Because every music lover was raised by a Music Dad, whether we like to admit it or not.
There are many types of dads - DIY dads, football dads, dads who insist they’re “not asleep, just resting their eyes”. But there is one particular subspecies that deserves its own special classification: the Music Dad. He’s the guy that didn’t just raise you, he raised your playlist. And he probably saw that as his principal parenting role.
Father’s Day round these parts, then, becomes less about comedy socks and last-minute supermarket cards and bloody awful “World’s Best Dad” mugs, and more about tipping our bucket hats to the men who shaped our taste: sometimes intentionally, sometimes by accident, sometimes by playing the Pixies at a volume that could legally be classified as a minor earthquake until we admitted that yes, it’s good, please just turn it down a little bit while we’re in this traffic jam, people are staring…
The Dad Who Introduced You to Good Music
Let’s start with the obvious one. Every music fan has an origin story, and more often than not, it begins with a dad standing in a doorway holding a CD like it’s a sacred text.
Maybe it was The Smiths. Maybe it was Oasis. If you were very lucky it was The Clash. Maybe it was something “experimental” you pretended to hate at the time but now play at parties to prove you have “range”.
This dad wasn’t just giving you some songs to listen to; he was gifting you a worldview. A way of looking at things, a sense of what matters. A belief that words and music, put together in a certain way, could actually be important.
The Dad Who Still Thinks He’s In a Band
Some dads have hobbies. This dad has stories. Or if not actual stories, then remembered dreams, which amounts to the same thing once you’re the other side of forty.
He has a guitar in the attic “just in case”. Nobody’s allowed to touch it, obviously. It’s probably accompanied by a pedalboard that looks like it could launch a small satellite. He has a band anecdote for every major (and minor) life event.
You: “I got that job!”
Him: “That reminds me of the time we nearly supported Shed Seven in Swindon…”
He may not be headlining Glastonbury anytime soon, but he carries himself with the confidence of a man who believes he absolutely could have back in the day, if only the drummer hadn’t held them back.
If you want to honour his delusion - lovingly - there’s always the Now Start a Band T‑shirt. He might even let you try out the chords on that guitar.
The Dad Who Carries Everything
This dad is the family packhorse. He’s the designated holder of snacks, jumpers, receipts, tissues, bottles of water, emotional baggage, and whatever else the family hands him.
He deserves a medal. Or at least the kind of tote bag that shows that even when he’s sent to Waitrose to pick up fairtrade organic sun-dried tomatoes, he’s still secretly fighting the system.
The Dad Who Loves the Little Things
Some dads don’t do grand gestures. They prefer the small, thoughtful objects that quietly say, “I know who you are.” (Or, more honestly: “I know how cool you are”.)
The coasters that show off their music taste (“Yeah, I mean Autobahn gets the plaudits, but for me The Man Machine is Kraftwerk’s most complete album…”). The CD clock that reminds them of that night in the Hacienda that “changed everything”. The Spinal Tap DVD clock that goes up to twelve. (Sorry. Dad joke.)
These are the Music Dads who understand that true personality lives in the details and who will absolutely rearrange their desk to make sure that everyone else knows it too.
The 6 Music Dad
This is a man so culturally attuned, so chronically informed, so deeply committed to the art of discovering bands with fewer than 16 monthly Spotify listeners, that he has effectively become a walking, talking extension of BBC Radio 6 Music.
The 6 Music Dad does not simply listen to music. He curates. He discourses. He has opinions about Steve Lamacq that he will share unprompted.
He will say things like “their early stuff was better” about a band whose entire discography fits on a single EP. He knows every festival lineup before it’s announced. He uses the phrase “sonic cathedrals” without irony, and will casually drop references to post-punk bands you’re 70% sure he made up.
He is also the dad with the most interesting T-Shirt collection: not because he wants to show off, but because he enjoys the quiet satisfaction of someone at a gig saying, “Nice shirt, mate.”
He weeps when he sees Ramones tees for sale in Sports Direct… and the only thing that brings him more joy than pointing out a semi-obscure LCD Soundsystem reference is if his children get it too.
Music Dads and Father’s Day
So yes, Father’s Day. A day for the men who shaped our taste, our playlists, our emotional vocabulary… and our belief that, where music is concerned, you should always wear your heart on your sleeve.
They made us who we are. Musically. Culturally. And occasionally sartorially. And that’s worth celebrating - loudly, if possible.
