1996 was a wild, weird, and wonderful year for music. Alternative rock was shifting in unexpected ways, techno was taking over clubs and airwaves, and Gen X was riding the high of a pre-Y2K world—blissfully unaware of what was to come. In this episode of The New Dad Rock, Steve & Keith take a joyride through the sonic landscape of ‘96, from scrappy indie rock to stadium-filling anthems to the rise of electronic music that made rock purists sweat.

So what was in that five-disc CD changer back in ‘96? This episode revisits some of the era-defining records, including:

🎸 Beck – Odelay (Genre-bending brilliance)
🎸 Modest Mouse – This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (A lo-fi road trip for the soul)
🎸 Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (Champagne Supernova, anyone?)
🎸 Cake – Fashion Nugget (Quirky, ironic, undeniable earworms)
🎸 The Olivia Tremor Control – Dusk at Cubist Castle (The Elephant 6 movement at its trippiest)
🎸 Neutral Milk Hotel – Everything Is EP (The precursor to Aeroplane Over the Sea)
🎸 Prodigy – The Fat of the Land (Firestarter ignited a whole new sound)
🎸 Chemical Brothers – Exit Planet Dust (Rock meets rave culture)
🎸 Sublime – Sublime (Laid-back anthems, sun-drenched SoCal vibes)
🎸 Fugees – The Score (One of the greatest hip-hop albums ever)

Along the way, Keith recounts his legendary summer road trips, complete with mixtapes, underrated indie gems, and a time when Olivia Tremor Control was a best-kept secret. The guys also dive into the great genre debate of 1996: Was rock dead? Or was it just evolving into something new—thanks to the rise of electronic music titans like Underworld, The Chemical Brothers, and The Dust Brothers?

It was a halcyon year—carefree, creative, and chaotic. So jump in, roll the windows down, and take a ride back to 1996 with The New Dad Rock.

Let us know what’s up.

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