Trevor Ponsen | Writer
December 18, 2023
In a day in age where most music is produced on a computer with endless possibilities of sounds and songs, classic “Dad Rock” seems to be making a comeback. The genre of “Dad Rock” can be used as a broader term for old rock bands that most of our dads grew up listening to. The space for “Dad Rock” in music is filled by bands of the past such as Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, and the Beatles- who haven’t released a popular song in decades. The genre hasn’t seen any development with new bands today so as a result, most people would consider the style of music to be dead.
The mid-90s is when rock began to die out and be replaced by other genres of music such as rap and hip hop, taking over the scene and the interest of the youth. Most people who listened to the music in their prime are now in their 40s or 50s, with kids old enough to have a social media presence.
A TikTok trend of this year had Ozzy Osbourne’s song “No More Tears” grow popular with its opening guitar riff. The song, despite being released in 1991, is seeing the most attention it’s ever gotten, as thousands of people follow the trend of posting with the song under a caption describing how good their dad’s taste in music was. The trend expanded from there, as people have begun to comment that they relate to growing up and hearing their dad’s music.
It’s a cultural phenomenon as people are reminiscing on their childhoods and noticing the influence their father’s music has on them now. This nostalgia combined with the modern-day trends has allowed the genre to find a foothold after years of slowly dying out.
The question does stand of whether or not this is a fad that will last no longer than a month just like everything else on the internet, or a cultural shift by a lot of today’s youth. The issue is that there’s nothing new being added to the genre- many of the bands no longer exist and are not producing any more music. The majority of the fans today are getting their first grey hairs and are well past their prime.
Senior Otto Schniepp, who considers himself quite the fan of the “Dad Rock” genre, had this to say on the subject: “The music is rad, so it’s disappointing to not see anything new come out of the genre. I don’t want to listen to the same songs for my whole life and I know that I’ll get tired of them eventually.”
Only time can tell whether or not the “Dad Rock” genre will live on or turn into another forgotten piece of the past that dies with our parents.
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