Tuesday, October 21, 2025 |
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I was in my early 20s when bands like Creed, Puddle of Mudd, and Papa Roach were at their peak around the turn of the 21st century. It was a strange time. Their popularity diminished quickly, but today there are forces trying to revive and rebrand these bands as a new micro-musical genre called Divorced Dad Rock. What the hell is going on here? Esquire's Dave Holmes explores the emerging trend in a column you can read below. – Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief Plus: |
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There's a new retro-music trend featuring bands of the early aughts: Creed, Staind, Trapt. Is this the new Yacht Rock? Or does it suggest a world in the throes of full clinical depression? |
At the end of August, I was sore and hoarse and exhausted and broke, and the most content I had been in ages. This is because, like so many men my age in the year 2025, I saw an Oasis reunion show. And like all men who had been there, I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you about it.
You know this if you have a middle-aged guy in your life, but the Oasis show was life-affirming, a chance to bounce and bellow with a stadium full of fellow fans, proof in these contentious times that even profound differences can be overcome. If Liam and Noel could patch it up, anything might be possible. It brought big choruses, bucket hats, and hope. It made us feel young again.
It was also a sharp reminder that, in point of fact, we are not young again. |
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Sex in movies got an extremely high-profile cosign at this year's Academy Awards, when the sex-work dramedy Anora took home five of the six trophies it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Best Director (Sean Baker), and Best Actress (Mikey Madison in the title role). Not only is it major recognition for a film that was drenched in sex, but it also indicates that the stodgy old Academy is opening its collective mind, or at least willing to pretend to do so from time to time. By now, buzzy Sundance Film Festival offerings that seemed to promise memorable skin on celluloid have been released to the general public, including Plainclothes and Twinless, which caused such a stir that a pirated sex scene featuring Dylan O'Brien circulated on social media, causing the festival to pull the film from its streaming platform. The sex content in both is reviewed below, along with multiple movies that explore the agony in ethical nonmonogamy and some straight-up horror flicks. One features a sex scene so disturbing that it deserves a permanent place in movie history. |
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To see a Jonas Brothers show is to experience some cultural cognitive dissonance. I did this recently, at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, a giant venue packed to its rafters, 18,000-plus fans. A massive stage set with multiple places for the guys to enter and exit and step into or out of the spotlight. At the center of it, the three Jonas boys: understated but steady Kevin; Joe, the flirty, fashion-forward pop guy; and Nick, the rock star. And something close to three dozen songs. Each of them, if the crowd singing along to every word is any indicator, hits. That's where the disconnect comes in. What it feels like I'm watching is three young guys anchoring a legacy act's greatest-hits show. One of those big, banger-stuffed, career-spanning stadium shows that Billy Joel did for a while, that Madonna finally got around to doing with her Celebration Tour. It wasn't until about halfway through the show that it hit me: That's exactly what I was watching. The JONAS20 Tour caps off a milestone year for Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas: They've now been putting out music and staying A-list famous for exactly twenty years. That's an impressive feat before you consider that when they got famous, the oldest of them hadn't been alive for two decades. Before you consider that when they dropped their first single, there wasn't even an iPhone to play it on. |
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