Bulldozers and Dirt: The DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Poll

don't know why i've never checked these guys out, i'd probably like them. those are some pretty good album titles.

Listening to all these wd be shorter than live show

some voters think they've gotten worse after Decoration Day

That'd be me.

Voting Southern Rock Opera, no contest really. Though I was less bored by Brighter Than Creation's Dark than any of them albums since Decoration Day.

Decoration Day for me. Their collective peak as songwriters.

i'm actually going for creation's dark, even though really i think their albums are all mixed bags. but i always thought southern rock opera got credit for what it tried to do more than what it actually achieved -- some good songs, but they're not all good by any means -- and since i'm a particular fan of mike cooley, i like his prominence on the latest record. overall i like the dbts without loving them. and i still think they're more the replacements than they are lynyrd skynyrd.

Yeah, Mike Cooley saves BTCD; he pushes Hood to write sharper, shorter songs than is his wont.

I think I listen to Alabama Ass Whuppin the most

i actually love the new stuff, although i miss Isbell's input. tough call for me, but i went with Decoration Day because the title track pushes it over the edge.

decoration day, mostly for Outfit

I'm going with Brighter, which still nags me to pull it off the shelf and give it a hard, dedicated listen even after a year later. The others all do that to some extent (except Blessing and a Curse, which is mostly the latter), but none has as strong a command over me as that one.

Pizza Deliverance. I really should hear Gangstabilly, cuz right now I'm feeling like each album was worse than the one before it, though I have yet to hear BTCD. Ironically, I do think Isbell is better than that 3rd wheel groaner they had beforehand.

ugh. Decoration Day is probably the strongest top-to-bottom.

But in addition to the ambition and vision and southern thing and whatnot Southern Rock Opera has "Zip City"

Zip City. That is one hell of a song. Pizza Deliverance has Uncle Frank, another doozy. But still, it's gotta be Decoration Day.

Not usually one for the words, but the storytelling really hits on Dirty South

Dirty South. As a NASCAR fan, I fucking love Daddy's Cup.

Those Buford songs drag something awful, though.

Every album has something to recommend it but

Decoration Day is probably the strongest top-to-bottom.

otm.

1. The Dirty South (first heard this on a long drive to Memphis and it really grabbed me)
2. Decoration Day
3. Southern Rock Opera
4. Brighter Than Creation's Dark
5. A Blessing and a Curse

Sadly, still haven't heard anything pre-SRO.

"Those Buford songs drag something awful, though."

I agree

I'm voting "Southern Rock Opera," which I think represented the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end, but marked some sort of peak nonetheless. I mean, I absolutely love without reservation everything the band has ever done, and haven't sensed much of a drop-off, bar some of "A Blessing and a Curse," but "SRO" is the rare concept album that succeeds on general concept rather than fails trying to come up with a coherent plot. Plus: "Let There Be Rock!"

Anyone ever hear one of Hood's hilarious stories of catching all those butt-rock bands, and how Kansas always seemed to be the opener? Though he told me one time that the reason he went to see the telltale Ozzy Osbourne and Blue Oyster Cult shows he cites in the song was to catch openers UFO.

Went with "Southern Rock Opera," but "The Dirty South" is crucial listening on my road trips to McNairy County, TN.

voted decoration day. SRO almost won just on the strength of "let there be rock" and "zip city," but so much of it drags for me that DD wins.

Southern Rock Opera. No contest. I mean, I haven't heard the earlier ones, but everything after that I've felt robbed of $14.99 or whatever. SRO made my hair stand on end (Women Without Whiskey) and once it even made me cry (Angels and Fuselage). Only one or two songs they've put out since have impressed me.

I'm sure this is a minority opinion.

"Anyone ever hear one of Hood's hilarious stories of catching all those butt-rock bands..."

What the hell is butt rock?

What the hell is butt rock?

Near as I can suss, some folks use it to refer specifically to relatively square 4/4 I-IV-V rock'n'roll like AC/DC and the Stones, and other folks use it to refer generically to 80s hair band output of any stripe (e.g. some sugar on me, sister christian, winger)

Excellent question, really. Mind if I start a thread?

Anyone ever hear one of Hood's hilarious stories of catching all those butt-rock bands..."

Yes. But when I heard him tell it during "Let There Be Rock" the opening band was always Mahogany Rush.

Didn't realize the term butt-rock was so mysterious! I always thought of it as generally b-list, always-the-opener-never-the-headliner sorts of hirsute '70s rockers. The precursors to hair metal, I suppose. Thus I'd rule out AC/DC and the Stones, but likely including many forgotten bands that shared bills with both.

"Mind if I start a thread?"

Please do

If Ozzy, BOC and UFO are "butt-rock", then count me in as a fan of this strangely named genre.

I assumed butt-rock meant you sang out of your butt, i.e. Nickelback.

If Nickelback counts, all bets are off.

Alabama Ass Whuppin for me. This band is best captured live.

Nicklebütt

end derail: So what is this BUTT ROCK, anyway?

we now return you to the Mike Cooley appreciation thread

i unintentionally moonwalked in front of him once

you gotta stay focused on the righteous path.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I missed this, but if you flip Southern Rock Opera (uneven and slightly overrated despite such eternal Cooley classics as "Zip City" and the very Tom T. Hall-worthy "Guitar Man Upstairs") with Brighter Than Creation's Dark (wildly underrated, though maybe not so much here), then I agree with the order.