Let's gossip about Kid Rock

[trashcanman]

Can't believe I used to be a fan of this guy. So yeah, anyways, there's this:

loudwire.com/kid-rock-insults-korn-beyonce-obama-praising-guns-axl-rose-u-s-troops/

Where to start? "Obummer"? Did he actually say that out loud? And wow, having met Axl Rose once decades after anyone gave a shit about him, you decided you know him better than every other person who's ever known him. Cool. But the real story here is apparently Beyonce, whose fans have been swarming his social media ever since. I know the guy's no racist from his old music, but if you're going to say Beyonce ain't shit because you're into "skinny white girls with big tits" than I don't know what to tell you. That's about the most ignorant-sounding thing you could say. And if her biggest crime is not recording Purple Rain or Sweet Home Alabama, she''s in pretty good company. Don't get me wrong, I have little to no affinity for the woman's music, but there's no shortage of worse acts out there and she strikes me as a pretty together lady on top of being unspeakably beautiful so I'd hardly consider her a target worth going after. That is, unless you have a new album dropping and you're looking to rally your new fanbase of white hillbilly dickheads with some controversial nonsense. Hmmmm.......

[Ben]

I've seen a few different celebrities stick up for Axl over the years. It's always a douchebag (Bach, Kid Rock) who also does stupid shit to piss everyone off on the regular. How about his hooker comment? "Driving my kid around on a Monday field trip, and I just banged four hookers! Well, okay... they weren't hookers, they were just girls." Uh, okay? Going after Beyonce is definitely screaming for press, though I basically agree with his angle, which is that she's overrated. Still no real reason to bring it up. I wouldn't listen to five seconds of Avril Levigne talking about Metallica, so I'm not going to listen to KR commenting on Beyonce either. I've never liked Kid Rock's music, and I don't like him as a person, but he has done ONE cool thing recently: he capped his ticket prices at $20 for his summer tour. I suppose it's possible he's just trying to cover the fact no one wants to see him, but he's still pretty popular (for some reason), so I imagine it's him legitimately doing something good for the fans.

[trashcanman]

I've actually heard Avril Lavigne talk about Metallica after she covered Fuel at MTV's tribute concert for them. She said that she'd never really listened to them. Well, that makes her a great choice to pay tribute then, doesn't it?

I used to really enjoy Kid's mix of hip-hop, metal, classic rock, and country, but it seems like he's just focusing on the last two these days and it's not his strong point. I'm over him. He's also a grade A douche, but that's always been true. I just didn't mind when the music was good. It looks like he's really cultivating the whole white trash thing to go for that audience. I mean, who else is going to respond positively to "I like skinny white girls with big tits"? The $20 ticket thing is awesome, but it also feeds into that. It's kind of sad that people buy music based on how much somebody panders to them in interviews. Ironically, it's no different than buying a pop album because the singer is hot. Where's your fucking Purple Rain, Kid?

[The Curmudgeon]

Kid Rock is notable in the UK for precisely three things.

1. His "American Bad Ass" song was the theme tune for the Undertaker for a while, which pretty much introduced him to a lot of Brits.
2. He gained a certain amount of heat when he tried to get some beef going with Radiohead (one of his videos showed him wiping his ass with Radiohead toilet paper)
3. He had a terrible number one single out of fucking nowhere ("All Summer Long"). Awful.


That's pretty much it. I've never been a fan; he always seemed like a complete prick and while some of his songs were enjoyable enough no way could I stomach listening to that asshole. His comment about Beyonce and preferring skinny white girls may well be taken out of context by some journalist trying to make some good headline. I can, maybe, give him the benefit of the doubt.

As for Beyonce, she's a pop star, and lets be honest, she looks great and sounds great. That's pretty much all you need. If you have the army of writers and producers she has, you've got a license to print money. She may not have "a Purple Rain" to a lot of people, but to the fucking legion of fans who buy her records, she obviously does.

[Ben]

Kid Rock is far from the only offender when it comes to what I'm about to bring up, but does it bother anyone else that he's 44 years old and he still calls himself "Kid Rock?" I get it, you built your fame on a name, you want to stick with it. That's totally understandable. But if I ever ran into the "Kid" at a bar I think it'd be downright creepy to be referring to someone who's damn near twice my age as "Kid Rock."

There's also Lil Jon (44 years old), Kid Cudi and Lil Wayne (still acceptable at 31 and 32, respectively?), New Kids on the Block (all in their early-to-mid-40s), Lil Kim (40)...

I don't like it.

[trashcanman]

New Kids started going by NKOTB and tried to get all gangsta in the mid 90's. It didn't work. But yeah, that All Summer Long tune is fucking awful. Kid Rock used to record his albums all by himself Prince-style, playing all the instruments so he's obviously not without talent and Beyonce's career wouldn't last a fucking month without her corporate backing, but I just don't see him winning this. Maybe back when he was badass and not playing some watered-down pop country bullshit I'd have taken his side, but this is just silly at this point. Oh, and what else does one do with Radiohead toilet paper if not wipe your ass with it?

What do you think about this tune? This is the one that put him on the map in the late 90's and I still think it's pretty damn cool.

[Ben]

I've always kind of dug that tune (despite the nonsense lyrics) because it has a pretty badass riff in the middle. I can no longer think of anything but this when I hear it though: