Cock rock

2025-10-21T20:13:06Z

2A0B:FA80:103:FFAF:5C18:8F80:6F10:D1E: other term

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Short description|Genre of rock music}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Robert-Plant.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Male cock-rocker displaying his bare chest|[[Robert Plant]] of [[Led Zeppelin]], considered one of the key acts in the development of cock rock, onstage in New York in 1973]]
'''Cock rock''' or '''butt rock'''<ref>https://toiletovhell.com/toilet-radio-138-the-great-butt-rock-debate/</ref> is a description of [[rock music]] that emphasizes an aggressive form of [[male sexuality]]. The style developed in the later 1950s, came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, and continues into the present day.

== Characteristics ==
Cock rock is a [[music genre|musical genre]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Burton |first=Jack |date=Spring 2007 |title=Dude Looks Like A Lady: Straight Camp and the Homo-social World of Hard Rock |url=http://www.forumjournal.org/article/download/580/865 |journal=Forum, University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture & the Arts |publisher=University of Edinburgh |volume=04 |page=10 |access-date=February 9, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=DeLane Doktor |first=Stephanie |title=Covering the tracks: exploring cross-gender covers of the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction' |date=May 2008 |access-date=February 9, 2014 |publisher=University of Georgia |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/doktor_stephanie_d_200805_ma.pdf |page=24 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Ramirez |first=Michael |date=December 2007 |title=Music, gender, and coming of age in the lives of indie rock performers |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/ramirez_michael_e_200712_phd.pdf |url-status=dead |publisher=University of Georgia |page=1 |access-date=February 9, 2014}}</ref> Philip Auslander uses [[Simon Frith]]'s description of cock rock characteristics:
<blockquote>[C]ock-rock performance means an explicit, crude, 'masterful' expression of sexuality ... Cock-rock performers are aggressive, boastful, constantly drawing audience attention to their prowess and control. Their bodies are on display ... [[Microphone|mikes]] and guitars are [[Phallus|phallic symbols]] (or else caressed like female bodies), the music is loud, rhythmically insistent, built around techniques of [[arousal]] and release. Lyrics are assertive and arrogant, but the exact words are less significant than the vocal styles involved, the shrill shouting and [[Screaming (music)|screaming]].<ref name="Frith, characteristics">{{cite book |last=Frith |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Frith |date=November 1981 |title=Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll |location=New York |publisher=[[Pantheon Books]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/soundeffectsyout00frit/page/227 227] |isbn=978-0-394-50461-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/soundeffectsyout00frit/page/227}} <br />Cited in {{cite journal |last=Auslander |first=Philip |date=28 January 2004 |title=I Wanna Be Your Man: Suzi Quatro's musical androgyny |journal=Popular Music |volume=23 |issue=1 |page=2 |location=United Kingdom |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/S0261143004000030 |s2cid=191508078 |access-date=31 January 2014 |url=http://lmc.gatech.edu/~auslander/publications/quatro.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524032035/http://lmc.gatech.edu/~auslander/publications/quatro.pdf |archive-date=24 May 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

== Use of the term ==
The meaning of the term ''cock rock'' has changed over time. It was first mentioned by an anonymous author in the New York–based underground [[feminist]] publication ''[[Rat (newspaper)|Rat]]'' in 1970<ref>T. Cateforis, ''The Rock History Reader'' (CRC Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-415-97501-8}}, p. 125.</ref> to describe the male-dominated music industry, and became a synonym for [[hard rock]], emphasizing the aggressive expression of male sexuality, often [[misogynist]] lyrics and use of [[Phallus|phallic]] imagery.<ref>R. Shuker, ''Popular Music: the Key Concepts'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005, 2nd edn., 2005), {{ISBN|0-415-28425-2}}, pp. 130-1.</ref> The term was used by sociologists [[Simon Frith]] and [[Angela McRobbie]] in 1978 to point to the contrast between the male-dominated subculture of cock rock which was "aggressive, dominating and boastful" and the more feminized [[Teen pop|teenybop]] stars of pop music.<ref>M. Leonard, ''Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse and Girl Power'' (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7546-3862-6}}, pp. 24-6.</ref> [[Led Zeppelin]] have been described as "the quintessential purveyors of 'cock rock'".<ref>S. Waksman, ''Instruments of Desire: the Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-674-00547-3}}, pp. 238-9.</ref> Other formative acts include [[the Rolling Stones]], [[the Who]] and [[Jim Morrison]] of [[the Doors]].<ref>P. Auslander, ''Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music'' (University of Michigan Press, 2006), {{ISBN|0-472-06868-7}}, p. 201.</ref>

In 1981, Frith described the characteristics of cock rock in a way that could apply to female performers, not just male ones.<ref name="Frith, characteristics" /> In 2004, Auslander used this description of cock-rock characteristics to show that [[Suzi Quatro]] (the first female bass player to become a major rockstar) is a female cock-rocker.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Auslander | first = Philip | date = January 28, 2004 | title = I Wanna Be Your Man: Suzi Quatro's musical androgyny | journal = Popular Music | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–16 | location = United Kingdom | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | doi = 10.1017/S0261143004000030 | s2cid = 191508078 | access-date = February 12, 2014 | url = http://lmc.gatech.edu/~auslander/publications/quatro.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130524032035/http://lmc.gatech.edu/~auslander/publications/quatro.pdf | archive-date = May 24, 2013 | url-status = dead}}</ref>

Since the 1980s, the term has been sometimes interchangeable with [[hair metal]] or [[glam metal]].<ref>C. Klosterman, ''Fargo Rock City: a Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural Nörth Daköta'' (Simon and Schuster, 2001), {{ISBN|0-7434-0656-7}}, pp. 100-1.</ref> Examples of this genre include: [[Mötley Crüe]], [[Ratt]], [[Warrant (American band)|Warrant]], [[Extreme (band)|Extreme]], [[Cinderella (band)|Cinderella]], [[Pretty Boy Floyd (American band)|Pretty Boy Floyd]], [[Jackyl]], [[L.A. Guns]], and [[Poison (American band)|Poison]].<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/hair-metal-d2693 "Hair metal"], ''[[AllMusic]]'' retrieved December 30, 2010.</ref> Despite the name, many of these bands had or have large numbers of female fans.<ref>R. Moore, ''Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis'' (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-8147-5748-0}}, pp. 109-110.</ref> The spoof documentary ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' is an acclaimed parody of the genre.<ref>J. Gottlieb and G. Wald, "Smells like teen spirit: riot girls, revolution and independent women in rock", in A. Ross and T. Rose, eds, ''Microphone Fiends: Youth Music & Youth Culture'' (London: Routledge, 1994), {{ISBN|0-415-90908-2}}, p. 259.</ref> In the 21st century, there was a revival of the genre with the sleaze metal movement in Sweden, with acts including [[Vains of Jenna]].<ref>M. Brown, [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p847945|pure_url=yes}} "Vains of Jenna"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved June 19, 2010.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Arena rock]]
*[[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]
*[[Hard rock]]
*[[Classic rock]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite news|last=Tringali|first=Juliana|title=Love Guns, Tight Pants, and Big Sticks. Who Put the Cock in Rock?|url=http://bitchmagazine.org/article/love-guns|access-date=December 10, 2012|newspaper=[[Bitch (magazine)|Bitch]]}} (Female cock rockers from an American feminist point of view.)

{{Rock music}}

[[Category:20th-century music genres]]
[[Category:21st-century music genres]]
[[Category:Rock music genres]]
[[Category:Men and sexuality]]

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Cock rock