Posted on 04/08/2021 7:13:10 AM PDT by mylife
The Now That’s What I Call… compilation series, which stretches all the way back to 1983, has always been commercially successful. Wildly, phenomenally so, in fact. There are dozens and dozens of these CDs. However, one such disc first released in June is getting some renewed attention because of its subject matter.
Okay, fine. Dads love music, too. And yeah, dads can sometimes be all Homer Simpson about what they believe to be great music. But if we look at the tracklisting for this disc, I wonder how many of the included acts appreciate being lumped into a category that is synonymous with “uncool.” How many of these tracks would you classify as “Dad Rock?”
1. “We Will Rock You” – Queen (Yep) 2. “Start Me Up” – The Rolling Stones (Maybe) 3. “With Or Without You” – U2 (This is more Mom Rock, don’t you think?) 4. “Livin’ On A Prayer” – Bon Jovi (Yep) 5. “Radioactive” – Imagine Dragons (Possibly) 6. “Mr. Brightside” – The Killers (What?) 7. “Dakota” – Stereophonics (You’re kidding, right? Maybe if dad was a British indie kid.) 8 “Take Me To Church” – Hozier (What’s this even doing here?) 9. “Rockstar” – Nickelback (Definitely) 10. “Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynyrd Skynyrd (Slam dunk) 11. “More Than A Feeling” – Boston (Ditto) 12. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ – Blue Oyster Cult (Ditto again) 13. “Bat Out Of Hell” – Meat Loaf (I suppose…) 14. “Ace Of Spades” – Motörhead (If Lemmy were still alive, he’d come round and smash every one of these discs personally.) 15. “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” – The Clash (Perhaps) 16. “The Jam” – Town Called Malice (Only if dad was a mod) 17. “Two Princes” – Spin Doctors (Yes. But no one should have to listen to this song. Ever.) 18. “She’s So Lovely” – Scouting For Girls (Okay…) 19. “Chelsea Dagger” – The Fratellis (No!) 20. “Rocks” – Primal Scream (Absolutely not! Unless dad was a hardcore raver back in the day.) 21. “Africa” – Toto (100%) 22. “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – Simple Minds (We can debate this one.) 23. There She Goes – The La’s (No. Just no.) 24. “I Wanna Be Adored” – The Stone Roses (Depends. Does dad have some baggy trousers at the back of the closet?) 25. “Everybody’s Changing” – Keane (More Mom Rock) 26. “How To Save A Life” – The Fray (See above) 27. “Hold Back The River’ – James Bay (Are you freakin’ kidding me?) 28. “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers (Was dad a hippie?) 29. “All Right Now” – Free (Agreed) 30. “Smoke On The Water” – Deep Purple (I’d be shocked if this song wasn’t here.) 31. “Search And Destroy” – Iggy & The Stooges (Was dad into PCP in the day? Then yes.) 32. “Are You Gonna Go My Way” – Lenny Kravitz (You can make the argument.) 33. “Walk This Way” – RUN-DMC feat. Aerosmith (This was probably the song that introduced dad to hip-hop.) 34. “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” – The Beastie Boys (Or maybe it was this one.) 35. “Stacy’s Mom” – Fountains Of Wayne (If so, don’t ask dad about his adolescent years. You’ll be scarred by the truth.) 36. “Buck Rogers” – Feeder (Odd choice) 37. “All The Small Things” – blink-182 (Is there an old skateboard in the garage? Then yes.) 38. “Crazy Crazy Nights” – Kiss (There are better dad rock songs from their catalogue.) 39. “Addicted To Love” – Robert Palmer (No question.) 40. “The Final Countdown” – Europe (Oh, yes.) 41. “Teenage Dirtbag” – Wheatus (Well…) 42. “Kids” – MGMT (What? No!) 43. “In Too Deep” – Sum 41 (How old is dad?) 44. “America” – Razorlight (Another odd choice.) 45. “Complicated” – Avril Lavigne (What the F**K is this doing here?) 46. “Torn” – Natalie Imbruglia (And THIS!) 47. “The Sound” – The 1975 (A little current to be actual Dad Rock, no?) 48. “Pompeii” – Bastille (Same here.) 49. “Naive” – The Kooks (If so, then your dad is pretty cool.) 50. “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” – Deep Blue Something (Come ON!) 51. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” – Bachman – Turner Overdrive (Nailed it.) 52. “I Shot The Sheriff” – Eric Clapton (The original Bob Marley version would have been a better choice.) 53. “Can’t Fight This Feeling” – REO Speedwagon (I’m guessing this was on the radio when your dad first made out with your mom.) 54. “Maggie May” – Rod Stewart (If dad is in his 50s, he had this on his stereo back in the day.) 55. “Sharp Dressed Man” – ZZ Top (A standard at wedding receptions. So, yes.) 56. “Born To Be Wild” – Steppenwolf (Quintessential dad rock.) 57. “Here I Go Again ‘87” – Whitesnake (Did dad ever sport a mullet? Then yes.) 58. “Eye Of The Tiger” – Survivor (Wait. This is the quintessential dad rock song.) 59. “Love Is The Drug” – Roxy Music (Well, the song is from 1975…)
Thoughts? And what’s missing?
The 70’s and 80’s were ‘my’ music, so I like a lot of these songs. :)
Unless I missed it, I would add some Pretenders; ‘Brass in Pocket,’ ‘I Go To Sleep’ ‘I’ll Stand By You,’ ‘My City Was Gone’ - Rush’s show intro theme song! :)
I’m more vinyl but it’s a good cassette list.
I am a white boy electric blues kinda guy
Throw some, ‘Hall and Oates’ in there, too; ‘She’s Gone,’ ‘Rich Girl,’ ‘Kiss On My List,’ and their cover of, ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling...’
*SIGH*
I’m 63 and there are maybe six songs on that list I would listen to.
best version of dylans “all along the watchtower” was live chrissy hynde and neil young it was spectacular!
I so envy you. I wish I could do that (now, at 65). Now, I just jam to backing tracks and songs I like (with a 50w Marshall half stack, LOL!).
Both perennial "dad rock" bands.
No Zeppelin? I’m outta’ here...
like yes, I never liked the singer
Exactly.
Lately I’ve been noticing how many stores use eighties pop and poppy rock as their piped in background music. Fine by me — I’ve always like that music, and I imagine it’s a pretty safe choice. Lots of good upbeat songs from that era. There’s a bit of an eighties revival going on at the moment that may be factoring in too.
:)
Missing a LOT of formative grunge rock and neo/alternative rock from the late 90s/early 00s. As an 80s baby, I can get down on most of this, but as a pure rock/metal enthusiast, this list is missing a lot of good stuff.
Live music is better! Bumper stickers should be issued!
Well, after we moved here to Reno in 2011 after being laid off/retiring, I wasn’t really looking to get back to it but now I’m just an open mike/jam whore. If there’s one happening, I’ll more than likely be there. There were usually 2-3 per week before the scamdemic. LOL! I prefer the all electric ones but if it’s acoustic, I’ll still go. Now I have some youngsters (50-70) asking me to participate in gigs so...................
somethings never get old
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=tOc-_GpfF1w&feature=emb_logo
So dad’s gay?
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