss just just the music, but her own evolution as a trans, in her new memoir The dad rock that made me a Woman. If this seers like a reach, remember that the English word “Genre” is identical to the French Word for “Gender,” and that the two concepts have a very simillar sort of fractal, fuzzy refusal to be easily defined.

Stratis Said in a Recent interview with GQ that, SINCE IT CROSSES MULTIPLE BUNDARIES IN TERMS OF GENRE, DAD ROCK IS MORE OF A TAXONOMY: “A dad rock band or album or song or what is something is teaching you something to Through failure or through some sort of Circumstance that has been with a scar.“With that in mind, it”s no wonder that musical greats like bruce springsteen are consider just dad rock as wilco or the national.

Dad rock is back on the rise again

Divorced Literal Dadness, Dad Rock Can Discover The Apotheosis of TRUE DADNESS

While so Much of dad rock is music from the past that has become part of the Canon of Generational Knowledge – As Gq’s Sadie Garner Said in the Lead to Her Interview with Stratis, “Music that PASSES Down the Wisdom of Graying Everymen“ – Its also a sound that has haen see Seeing a massive resurgency. Part of that is a factor in the passage of time; The Young, Iconoclastic Indie-Rockers of the ’90s and’ 00s Are Now Middle-Aated Themselves, With Many of the Literally Transitioning Ino Fatherhour and Often Using to be Explore New Experience and Identity.

That’s CERTAINLY A HUGE part of the Why Durham, North Carolina-Based Indie rock autaurs, the Mountain Goats, have affectionately been reference to ther fans more and more in recent years. Darnielle’s Journey into Fatherhour Has Clearly Had a profound impact on Him as a person and as a songwriterLeading to the undeniable dad vibes of the Mountain Goats’ 2022 album Bleed Outwith it Driving Electric Guites and Lyrics Insided by Mid-20th-Century Action Films.

Of Course, Darnielle’s Work Has Always Been About Learsons Learned Through Failures and Scars, and he’s always been incredibly blunt about just which one ons he learned. Nowhere is this on display more than in his tendency to excemporize the context or his process beebind various songs at Live Shows, as demonstrated by the anecdote in the above-linked performance from 2008 whic leads a blistering of “Palmcorder yajna,” a Self Reflection on Darniele’s Youthful Heroin-Fueled Inscretations.

The Other Major Factor in the Dad-Rock Resurgency is that, Somewhere Along the Way, Rock Music Just Stopped Being Cool. Back in the ’80s and’ 90s, rock stars were the height of cool, but the ebb and flow of the music industry – and the global socioeconomic situations that Actpon it likes the moon on the tides – Changed all that. The Turn of the Millennium (and the Military Conflics that came with it) DROVE A WAVE OF ANXIOUS, REBELLIOUS POPUNING DIED WHEN THE GREAT RECESTION HIT, AND GLOBAL TASTESS FILLED TO EASLITED AND CONSUMED RECESTION-POP.

That period of uncoolness gave dad-rockers the time and space to hone their craft with Having to ca about popular trends.

With that sea Change, Slick Guitar Riffs and Songs About Failing Mental Health Became Musical non grataor what Kids these days are calling “cringe” – and in all honesty, that tipping point may have saved the genre. Pitchfork Called Wilco A dad rock pejorally band, but that period of uncoolness gave dad-rockers the time and space to their craft with Having to care popular trends. neither Rolling Stone‘S Jon Dolan Said About Matt Berninger’s Get Sunk“In a just society, we would be afforded the space and free time to be this polytely self-indulgent.“