Music Sound

Cock rock is a term, typically used derogatively, to describe a style of rock music that became popular in the early-1970s, remained popular throughout the 1980s, and declined in the early-1990s. The term is sometimes interchangeable with either glam metal or hair metal, and to a lesser degree, hard rock. More specifically, cock rock is the subset of glam metal that deals with lyrics that often describe sexual encounters, and make frequent use of double entendres. It is so called because most of its progenitors were males writing for a largely male audience (cock is a synonym for penis in most dialects of English). Many consider cock rock chauvinistic.

Examples of this style include Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, KISS, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, Van Halen, Ratt, Whitesnake, Warrant, Winger, Skid Row, Def Leppard and Poison. It is important to note that many of these bands do have large amounts of female fans. The spoof documentary, This is Spinal Tap, is an acclaimed parody of the style. More recently, British band The Darkness have revived this genre.

See also glam metal. See also Coq Roq, a band that revived this style with a series of Burger King commercials in 2005.

Cock Rock is also the original name given to a natural obelisk in Oregon, which is part of a state park and is officially known as Rooster Rock.