"Ram Ranch" is a song by Canadian musician Grant MacDonald. Released in 2012, it is a heavy metal song with explicit lyrics about a large

orgy An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other o ...

of gay cowboys taking place at the titular ranch. The song was originally created by MacDonald as a protest against radio stations based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, which rejected his previous country music for having homosexual themes. The song went viral in 2016, becoming popular in

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

culture and prompting MacDonald to create hundreds of sequels. The song was used by counter-protestors during the 2022

Canada convoy protest The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, COVID-19 vaccine man ...

, where they flooded communication networks between protestors with the song and created the "Ram Ranch Resistance", which itself led to the creation of more internet memes.

Background and composition

"Ram Ranch" was created by Grant MacDonald, a musician from

Summerside, Prince Edward Island Summerside is a Canadian city in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It is the second largest city in the province and the primary service centre for the western part of the island. History Summerside was ...

. Prior to creating "Ram Ranch", MacDonald was responsible for making numerous songs that depicted same-sex themes. Some of these songs composed by MacDonald include "Cum God" and "Prince Harry's 12-Inch Cock." He was also responsible for directing and producing gay male erotica films. Upon attempting to pitch three songs depicting love between two cowboys to radio stations based in

, his work was rejected. MacDonald viewed this as

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

in the country music industry, and created "Ram Ranch" in 2012 out of spite, describing it as a "protest song" in an interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. In a separate interview with ''

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

'', MacDonald stated the song was made as an example of "how gay country music could be." The loudly shouted lyrics of the song depict a story of eighteen gay cowboys having sex with each other on the titular Ram Ranch. The lyrics feature explicit phrases such as "eighteen naked cowboys wanting to be fucked", and "big, hard, throbbing cocks waiting to be sucked."

Impact

Around 2016, "Ram Ranch" went

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

and became popular in

culture. As the song rose in popularity, a fan requested that MacDonald create a sequel. He was originally hesitant to do so, stating that it would've been "like

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

putting out ''

Dark Side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the Near side of the Moon, near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation i ...

2''", though he did eventually create "Ram Ranch 2." He continued to make numerous sequels to "Ram Ranch", and has since made several hundred sequels to "Ram Ranch".

"Ram Ranch Resistance"

In 2022, the song was used during the

(also known as the "Freedom Convoy") by counter-protestors. The song was used to

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

those attending and organizing the protests, primarily by flooding their

Zello Zello is a tech software company in Austin, Texas, U.S., known for the Zello app, which emulates push-to-talk (PTT) walkie-talkies over cell phone networks. History Alexey Gavrilov developed the product originally called Loudtalks which was ann ...

channels with the song's intro. According to ''Rolling Stone'', the song was chosen to make fun of the Dodge Ram trucks used by the protestors, as well as to subvert their patriotism since MacDonald was Canadian. As the song increased in prominence throughout the protests, the "Ram Ranch Resistance" was formed on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, whose members identified themselves as "ranchers." The "ranchers" continued to sabotage Zello channels with the song, with one of the channels having nearly 2,000 members. This specific use of the song was attributed to helping end a protest near

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

due to its disruptive use. According to Twitter user @NoelleNarwhal, the user that first started the "Ram Ranch Resistance", at least three Zello channels were shut down using the song. The "Ram Ranch Resistance" also led to the creation of a charity site dedicated to businesses affected by the protests, numerous internet memes, as well as physical signs used by counter-protestors that stated "Welcome to the Ram Ranch." Upon learning about his song being used during the counter-protests, MacDonald said that he was "totally elated that my song could be used to stand up for science". He subsequently created an over twenty-minute-long song with equally explicit lyrics as "Ram Ranch", specifically themed around the truckers, simply named "Ottawa Truckers."

References

{{Reflist 2012 songs Canadian hard rock songs COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Fictional farms Gay male erotica Internet memes introduced from Canada Internet memes introduced in 2012 Internet trolling LGBTQ-related music in Canada Novelty songs Outsider music Political Internet memes Protest songs Songs about cowboys and cowgirls Spoken word LGBTQ-related songs