The dads are back—and this time, the list is real. After months of listening, debating, reshuffling, and second-guessing, Steve & Keith finally unveil their definitive Top 25 Albums of 2025. But in classic New Dad Rock fashion, they do it backwards: starting with their Album of the Year and counting all the way down to #25, unpacking the twists and surprises hidden inside every pick.

This is the victory lap. The payoff. The moment the spreadsheets, late-night texts, and questionable life choices all point toward.

Along the way, the dads break open what made 2025 such a wild, shape-shifting year in music: the art-damaged provocateurs, the bands leveling up, the newcomers melting faces, the legends refusing to quit, and the records that came out of nowhere to absolutely own their heads and their headphones.

Expect passionate defenses, good-natured outrage, accidental agreements, and at least one “Wait, that made it where on your list?” It’s thoughtful, chaotic, sentimental, and deeply nerdy—the exact energy you tune in for.

Whether you're here to discover new favorites, validate your impeccable taste, or yell at your speakers about what got snubbed, Episode 109 is your essential guide to the very best music 2025 had to offer.

Queue it up. Count it down. And long live The New Dad Rock.

Let us know what’s up.

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Steve & Keith return to The New Dad Rock with their annual year-end ritual: sorting the chaos, controversy, and unexpected brilliance of 2025 into a definitive Top 25. Consider this episode your backstage pass to how the list is made—before the list is actually made.

In this preview, the dads look at the albums that shaped the year’s conversations: the boundary-pushing weirdos, the stadium-level juggernauts, the surprise returns, the late-career reinventions, and the underground records that quietly changed everything. They compare notes, swap arguments, expose blind spots, and celebrate the wildly different ways two lifelong friends hear the same year in music.

If you want to be fully armed for year-end list season—or just want to know what the dads can’t stop blasting—this is the episode to cue up. A fast, fun, opinionated warm-up lap before the official Top 25 drops.

Turn it up. Argue along. And get ready for 2025’s victory lap.

Let us know what’s up.

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Did you know that The New Dad Rock has swag? Coffee mugs, pillow and t-shirts in a multitude of colors and arm lengths.

🎙️ The New Dad Rock – Episode 107: TNDR Radio (Return of the College DJs)

This week, Steve and Keith spin the dial all the way back to their roots—college radio, where the knobs were dusty, the playlists were handwritten, and the banter was always optional.

Welcome to TNDR Radio, the station where the music comes first, the dads come second, and the FCC probably has some questions.

Inspired by a wise man who once said “a little less conversation, a little more action…” the dads do their best to honor Elvis by talking less than ever before. Whether they succeed? Well—that’s between you and the ghost of The King.

Steve and Keith pull tracks from across The New Dad Rock archives, including classics from EP 32: Going to Polygondwanaland with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and EP 42: PS I Saved the Planet.

This episode is built like a proper radio set:
📻 Songs first.
🎤 DJs second.
👨‍🦲 Dad energy throughout.
✨ Keith forgetting which fader controls what and Steve trying to sound like a real DJ and absolutely nailing it

So tune in, turn it up, and let TNDR Radio take over your speakers like it’s 1994 and you’re in a dorm room that smells faintly of ramen and spilled Rolling Rock.

TNDR Radio where the music is loud, the commentary is light, and—just for this episode—the dads let the records do most of the talking.

Let us know what’s up.

Support the show

Did you know that The New Dad Rock has swag? Coffee mugs, pillow and t-shirts in a multitude of colors and arm lengths.