TikTok Music Trends: Should Some Songs Stay in the Past?

By Kyle Halligan-Duffy 

Music Journalist 

TikTok has been a driving force in social media for going on almost 14 years now and one thing within its wealth of short form content that has people coming back is music and dances.  

These dance trends have been all over social media and still drive people to the platform. Some have even made the news. From pop culture phenomena like the “Wednesday” dance (from the popular Netflix series of the same name) or the more controversial moves from Cardi B’s “WAP”, people clammer to get their dancing shoes on when any trend shows up on the app.  

However, one trend has caught the eye, and maybe even the ire, of the older generations.  

Music genres have changed in many ways over the course of the past decades. Nu Metal, Post Hardcore, Emo, Shoegaze and the Scene were all the rage from around 1998-2014 and replaced with more minimalistic pop rock counterparts by the late 2010’s. But TikTok trends have dabbled in these genres in recent years and have even catapulted previously unknown bands into newfound stardom. 

Take Skindred for example. Hailing from Newport Wales, the nu metal band mixed a heavy alternative sound with reggae influences that caught the eye of the current scene but didn’t make much impact. A TikTok dance trend gave their explosive 2002 single “Nobody” new life and is still miles ahead of their other songs by nearly 50 million listens on Spotify with a mosh friendly chorus and reggae dance verses.   

But things become more complicated and far less positive when recently, a band I have followed since I was just out of high school, and have had adequate fame for just as long, suddenly becomes the next trend with a song that is over a decade old.  

Dance Gavin Dance has been a part of the scene since its inception. Inventing the genre known as Swancore, which is a genre mix-up of post hardcore and R&B and named after the band’s lead guitarist Will Swan, the band has had many copycats over the years that they have been around. Bands like Hail the Sun and Wolf and Bear have even toured with DGD as opening acts. 

The problem lies with the song itself. “Blue Dream,” off of fourth studio album Downtown Battle Mountain II, comes from one of the most tumultuous eras of Dance Gavin Dance, where the band reconciles with its first vocalist Jonny Craig after a couple albums with Kurt Travis of A Lot Like Birds fame. 

Downtown Battle Mountain II showcases Craig’s amazing vocals and, unfortunately, his brash and egotistical nature at the time with a quote at the end calling his significant other while recording the album and asking, “What color are you f****** eyes?”  

Jonny Craig, without writing an entirely new article about how many rumors floated around and how many more were confirmed, is not the greatest human being on the planet. Struggles with heroin, altercations with the law, his abusive nature towards many of his relationships and being consistently at odds with harsh vocalist Jon Mess that led to his many exclusions from the band, make it nearly impossible to separate the amazing vocals from the terrible man behind them.  

Which gives people of less ignorance of the content of “Blue Dream,” a bad taste even if the album is one where Dance Gavin Dance is at their strongest.  

The good news, for all those people enjoying the “Blue Dream” trend, is that Dance Gavin Dance has recently acquired a new lead vocalist in Eidola’s Andrew Wells and will be releasing a new album this year and since DBM II, there have been six full-length studio albums from DGD with Tides of Man vocalist Tillian Pearson. So make sure to catch up if you enjoy them.  

Nearly every album by Dance Gavin Dance is a testament to post hardcore as a genre and a staple in many playlists for those who were born in the millennial generation. However, maybe some of their songs should not become big trends within those who are not aware of the history of the band. Sometimes the past should stay in the past.