See, I've always thought of "Her Strut" as really compromised and stiff despite itself, like Seger's equivalent of "Love In An Elevator" or something. (Agree with "butt-rock miyagi/rogermexico" that his music sunk into schtick, though I actually think he made it through the '70s fine, AOR crossover or no -- Stranger In Town in '78 ranks with his best albums. As soon as the '80s start, though, things get a lot iffier, despite okay moments even then.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 14 April 2009 19:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Stranger In Town forever gets a pass due to "Still the Same" & "Til it Shines", which are practically butt-free. also, "Fire Lake" didn't come out until after that, so yeah he still managed at least one awesome moment imo
― now is the time to winterize your manscape (will), Tuesday, 14 April 2009 19:49 (fifteen years ago) link
so we seem to be tacitly in agreement that "butt rock" is not a lol80s thing
btw apparently Matt Cameron came around... turns out he plays drums on the immortal Chad Kroeger/Josey Scott soundtrack jam "Hero"... (!!!)
― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 14 April 2009 19:57 (fifteen years ago) link
but(t) "compromised and stiff despite itself" would be a good definition for much of this stuff, Chuck. "Her Strut" is butt rock in excelsis.
― \m/ metal oaf \m/ (Ioannis), Tuesday, 14 April 2009 20:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Butt rock, often used in discussions with or by people for whom the description hard rock for people who don't like hard rock was coined. So you have the Troggs, who were -- at best -- good for "Wild Thing" and a couple other minor singles, never really big shakes in the US, but not Foghat.
Jason Aldean comes to mind here, mostly because he does so many Bad Company-like things and is the very picture of the bull-headed strong man of action on stage and in his videos.
When Trace Adkins isn't doing his sensitive ballads or I came to God stuff, he seems to be in the territory of butt rock, particularly the new one on the X album about marrying for money.
UFO's "Only You Can Rock Me," "Natural Thing," "Too Hot to Handle" and "Rock Bottom" fit here.
If modern country still is tolerant of simple white swagger, it's because it's required, as opposed to required that it be delivered with a wink or sweat-on-the-neck self-consciousness in other venues.
So I guess anything with a young audience that requires even superficial nods to self-examination fundamentally prevents 'butt rock.'
― Gorge, Tuesday, 14 April 2009 21:34 (fifteen years ago) link
KISS!
― \m/ metal oaf \m/ (Ioannis), Tuesday, 14 April 2009 21:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Fire Lake" didn't come out until after that, so yeah he still managed at least one awesome moment
Yeah, that was a good one. I always liked "Makin' Thunderbirds" off The Distance, too.
Jason Aldean comes to mind
I was going to mention him. If "She's Country" doesn't qualify as butt-rock in 2009, nothing does.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 14 April 2009 22:24 (fifteen years ago) link
The name Bunny Brains conjures images of crazed music arising from cramped quarters and players probably naked and on amphetamines. It all makes sense when the disc starts, until they settle into the organ-ground, dinosaur dirge-groove of the nine minute "You're A Stud." Bunny Brains are a rolling-thunder basement band with ancient prog rhythms and Weenlike bombast, and some entertaining butt-rock tendencies on, for instance, "Kukla, Fran and Bunny."Patrick Barber PUNCTURE
― danbunny, Tuesday, 14 April 2009 22:31 (fifteen years ago) link
butt rock vs cock rock
― Young Wayne Newton (latebloomer), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 02:58 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm new to the concept of butt rock, but some of these glam/cock rock bands seem to miss the mark. I would imagine butt rock to have plenty of boogie in there, like Molly Hatchet's Flirting With Disaster.
In fact, upon further reflection, Molly Hatchet seem to be a prime exponent of the butt rock genre.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 04:22 (fifteen years ago) link
put a donk butt on it
― fahn fahn fahn on the suggest bahn (haitch), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 04:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Being massively effective in stadiums is part of it. Molly Hatchet was one of the big US stadium bands for a time.
― Gorge, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 05:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Plus they were massively foul-looking mostly ensuring that the women in the audience were the of the show-us-your-tits wimmen as property demographic. Contrast this with Keith Urban, also bing in stadiums, who has rather emphatically gone for very few guys but all girls who like to cuddle him slice.
― Gorge, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 05:15 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.mtv.com/onair/beavisandbutthead/personality_images/relaunch_crops/281x211_tom.jpgOne of them calls himself Butt-hole.. the other one's name is Joe I think..
― billstevejim, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 07:52 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't know what's happening to me. I've got this thing about Loverboy right now.http://baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com/Loverboy-GetLucky1981.jpg
I mean, I understand, this is really embarassing. But their greatest hits is just hitting my spot right now.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 08:10 (fifteen years ago) link
LOLOLOL I didn't know Tipsy Mothra posted it before I did! LOLOLOLOL
Okay I've read about 75% of this thread and there are some major LOLZ posts going on here. One thing I will say is that the original post by rogermexico needs to sortof be put in a plaque or something as I think it is a milestone significant contribution to ILM. I had never heard of "butt rock" until the late 90's but I think the idea of its inclusion of hair metal was pretty obvious.
I do think though, that if Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom" is not a part of this, then we've totally missed the point. Thanks dudes.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 08:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Also, I would like to know, in all innocence, if people think Journey is butt rock or not. Because if they are, I'm going to be really disillusioned and disappointed.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 08:47 (fifteen years ago) link
Journey were melodic (half-assed?) semi-butt rock.
― \m/ metal oaf \m/ (Ioannis), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 09:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Thanks, I think that's just about what I wanted to hear.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 09:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Please someone stop me before I start posting Loverboy You Tube videos on this thread. Please. They had synths, dude! ("Take Me To The Top"!) They were WAY ahead of the rest because of this simple fact. But I can't bear it. I'm going to die of embarassment over them.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 09:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, butt-rock has always been sort of meat and potatoes to me, which rules out the likes of Journey or Boston. "Godzilla" by BOC is sort of meta-butt-rock as well, since it's so funny. But if "Godzilla" weren't taking the piss, and were 30% less funky, it would be total butt-rock.
Foreigner gets pretty butt-y at times, but again - too slick. Molly Hatchet seem OTM. Grand Funk, BTO. Deep Purple is sort of ur-butt-rock. If Sabbath had far fewer hooks, it'd be more butt, too. Kiss is totally butt ("I was Made for Loving You" is butt-disco!). Hank Williams, Jr. is like butt-country.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 12:20 (fifteen years ago) link
All the stoner metal acts course with butt-DNA as well. Kyuss, Fu Manchu ... butt-rock in the rear view mirror may be closer than it appears.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 12:24 (fifteen years ago) link
"UFO's "Only You Can Rock Me," "Natural Thing," "Too Hot to Handle" and "Rock Bottom" fit here. "
those are some killer tunes
― Bill Magill, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 13:25 (fifteen years ago) link
Can't it be both?
― OK, fine, yes, I Goggled it (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 13:34 (fifteen years ago) link
When Trace Adkins isn't doing his sensitive ballads or I came to God stuff, he seems to be in the territory of butt rock
Plus he did "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," which if not sonically full-on butt-rock per se' is certainly as butt-oriented a country hit as has ever existed.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 15:32 (fifteen years ago) link
And honestly, Seger's "Feel Like A Number" (the most obvious song where he talks about working the 9 to 5 for the bossman) isn't all confident swagger either -- I mean, look at its title!
― xhuxk, Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Spent some time with this one (goddamn can dude sing his balls off or what?) and despite the refrain, it's really a kick-against-the-pricks cri de couer sort of thing i'n'it? cataloging the long list of daily insults in order to reject and rise above. it's sort of straightforwardly heroic.
― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 15:54 (fifteen years ago) link
All the stoner metal acts course with butt-DNA as well. Kyuss, Fu Manchu ... butt-rock in the rear view mirror may be closer than it appears
Yeah, they have it. But it doesn't always express for the butt rock protein. You need a singer with some command to do this. Fu Manchu doesn't have one. Well, technically, he's a 'singer.' and the sentiment and aim is there.
― Gorge, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
i always thought of butt rock as metal-prog for some reason, like the stuff the kid w/ a mullet and a megadeth t-shirt in jr. high probably listened to. it was an easy insulting association to make at the time, people who listen to "butt rock" when you're a teenager are poorer than you amirite? now i pretty much wish i had been friends w/ that kid
― Vaclav Havel mostly. (Matt P), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
in my mind, the Channel 101 guys are already hard at work on a successor to Yacht Rock centered around butt rock
― jamescobo, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 19:29 (fifteen years ago) link
nah, that's totally gay
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 21:07 (fifteen years ago) link
butt frock would be a good band name tho
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 21:12 (fifteen years ago) link
LOLOL Damn straight! It'd have to be a band of trannies, though I think.
― Take The Gothheads Bowling (Bimble), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 21:18 (fifteen years ago) link
"Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," which if not sonically full-on butt-rock per se' is certainly as butt-oriented a country hit as has ever existed.
Not quite a hit, but Alejandro Escavedo's "I Like Her Better When She Walks Away" was covered by Los Lonely Boys and it ended up on GW Bush's ipod. When Alejandro heard about it he refused to play the song live anymore.
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 15 April 2009 22:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Best AE song imho; another thing GWB ruined for the rest of us.
― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 15 April 2009 22:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Silent Majority finds creative new uses for classic butt-rock:
Rock anthems like "We're Not Gonna Take it" and "Takin' Care of Business" swirled with chants for states' rights. Protester signs blasted mortgage bailouts; others compared President Barack Obama and legislators to Somali pirates.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/16/0416teaparties.html
Randy Bachman leaves BTO behind; retains butt:
Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009
― xhuxk, Thursday, 16 April 2009 15:56 (fifteen years ago) link
"...states right's"
Cue descriptor for southern bigots/IRS deniers, cultural warriors, Ted Nugent crazies, etc
Very exclusionary by nature, strangely, does not exclude butt rocking.
― Gorge, Thursday, 16 April 2009 17:13 (fifteen years ago) link
More modern-day country butt:
Rolling Country 2009 Thread
― xhuxk, Friday, 17 April 2009 19:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Isn't "butt rock" classic-type rock that doesn't get enough respect because :
1) It's too commercial or "slick" / inauthentic
2) You can dance to it
3) It "rocks" anyway
― Possession of Stolen Goods (pharoah slanders) (u s steel), Wednesday, 19 January 2011 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― NYCNative, Thursday, 20 January 2011 04:32 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 05:37 (thirteen years ago) link
i really want to be in a butt rock band!
― flopson, Thursday, 20 January 2011 05:41 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― Possession of Stolen Goods (pharoah slanders) (u s steel), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:52 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:07 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:09 (thirteen years ago) link
I would like to think that "Black Betty" is the mos buttrockingest song ever done. The Ram Jam version, natch.
― NYCNative, Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:04 (thirteen years ago) link
^ understands
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Latter Day Butt Rock Protein
― sarahel, Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:12 (thirteen years ago) link
long distance bridal registry protein?
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:27 (thirteen years ago) link
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!
― Euler, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 22:23 (ten years ago) link