As an almost thirty-one-year-old white male, I have an enduring fondness for what is loosely termed “Dad Rock.” The moniker was created by Rob Mitchum in his review of Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. Wilco is one of my favorite bands, and while Sky isn’t my favorite Wilco record, it does include one of my favorite Wilco songs. No matter how much I love “Impossible Germany,” it might best be described as excellent weather channel music. This descriptor is equally applicable to Steely Dan’s entire oeuvre, and possibly Dad Rock in toto.
Sky Blue Sky also features “Hate it Here,” in which singer Jeff Tweedy describes doing various chores to avoid pissing off his wife. While Sky is a clear departure from Wilco’s preceding and critically acclaimed records, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, it’s also their first album recorded with their current lineup, a roster that’s held stable for 13 years.
More than a mere shift in Wilco’s trajectory, Sky Blue Sky illuminates a paradigm toward a better understanding of Dad Rock: Sky Blue Sky is Wilco’s Viagra album, the album demarcating their entry into the Dad Rock canon, and separating all their future records from their prior, less dad-centric music.
While Sky Blue Sky inspired the Dad Rock lexicon, the Viagra album was used to great effect by Jackson Browne in 1993. Music critic Steven Hyden has categorized Browne’s I’m Alive as “none more Dad Rock.” It’s the dadrockiest, the grandfather of what we recognize as Dad Rock and a compelling example of the Viagra album.
Upon its release, I’m Alive was lauded as a return to Browne’s 1970s excellence, and directly followed the overtly political (and hectoring) songwriting on his prior release, World In Motion. By the end of the 1980s, no one was questioning the depth of Browne’s talent, except perhaps Browne himself. World In Motion was three years in the making, and throughout, Browne sounds like he’s trying so damn hard: trying hard to be angry, trying to make listeners angry, and trying to yell over the clatter of 80s synths. (An argument could be made that every Viagra album is preceded by a mid-life crisis album.) World In Motion sounds like your friend who won’t shut up about their new keto diet, but instead of keto Browne’s obsessed with nuclear disarmament.
I’m Alive is so refreshing because it sounds goofy following the doom-and-gloom of tracks like “How Long.” Once again the songs are personal, always Browne’s forte, but they’re also amazing. “My Problem Is You” might be the most romantic song ever written about the very real difficulties of being married. Then of course there’s “Everywhere I Go,” a sweet, catchy song that gave birth to the white-boy reggae further mined by 311. The song uses more of those 80s synths, albeit lower in the mix, and Browne takes it upon himself to rap not one, but two of the song’s verses, including the line “movin’ my body in a ragamuffin style.”
What ultimately works about “Everywhere I Go” is Browne’s willingness to be a little silly, to poke fun at himself and his self-seriousness. You can only move from World In Motion to “Everywhere I Go” through the crucible of Dad Rock and the Viagra album.
I compiled a list of what I consider Viagra albums by some of my favorite artists. As sure as the arc of time pushes us all closer to death, the arc of white-male musicians points inexorably toward Dad Rock.
Jackson Browne – I’m Alive
He Who Must Not Be Named – Ashes & Fire
Nada Surf – You Know Who You Are
Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
The Decemberists – The King is Dead
Jason Isbell – Southeastern
The National – Boxer
Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
I’m Alive is not the first Viagra album, but is perhaps the best example. Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled makes a strong case for being the first ever. Some bands like The Beatles never made a Viagra Album, the individual members devoting themselves to Dad Rock in their later and solo careers. Radiohead and Spoon have yet to cross the Viagra-album rubicon, and it’s possible they’ll disband before doing so.
Then there are bands like Coldplay and fun. that will never make their Viagra album, because from the start, their music never had any balls. These bands fall into a separate category known as Castrati Rock.
Evan W. Stoner 