So what is this BUTT ROCK, anyway?

I don't know if it came up above but I recall the term "Butt Rock" being used when I visited Seattle several times during the Grunge days. The locals who were more into the indie side of things would use the term - somewhat derisively, I felt, in most cases, or at least with an air of superiority - in describing local music that owed more to metal than to indie-punk.

That was the only time and place I recall hearing it, at any rate.

yeah, i've lived in seattle since the grunge era, and "buttrock" did once have a great deal of currency hereabouts. iirc, it was a term both of derision and (sometimes) of grudging affection, but its precise meaning wasn't all that clearly nailed down.

for the most part, it seemed to refer to the less heroically engorged end of the camaro rock spectrum. like you had preening, highly styled and flamboyant cock rock over here (zeppelin, van halen, 80s hair bands, colorful spandex & codpiece combos), and mustachioed, meat & potatoes bar-band buttrock over there (foghat, BTO, REO speedwagon, boston). otoh, it was also indiscriminately applied to any kind of 80s hard rock with obvious roots in the 70s.

i really want to be in a butt rock band!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2glFe0sY_y4

I think of this as butt rock. Am I right or wrong? In either case, this is great, why did so many try if they can't achieve this?

see, that's the thing. i have two butt rocks in my mind. on the one type is 70s & 80s bar-band boogie w/ a bottom end and big fat fucking muttonchop action, like "space truckin'" and "slow ride". the other hand is schmaltzy 80s dug milk like yr saga and "turn me loose" or even "sister christian". seems like the common conception tends towards the latter butt, and maybe that's for the best, as that type shit otherwise lacks a proper name.

problem i have with that is that "slow ride" actually sounds like a butt rocking, like the type of rock a butt would enjoy or even make on its own time. less so saga and europe, et al, who seem better described as poodle rockers.

I would like to think that "Black Betty" is the mos buttrockingest song ever done. The Ram Jam version, natch.

^ understands

Latter Day Butt Rock Protein

long distance bridal registry protein?

disagree with xhukx about "Her Strut" above; it sounds like Seger doing AC/DC. but I dunno, maybe that's stiff too? certainly boys with stiffies. love to watch her strut!

"Her Strut" is excellent....always a fave of this devil rock fan. I'm researching "butt-rock" again...fans online point again to peacock rockers like Loverboy and Scorpions. I'm fond of this definition, because I remember that in high school we had a soft spot for the mullet rockers who dabbled in new wave. Seemed to be a cult building around them (as opposed to burnout rock).

Thanks to Spotify, I can locate shitloads of "rocker" bands tainted by new wave music, hair gel, and synths. I found compiling a playlist rather painful, though. I mean, it's like exploring an urban sewer....is it worth the stench to come up with a few gems...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EChz4nq-1Pk

I think Sirius XM would do well to add a Butt Rock channel.

I think that's kind of what Classic Vinyl and 70's Rewind already are.

canonical ILM butt rock analysis: The most buttrockin' song on Buddy Blue's list of the top 50 Butt Rock Anthems (search term: buttrock)

Living in small town southern Minnesota in the late 70s I saw this Iowa band a couple times, and had completely forgotten about them for the for the last 40 years. I think I may still have this song on a 45.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKKq7naXsu0

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-09-15/maren-morris-the-bridge-nashville-country-music-leaving

“After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display. It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic. All these things were being celebrated, and it was weirdly dovetailing with this hyper-masculine branch of country music. I call it butt rock.”