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Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys were a San Francisco, California based band whose music, in a rockabilly vein, was dubbed "pornobilly" thanks to their lyrics and song titles.

History

Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys came out of the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1980s, and got their start playing in the I-Beam nightclub on Haight Street. They were also a frequent opening act at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Buck Naked (whose real name was Philip Bury) himself used to appear onstage wearing only cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, a guitar, and a strategically placed toilet plunger. Filling out the band were Buck's brother, Stephen Bury (taking the stage name "Hector Naked") and David Wees (known on stage as "Stinky LePew"). Despite its name, the rest of the band were more or less fully-clothed on stage. For at least one concert, at which the band opened for San Diego's Beat Farmers, the drummer for the BBB's had his bottom covered only with a truck mudflaps featuring Yosemite Sam and the phrase "Back Off!"

Both Buck and his brother worked for some time at the Berkeley Square in Berkeley, California, during the late 1980s; they helped host some notable bands like The Cure, 10,000 Maniacs, and Chris Isaak, to name a few, during the winter and spring of 1987. The band also became friends with Primus. Sharing many aesthetic similarities, the latter would make numerous tributes to Buck, either in their videos: "Mr. Krinkle" features a painting, "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" features a bass drum head, and in the album credits to 1993's Pork Soda.

Often compared to The Cramps (both in sound and in content) and Elvis Hitler, their live shows were highly-regarded, and one show made the front page of the Wall Street Journal when it was picketed by a number of ministers and Christian groups attempting to, in their words, "rid the city of demons and high-ranking evil spirits".

Death of Buck Naked

The band came to an abrupt end in 1992 when Buck Naked was murdered while walking his dog in Golden Gate Park's "Panhandle" by a man named Michael Kagan, said to be an obsessive pigeon feeder. Kagan had threatened to kill anyone who disturbed his beloved pigeons; Buck Naked and his dog provoked him enough to murder.

After Buck's death, a tribute concert was held at the I-Beam Nightclub in San Francisco where Buck used to work. Many local artists who were connected with Buck performed. A particular hit of the evening was an original song entitled "Fuck You Buck," written for the occasion and performed by Omaha rock band Town Crier. The song's lyrics were written by vocalist Scintilla Teric, a friend of Buck's, and were intended as a tribute (To those who were offended, Scintilla insisted "Buck would get it."). The song became a staple of the band's sets for years after.

Discography

• Teenage Pussy From Outer Space (EP)
• Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys (1993)