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

Axiom 2. For all a and b, either a <_{butt} b or b <_{butt} a

Born in the USA is butt -- it may be Pippa's Arse compared to the more proletarian asses of songs by Foghat, BTO, and Grand Funk Railroad -- but it is still of the posterior category

our collective efforts toward a poetics of butt rock have been suitably dumb

new board description

xp By what measure? If “butt” simply means “anthemic,” then butt means nothing at all!

Butt means something to me

idk where you are getting butt = anthemic from. There is plenty of anthemic music that is not butt -- the Internationale, for example. I guess you _could_ do a buttrock version of The Internationale, though it kinda is at odds with a certain butt ethos focused on the individual butt-owner (generally male) as opposed to a song focused on collectivist action focused on overthrowing an oppressive state. There does tend to be a proletarian aspect to buttrock, however.

i view buttrock as generating primarily feelings of fellowship, among the dudes and dude-adjacent ... it is the soundtrack to bros before hos for white men

I agree with this; I think there's an unquestioning bro-ishness to buttrock that's essential to the genre.

I agree that "Born in the USA" doesn't belong on the list; I think part of the essence of buttrock is that it doesn't require you to think, and, in fact, actively discourages you from thinking. If listening to it doesn't on some level make you dumber, I don't think it counts.

Hmm, I would propose that a buttrock song is at least polyvalent, in that it allows for a stupid listener response, even if the desired interpretation is more nuanced and/or intellectual. If this is not true, then our theoretical structure could result in the exclusion of numerous core buttrock tracks because someone can respond to it with "makes you think!" --> not buttrock.

what do you mean this doesn't require you to think

I'm in the mood
The rhythm is right
Move to the music
We can roll all night, yeah

Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy

Euler otm

is Buddy Miles the only (lead) black artist on the list? we need to interrogate the intersectionality of the butt

There is plenty of anthemic music that is not butt -- the Internationale, for example.

We’re taking about rock songs here, sheesh!

applying the looser criteria of polyvalence to buttrock: you can include Born in the USA because there are plenty of people who hear it and think, "I was born in the USA! Yay! USA!" ... and hear "Slow Ride" and think "Slow Ride! Cars cruising! Yay! Slow Ride!" idk

xp morrisp -- there have been rock versions of the Internationale!!!

xp Euler -- I feel like the essence of butt is white and cis-male -- the inclusion of a black artist like Buddy Miles, and cis-women artists like Pat Benetar and Heart -- idk, maybe they aren't really butt? Does the dynamic change when the voice of butt is not a white male?

lol Tush really should be the winner here. Has my vote

Think we'll get to the bottom of this soon

yeah I agree sarahell, butt lacks intersectionality

It's true that a definition that relies on an individual and subjective experience of stupidity is flawed. But I would also argue that many songs that are not buttrock allow for a stupid listener response; the question, I think, is whether the song actively works to limit the listener response to a shared bro-ish stupidity.

feel like butt vs funk is a dialectic worth problematizing

butt can be white dudes trying to do funk but failing

But I would also argue that many songs that are not buttrock allow for a stupid listener response; the question, I think, is whether the song actively works to limit the listener response to a shared bro-ish stupidity.

And I would say that Born in the USA does that -- perhaps unintentionally, but it is anthemic and the catchy chorus is "Born in the USA" -- compare this to CCR's "Fortunate Son" -- where the catchy chorus is "I'm Not Your Fortunate Son" -- there is an active negation and tension there, in the dominant language, that is not present in "Born in the USA" -- it would be like, a picture of a butt, with relatively small-sized text framing the butt pic that talks about how horribly police handle sexual assault cases. Some people are gonna see the whole thing, and see it as a commentary on objectification and sexual assault -- other people will just see a big picture of a butt, and think, "Mmmmm butt!"

"Born in the USA" doesn't rest comfortably in the Buttrock canon, but it is still part of it. It's the "In Bloom" issue.

It's so keyboardy tho. Are synths butty enough?

Also would that open the doors to the Cougar himself

uh, the Coug is def butt-adjacent

A buttbeat away

B.U.T.T. IN THE U.S.A

I first heard the term "buttrock" in the 90s.

and this queefdick

― ill fuckin put a paste on those (Neanderthal)

apparently so much as mentioning the '90s gave you a serious flashback

Is "Hungry Heart" buttrock? To me it sounds much buttier than "Born in the USA," but maybe my definition is off.

"Hungry Heart" seems more like a throwback to a 1950s sound

i view buttrock as generating primarily feelings of fellowship, among the dudes and dude-adjacent ... it is the soundtrack to bros before hos for white men

Using this rubric, would vote for “Hot Blooded.”

Jukebox Hero is pure butt.

But, like, Boston - too much care and craft, imo, butty though it may often be.

i view buttrock as generating primarily feelings of fellowship, among the dudes and dude-adjacent ... it is the soundtrack to bros before hos for white men

Forgive my buttless ignorance, but how does this differ from cock rock?

I think of butt-rock simply as graceless, lowest-common-denominator hard-rock, lacking subtlety, technical sophistication, etc.

Artists like Springsteen, Mellencamp are just “too good” to even be in the ballpark.

The Boss does sound more than a bit constipated on BITU so that’s adds a few points on the butt-scale.

I've been underrating "Roadhouse Blues" as butt rock urtext, focusing instead on Hendrix and Sticky Fingers. But the throbbing and moaning of "Roadhouse Blues", its gracelessness, its thud: this is butt.

Forgive my buttless ignorance, but how does this differ from cock rock?

cock rock at least gives the hos equal standing to bros, and in some instances be closer to hos before bros

like cock rock is more Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart and the audience is the aforementioned dudes alongside the women in crop tops and jean shorts

I thought butts were gender neutral?

^exactly!

Most of the cock rock i know is misogynist as hell

I knew a guy he had a butt
15 miles on the Eerie Canut

butts also do not see color, yet the vast majority of buttrock is white

There is no way Born in the USA is butt rock.

I think the element that some butt-adjacent songs are missing is the troglodyte quality of real butt rock. Trve Cult Butt Rock like Grand Funk Railroad's first album has a willful stupidity to it, but(t) too much willfulness or knowingness kills butt rock dead. Also, butt rock does permit metaphor or wordplay, it's just that these aspirations to artiness must be deployed with a certain locker room crassness, such as winking double entendres for how the singer's penis fits in a vagina.

Most of the cock rock i know is misogynist as hell

yes! because women do not have cocks. whereas, everyone has a butt

Cock Rock is more about blatantly trying to get laid, while Butt Rock is more about partying and just having fun in general.

I guess what I am saying is a butt rock requires a little meat head.

born in the USA is beloved by many meat heads!