The NOW That‘s What I Call Music compilation series was a staple of youth for many millennials, but many of those now-adults who grew up with it have been surprised to discover that it presses on to this day, shifting its focus to Gen Z-ers with titles like NOW That’s What I Call Dad Rock — which, as the AV Club points out, features artists like Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne and feels pretty specifically designed to make us feel extremely old.
Though it was actually released in 2018, the tracklist for NOW That’s What I Call Dad Rock went viral recently after being tweeted out by writer Sam Maggs. Along with Avril Lavigne and Sum 41, it features plenty of other tracks that will surely feel recent to any 30-something, including “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus and “Kids” by MGMT. (You can find the full tracklist here.) There are a number of classic rock tracks, like Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” that we’d more commonly associate with the term “dad rock,” but there are also songs like Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” which was released in 2013.
A song released eight years ago might be a bit of a stretch, but sadly, it has been 20 years since we were all stormin’ through the party like our name was El Niño — plenty of time to grow up and become a dad both in the literal sense and in the “dad rock” sense of losing one’s edge. Of course, “dad rock” is a meaningless, subjective term used to describe everything from Steely Dan to Vampire Weekend. Maybe it’s time we stop using it as an insult.
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