The ‘Big 4’ Bands of Gen X Dad Rock

If Gen X had a “Big 4” of Dad Rock, who would it be?

A 2024 study listed the most popular Dad Rock band in every state of the U.S. and we were pretty shocked to find that bands that formed in the late ’90s, such as Linkin Park, Nickelback, Blink-182 and Limp Bizkit were among them.

But then it dawned on us — we’re getting freaking old.

Thus, we wondered what the “Big 4” bands of Dad Rock would be for every generation. In various meetings (not joking), we’ve discussed the parameters and settled on who they would be.

You may think we spend all of our time daydreaming about Corey Taylor, but this is what we actually think about.

We’ve already presented the Big 4 bands of Boomer Dad Rock, which were the bands that the Boomer Generation grew up on in the ’60s and ’70s.

Here, we’re onto the next generation — Gen X.

Folks of Generation X were born between 1965 and 1980, and entered their teenage years from 1978 until 1993. That’s a pretty wide scope of bands to cover, as rock ‘n’ roll experienced a couple of different waves within that timeframe.

READ MORE: Are These Bands Dad Rock Now?

To narrow it down, we’re going with the four bands that had great success in multiple decades and stood the test of time the longest.

Scroll below to see our picks. And don’t freak out if there are any particular early ’90s bands you think we missed, then they’ll probably make it onto our Millennial Dad Rock list!