The 'Big 4' Bands of Gen Z Dad Rock

Here's a scary question — who are the "Big 4" bands of Gen Z dad rock?

It feels like yesterday that the phrase "dad rock" was a blanket term to describe some of the most well-known classic rock bands that you'd typically find dads listening to. But a lot of us are a lot older than we'd like to admit now and today's youngsters consider some surprising bands to fall under that umbrella.

And to be fair, a lot of us are parents now. So we're the dads.

Last year we covered a study of the most popular dad rock bands in each state, based on a survey of 3,000 Americans. At first, we were shocked to see groups such as Nickelback, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Blink-182 listed.

...And then the lightbulb went off — every generation has their own cluster of dad rock bands.

Thus, we've named the "Big 4" of the most recent generations. The parameters are quite simple — the "Big 4" for each generation has to consist of bands that were popular when said generation were teenagers. Some of the bands may have peaked at different times, but a lot of the generations have wide age gaps as well, crossing decades and era trends.

We hadn't picked a "Big 4" to represent Gen Z dad rock yet, because it grays our hairs to think that some bands who only started 20 years go are considered dad rock now. But, we finally decided to grab the bull by the horns and take the task head-on.

According to the Pew Research Center, members of the Gen Z generation were born between 1997 and 2012. Thus, the first of the Gen Z's became teenagers in 2010, and the youngest only become teenagers this year — in 2025.

Scroll below to see the four bands we chose to represent dad rock of the Gen Z generation.