FATHER'S DAY and the New Sound of Dad Rock
Published on 13 June 2024
Friends, it’s time to celebrate your dads!
Father’s Day is fast approaching. Is your dad a guitar fan? If so, we have some inspired gift ideas that might just win you the title of ‘Child of the Year’ in your father’s eyes!
On top of that, check out the New Sound of Dad Rock, our take on what ‘Rock Dads’ are into these days.
Have a scroll through and see if guitarguitar can help make this Father’s Day one to remember for all the right reasons!
Contents
Father’s Day Gift Guide
You don’t have to spend much on your ol’ da to let him know you care. We have a large range of guitar accessories that will make his day, including some cool artist-related things. Check these out, and apply according to your dad’s taste:
Joe Strummer Guitar Strap
Let your dad reconnect with his rebellious youth by slinging this punk-tastic guitar strap around his shoulders! Joe Strummer inspires youthful vigour in anyone, and by wearing his guitar strap, your dad can harness some of that evergreen Clash attitude!
Dunlop Pick Tins
We have a nice range of pick tins to choose from (Motorhead, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix etc) so whatever your dad’s taste in music is, there will be a nice - and very giftable - pick tin that’ll suit him. The picks inside are Dunlops too, so they are the best in the industry.
You’re spoiled for choice if your dad likes Metallica: there are a number of ‘Tallica tins featuring either Kirk Hammett or ‘Papa Het’ himself. Choose from White Fang Heltfield picks, Hammett ‘Monster is Loose’ picks (including a very cool Ouija board pick, just like his guitars) and a couple of others. Hey, why not REALLY show how much you care by getting the full set?
Fender George Harrison Accessories
I’m going to be bold and bet that your dad is pretty into The Beatles, right? At least slightly? Well, Fender have you sorted with a collection of straps and cables that are all based on George Harrison’s famous ‘Rocky’ Strat.
There’s a polyester strap and a leather one, and the cable comes in two sizes. All of these reference the hand-painted finish that George famously applied to his Strat in a frenzy of creative activity.
If your father’s favourite Beatle was George, then consider this collection your present-giving bullseye.
Headphones
How many dads don’t need headphones? Exactly. Proper big cans as well, not little fiddly ear pods. Dads want to clamp a nice big closed-back set of headphones on and enjoy the sound quality, don’t they?
Annoyingly, headphones can often be stupendously overpriced, but we can help you here: check out the Ordo sets that we’ve recently taken stock of, particularly the Ordo PMH40 set. They have a 50mm driver - so they sound nice and detailed - plus the build quality is decent, so they won’t snap in two after 5 weeks. Best of all, the price is very affordable indeed, given the quality on offer. Dads love value!
The New Sound of Dad Rock
Dad rock is a funny one: it’s not really a genre as much as a generation identifier. It used to be that you’d never listen to the music your dad liked, because it was from an earlier, stuffier era when things sounded more polite and so on.
It’s never really been true, to be honest, but we still do like to pigeonhole things. Dad rock used to be bands like Pearl Jam, U2 and Guns n Roses (all great bands), but things have changed. Here’s the new generation of Dad Rock:
Foo Fighters
Whilst it’s a fact that everybody likes the Foo Fighters, it’s even more the case that dads love them. Not quite heavy enough to be ‘heavy’, but harder than Coldplay by a solid margin, the Foos deliver a mix of melody and rock spirit that galvanises hard rockin’ daddies everywhere. Dave Grohl’s impeccable past as one third of Nirvana stops the Foo Fighters from ever being less than relevant. For rocking acceptably, no one band competes.
Coldplay
For some dads, the Foo Fighters are just too long haired and metal adjacent.
These dads are therefore Coldplay Dads.
An alarming amount of people really like Coldplay. They are catchy enough to snare millions, but have zero edges to their sound, so nobody overly objects either. The safest of safe bands, Coldplay are the rock band to like if you don’t normally bother with rock music.
That said, such a huge number of people can’t all be wrong, and at the end of the day, it’s still human beings playing guitars and drums, so if that’s reaching enormous audiences, I’m all for it.
Tool
On paper, Tool shouldn’t be as enormous as they are: tricksy time signatures, 12 minute tunes, subject matter that goes from the puerile to the mystical, a lead singer who seems to take a gleeful pleasure in being difficult... None of it at face value screams ‘huge success’, but there’s no denying the quality on offer: it’s epic stuff, delivered by some astounding musicianship from drummer Danny Carey.
If you are a male musician and aged between 40 and 55, then you are highly likely to be a Tool fan. If your dad has a beard and wears Vans, he’s a Tool fan. Indulge it!
Happy Father’s Day
Fathers are precious - even if they don’t play guitars (there’s always time!) - so however you choose to spend Father’s Day, all of us here at guitarguitar hope you have a wonderful time.
