Pop Alert: 15 Dad Rock Albums I Love
November 17, 2011, By Craig J. Heimbuch 0 comments
I'd love to say that I used to rock, but the truth is that I never understood the appeal of The Ramones, Slayer or The Sex Pistols. It's always seemed a bit too much like noise instead of music for my personal taste. I've always preferred melody, musicianship and composition to pure emotional expression. I guess I've just never been that angry. I respect people who love hard music, experimental music, punk, metal and hardcore gangster rap, but I could never bring myself to it. I may only rock as hard as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but that doesn't mean I don't love music.
As a young man, I hid my musical taste because I was worried I'd be judged. But now squarely into my 30s, married and the father of three, I'm coming out as a lover of dad rock. I like a guy who can craft a tune, a band that writes challenging melodies and arrangements that appease and appeal instead of rage and rock. There. I've said it. I'm not punk. I'm not metal. I suppose I do not rock.
In the 90s, I preferred LIVE and Counting Crows to Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I like Barenaked Ladies a hell of a lot more than I liked the Butthole Surfers. My neighbors and friends in college would run Sepultura through enormous speakers that shook the whole house. I would listen to Radiohead (pre- "Kid A") through my earbuds or walk around campus listening to Simon and Garfunkel. They used to make fun of me for that, but now some of those same guys have come to appreciate, with age and wisdom, my taste. The New York Dolls deserve a lot of due for their longevity and their place in the pop music pantheon, but I'd much rather listen to some Uncle Tupelo or the Jayhawks.
Is it fair to call the bands I love "Dad Rock"? I'm not sure. But for the purposes of this list, it's a convenient title. It's the kind of music you can sing like Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire" while in the car alone and don't mind playing in front of your kids, parents, guests or bosses. It's easy to listen to. Likable, like the neighbor in a romantic comedy. Feel free to argue with me, to call me an idiot. I'm a big boy. I can take it. Plus, it's not like I've never been made fun of before. But I'll stand behind these albums for the long haul—or at least until I'm an old man and listen to nothing but Perry Como. They aren't necessarily in order of quality or importance, but rather in order of how often I think of or listen to them.
15. "Gold" by Ryan Adams
He's kind of a pretentious jerk, but I can't help liking him. Ryan Adams is a talented son of gun. I've listened to a couple of his other albums, but none seemed to resonate with me quite the same was as "Gold." I listen to this when driving or on the rare chance that I'm home alone with some time to read. Best track: "Sylvia Plath," which is contemplative and haunting and has one of the few references in music to getting drunk on gin. I like gin.
14. "Necktie Second" by Pete Droge
I saw this guy open for Tom Petty and had a hard time distinguishing the two. He had a song on the "Dumb & Dumber" soundtrack ("If You Don't Love Me I'll Kill Myself") and is just a solid beatnik singer-songwriter. Best track: "Northern Bound Train," which rumor has it is about Kurt Cobain's suicide, but I never paid that much attention. I was too distracted by the story line, which features a young man, head full of Kerouac, who wants to skip out on life and ride the rails. Very cool song, especially for 1994.
NEXT: "Oh, Inverted World"
