What up ya’ll?
The past month or so I have been focusing a lot of my attention on how I define myself musically. That is, I have addressed my fans as well as those that attack my musical tastes. You may have read in my other posts that I have been accused of being a music snob. It’s a label that I don’t really mind so much, in fact, I take it as a compliment as well as an insult (it depends on the attitude of the person making the claim). With all that running through my mind lately I thought I would try and clarify some definitions and terms I use to make my arguments. Today I will address the term “Butt Rock.”
Anyone can find a pretty decent definition of butt rock on urban dictionary or other slang dictionaries around. As for the definition, it’s pretty clear but there is an element that is still missing. It’s not in the music itself because the sound is not what ultimately defines butt rock, it’s the attitude. The attitude I am talking about is not necessarily serious or tongue-in-cheek. There are plenty of bands or groups around that take themselves seriously and are not butt rock in my book. The attitude I am talking about is when a group is taking itself or its music seriously when it should be a joke. In addition to being a big fan of music, I am a big fan of comedy, in all forms. When the two are combined it’s even more glorious. I would say the best example of this is the movie “This is Spinal Tap.” For anyone familiar with that movie it is an obvious parody of metal bands of the 70′s and 80′s. The film takes serious musical attitudes and turns them into humor. There are many bands out today who do that with their music. They may sing about serious themes and even be genuine in their feelings towards each song. The difference though, is passion versus taking yourself too seriously. I think most fans can spot the difference of passion versus seriousness in a song or group. One example I can come up with off the top of my head is the song “Photograph”by the band “Nickleback.” Although the lyrics upon reading are heartfelt and meaningful, when listening to the actual song it makes me want to laugh. The whole thing just sounds so contrived and ingenuous. I am sure that Nickleback put a lot of effort into writing that song and performing it, but something about it just does not work. That is just one of many, many examples out there today. In fact if you ever catch one of those infomercials for compilation cd’s (any modern or alternative rock compilation) you can find an entire list of butt rock bands and songs. Even the announcer in those commercials sounds fake as hell. The whole thing just comes off as trying too hard to be one thing when it has absolutely no reason to be that way. I don’t have a problem with most butt rock songs in general. Like I pointed out, the lyrics and music can be quite a good listen, but the feel and attitude of a song can be its downfall. Next time I will address the next step down in butt rock progression, the butt rock cover bands out there (yuck). Catch you next time. Look below for a small sample of what I am talking about!!!!!!
[...] One Should Terrify the Neighborhood. Brian posted this from Music I know I said in my last post (HERE) that I would talk about butt-rock cover bands, but after some thought I decided against it. One [...]