Dad rock dominates music scene during Christmas shopping season

The pundits are calling it a “dad rock” Christmas, and why not?

As we race headlong into the holiday season facing the same old query — What do we get dear old dad or Uncle Jake or Aunt Martha, the music lovers of the family, for Christmas? — a few of their legendary heroes are supplying a ready answer. No less than 10 superstar acts of the Classic Rock era have dropped or are dropping new albums just in time for the holiday shopping season.

With works by Pink Floyd, Neil Young, the Who, Queen, Bob Dylan and AC/DC in the “new music”section — rather than the discount rack — of local music retailers, the flagging record industry is counting on a large boost in late-year sales during what has been the most dismal year of music sales on record.

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The biggest prize of the dad rock Christmas season went on sale Tuesday, as Pink Floyd released what dueling band members swear is their last work ever. “The Endless River,” which features earlier recorded instrumental jam sessions with guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Rick Wright and one song with vocals, became a hit before it even reached retailers’ shelves.

“Since we launched the (Pink Floyd) campaign (around the first of October), ‘The Endless River’ has not moved from the No. 1 pre-order spot on Amazon,” Rhino Records Marketing Director Don Chalmers said. “Demand is huge.”

Indeed, the new Floyd album surpassed One Direction’s last album as Amazon’s most pre-ordered album ever.

Band co-founder Roger Waters, who was not involved in the new Floyd project and who has remained at odds with other members of the band for decades, has so far been silent about “Endless River.”

Classic rock greats Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen are going the reissue route to generate new interest in their back catalog; Queen, the Who, David Bowie and Genesis are going the repackaged greatest hits route, while Young and AC/DC are releasing new material.

Perhaps the most anticipated work of the season — outside the new Floyd — is an album that was recorded in 1967. That’s when Dylan and his backing band The Hawks — who would later become The Band — took a whole lot of drugs and goofed around for hours, playing sometimes ragged, sometimes outlandish and sometimes magical versions of a bunch of songs that generally came to mind.

Among the 139 tracks were Dylan originals, country standards and whatever else popped up.

Portions of that crazed recording session, dubbed “The Basement Tapes,” have leaked out over the years, leaving audiophiles and Dylan completists clamoring for more. They got their wish on Nov. 3 when “The Basement Tapes Complete” was released to much fanfare.

Meanwhile, greatest hits packages by Queen (“Queen Forever”), the Who, Bowie (“Nothing Has Changed”) and Genesis will stir up nostalgia and have the dads of the world explaining again to their offspring why these artists were the bomb back in the day. Bowie, Queen and the Who reportedly will include new material on their releases.

Led Zeppelin, which will eventually release remastered versions of all its work, are giving fans “IV” and “Houses of the Holy” this Christmas season, while Springsteen is releasing remastered versions of all the albums he dropped from 1973 to 1984, up to “Born in the U.S.A.”

Young released “Storytone” on Nov. 3, and AC/DC’s “Rock or Bust” is due in stores Dec. 4.

As Taylor Swift’s 1.2 million-plus first-week sales of her new album “1989” proved, there are actually humans under the age of 40 who still buy musical formats that are not digital singles. Younger artists will test that theory in the coming weeks as they release new works in hopes of catching some of that Taylor magic.

The Foo Fighters’ much-anticipated “Sonic Highways” dropped Tuesday, and others releasing works in time for the what-do-I-get-so-and-so panic include Nicki Minaj, whose “The Pink Print” is stirring up Swift-like interest, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne (“Tha Carter V”), Nickelback, TV on the Radio, and two artists whose sales should give the season a big upward tick: Kanye West and One Direction.

While counting on sales to the under-40 crowd — most of whom assume all music is free to them online so why would you pay for it anyway? — is always an iffy proposition, it’s a sure bet dads and their gift-giving offspring will jump at the opportunities to relive some of those “Glory Days” Springsteen sang about and to hand retailers a big wad of their expendable income.