We love a good Butt Rock song, don’t we folks? Maybe you call it “Dad Rock” or “Divorced Dad Rock,” but we all know what it really is. It’s that garage riffin’ post-grunge goodness of the late 90s and early 2000s.
But does every song labeled “Butt Rock” deserve the title? Absolutely not. And I am here to not only call out the misguided allocation, but also myself for naively giving in to it.
See, at some point in the past, I made a “Dad Rock” playlist on Spotify (I have no recollection of this). It’s a curation of stuff like Nickelback and Creed and 3 Doors Down that I grew up on and, honestly, still love. But not all of these songs are Dad Rock or Butt Rock, and I need to apologize for my error.
“Shimmer” by Fuel
Here’s the thing: that first Fuel album, Sunburn (1998), is not Butt Rock. That is, like, the first wave of post-grunge. (Same goes for Creed’s debut album and Nickelback’s first two records, pre-Silver Side Up.)
That whole project is a killer 90s rock album, and “Shimmer” is such a brilliantly layered tune. It starts fairly mellow, and then builds perfectly, all with some lovely string instrumentation underneath.
I think Sunburn becomes “guilty by association” because their later albums very much match the butt rock blueprint. I’m willing to admit, I was wrong to put this on a list with Butt Rock songs.
“My Goddess” by The Exies
In 2003, L.A.’s own The Exies dropped their second record, Inertia. The record is certainly in that second wave of post-grunge, which is the most common era for butt rock. But I would argue that this project is more just alt-rock with nu-metal elements and little pop-rock sprinkled in here and there.
The album’s first song, “My Goddess”, was also its lead single. The track seemed to fit like a puzzle piece in the picture of butt rock in the early 00s. When you really listen to it though, it doesn’t have those markers. It’s got more filter in it than it has, say, Puddle of Mudd.
“Wasting My Time” by Default
Led by singer Dallas Smith, Default hails from the Great White North, like their peers in Nickelback. In the early 00s, they made a splash in the U.S. with a pair of really strong rock records that we typically associate with Butt Rock.
The reality, though, is that Default, including their hit single “Wasting My Time”, are much more country rock than Butt Rock. There’s maybe a strong emphasis on bass, which creates the illusion that something is heavier than it really is. Does Default have some Butt Rock songs elsewhere? Sure. But not here.
“Cochise” by Audioslave
I don’t know why I even have to say this, especially to myself, but Audioslave is NOT BUTT ROCK. They just aren’t.
They emerged in that moment where Butt Rock was on the rise, of course. But they are a 90s grunge/rock supergroup whose frontman (the late Chris Cornell) was unintentionally a big influence on Butt Rock just because his original band, Soundgarden, was so formidable for many aspiring musicians in the 90s.
I’m including their song “Cochise” on this list as more of a “principle of the matter” thing, because no Audioslave songs are Butt Rock, and I’m so sorry I ever implied as such with my careless playlist-ing.
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