When I was growing up, the only music my dad would play in his truck was the classic rock stations on SiriusXM. The road trips of my childhood were soundtracked by REO Speedwagon, Alice Cooper, Van Halen and the Who. If I didn’t enjoy such bands, I would’ve been in trouble.

One day in early 2025, I was scrolling Instagram reels and was pleasantly surprised to hear a reel featuring the opening to Ozzy Osbourne’s classic “No More Tears.” I basked for a moment in Randy Rhoads’ iconic guitar riff, and before continuing on. A minute later, I found another reel featuring the song. Then another one. Then another one.

This was the start of a trend in which every two weeks or so, I would witness a different song from those childhood car rides become the subject of a meme or trend on TikTok and Instagram. At first, they were nice nostalgia trips, but it eventually became a pattern that was hard to ignore.

A major example came in 2024, when Alphaville’s 40-year-old ballad “Forever Young” exploded on these platforms. The song, which never reached higher than #93 on the Billboard Hot 100, suddenly topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 and stayed there for 10 weeks.

In 2023, after the legendary Gordon Lightfoot passed, his signature song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” found new life, largely in part due to the popularity it found on TikTok and Instagram. Since then, memes about the ship and its ballad flood young people’s feeds every November 10, the day of the sinking. I remember multiple friends, who never would have cared for the song otherwise, sending me videos of Billy Strings’ 2025 cover last November.

“NEVER FORGET THE EDMUND FITZGERALD,” my messages read. My dad was in shock.

These revivals not only constitute funny memes, but also can call attention to previously overlooked songs and artists. In the last year or so, I’ve noticed a strong uptick in Beatles songs soundtracking romantic Instagram reels. It isn’t number ones like “Something,” however, short acoustic numbers like “Her Majesty” and “I Will” are the main culprits. These songs, which are as obscure as songs by the biggest band in history can be, found new life amongst young people who will grow up with different Beatles memories than those of the Fab Four’s own generation.

My favorite example, however, relates to doom metal pioneers Pentagram. The band, one of the most influential in metal history, has never received much attention outside of core metal circles.

In February 2025, however, a clip of a live performance featuring frontman Bobby Liebling staring into the crowd went viral. The meme brought sudden attention to Pentagram, which the band took full advantage of. I remember a concert poster in my hometown of Houston, TX, that prominently featured a wide-eyed Liebling. There were at least twice as many RSVPs to the event as there would have been had the meme never been created.

These trends don’t just mean good background music for your Instagram reels. For old bands like Alphaville, Pentagram and so many others that rely on concerts and publicity to make a profit, these fleeting trends give them a chance to connect with new audiences in ways that hadn’t existed before. It gives older generations the chance to connect with the younger audiences, like how my dad sends me clips of “I Will” edits on Instagram. In many ways, it represents the best of social media itself: the cross-section of human connection and culture.

And sometimes, you just need to hear some Ozzy to get your day going.