“Dad-Rock”
“Dad-Rock” is a term used flippantly against music typically made by middle aged white men, but sometimes younger guys. The term not only seems to be intended to describe who creates the music, but also the assumed demographic of who listens to it. While typical genre classifications are more reasonable yet still try to put art in boxes, terms like “dad-rock” will likely be considered an insult. It’s not that dads rocking out is a bad thing by any means, it is actually something to be very proud of. Just like a mom rocking out, a dad should also be proud to rock. But while on the surface this term seems harmless and not something to really discuss, it can also lead to something worse than it already is. No art should be categorized by who’s creating it or for what type of person should like it. Dad-Rock speaks to a larger issue with labeling and genre classification, and in my opinion is a dangerous term.
R&B has a similar idea in terms of genre classification. R&B was a replacement of the term “race music”. R&B is still known to classify all kinds of music made by black artists in the genre. R&B artists are mainly black, and black artists' music can be categorized as such because of their race. Labels shouldn’t segregate music audiences through senseless categorization. While R&B is a style of music, what is considered R&B has drastically changed over the years (the same goes for rock music in general, but that’s another discussion). Genre labeling only makes sense when it solely relates to the style of art, not anything else. Art is sometimes clumped into R&B because of the race of the artist creating it, and possibly because of the assumed racial demographic. Dad-rock has this problem, if it is ever considered as a serious term like R&B.
The term Dad-rock also includes another problem. The same logic goes for the description “female rock band”. They are just a rock band, not somehow different because the band is made up of women. Overall, describing a band and their music by their race, gender, sexuality, or status as a parent is not ok. Though these things are great to acknowledge about artists, their art should not be classified based on these parts of their personal life.
This logic extends past music as well. An actor versus an actress? Why aren’t they all just actors? While I’m bringing up deep-rooted sexism and racism with these examples, I’m trying to talk about biased labeling in general.
Overall the term Dad-rock is used to diminish art and marginalize its audience. Regardless of a band being made up of dads, that doesn’t mean younger people of any gender can’t like or relate to that music. The same goes for a rock band being made up of women; it doesn’t mean guys can’t rock out to them as much as they rock out to the Foo Fighters.