The Kid Rock of 2011 is not the Kid Rock of 1998. The early Kid Rock was all bluster and over-masculine bravado, a street punk by the name of Bob Ritchie separating himself from the crowded alternative rock and nu-metal landscape of the late ’90s simply by being a mindless alpha male. How else to explain the lyrics to “Cowboy”: “Well, I’m packing up my game and I’m a head out West/Where real women come equipped with scripts and fake breasts.” Utterly charmless, right?
You’d almost expect if an interviewer told the 1998 Kid Rock that critics found him sexist, he would reply, “What’s wrong with bein’ sexy?” And he’d also probably respond that his music to that point had launched a thousand and one strip careers.
He was the rap rocker that critics and some music fans just wanted to “bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy diggy said the boogy said up” punch in the face. The 2000 album The History of Rock included such song titles as “[Expletive] You” and “[Expletive] You Blind,” along with “Abortion” and “Born 2 B a Hick.” And the album’s “American Bad Ass”? A little over four minutes of reminding listeners why Kid Rock is such a bad ass.
As much as he was hated, he was adored by a legion of fans. Albums such as Devil Without a Cause, The History of Rock and Cocky sold millions, and rap rock tunes such as “I Am the Bullgod,” the aforementioned “American Bad Ass” and “Forever” helped move the albums. And Kid Rock constantly reminded fans and critics that he was “The chosen one/I’m the living proof.”
But Cocky also marked a change in the career path of Kid Rock. The album was a slow seller as fans tired of rap rock until Kid Rock released “Picture,” a tune that was a hit on both the Top 40 and country charts. “Picture” signaled the beginning of Kid Rock’s transformation from rap rocker to a musician mixing Southern rock with country.
The first taste of Kid Rock’s embrace of Southern rock was Devil Without a Cause’s “Only God Knows Why,” a bluesy rock ballad describing the perils of rock stardom. It was an future-looking apology to his fans for his early image but also an extended middle finger to the haters of the time. But “Picture” was where Kid Rock broke from his rap rock past. (If you still hate him, you can blame “Picture” for his continued career.)
While 2003’s Kid Rock faltered a little, 2007’s Rock N Roll Jesus completely revived his career with its song cycle celebrating Kid Rock’s lust for life and total acceptance of Southern rock, country and blues. And 2010’s Born Free is Kid Rock fully realized as a heartland rocker.
The new Kid Rock (Let’s not call him reborn; just older and wiser.) is the Bob Seger of the 21st century. (Before you say, “Wait a sec? ‘Like a Rock’? ‘Old Time Rock and Roll’? Seger stinks!” let me say I’d rather choke the world’s last unicorn to death with my bare hands than hear “Night Moves” again. No, the Seger I know and love, and the Seger you should know and love is the Seger of “Still the Same,” the Seger of “Fire Lake,” “Her Strut” and “The Fire Down Below.”) Kid Rock’s career has picked up where Seger’s died in the late ’80s following the release of 1986’s Like a Rock.
For an artist who started a career because of the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and Ice Cube, Kid Rock is now a direct descendent of the musical ground broken by Seger, Hank Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Heartland rock with a touch of country. He’s moved past the loss of Uncle Kracker on the turntables. He’s no longer the marrying-Pamela-Anderson-for-five-months Kid Rock, or the Waffle-House-brawling Kid Rock.
(He shouldn’t escape criticism for his mid-career resurgence. We all know Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” is one of the greatest tunes of all time, a rollicking, fun-loving rock ‘n’ roll piano ditty with the classic line that inspires thoughts of a young and cocky Tom Cruise: “And his hair was perfect.” And we all know Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” shares a similar rhythm and melody as Zevon’s classic ode to the creature of the full moon. But “Sweet Home Alabama” should only be enjoyed by residents or natives of Alabama, and even then they should question what makes Alabama so sweet. Combining these two tunes — one great, one an abhorrence — is a crime against the late Zevon.)
Kid Rock’s eighth studio album Born Free was recorded basically live in a two week span in a Los Angeles studio, adding guest stars such as Martina McBride, T.I., Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige and Rock’s idol himself, Seger, in additional studios in Detroit, Nashville and Atlanta. But for all its urban recording, it’s a country rock album, still possessing an edge and a swagger, but with no rap rock.
Utilizing an all-star supporting band, including Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Chad Smith, Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo and Heartbreaker keyboardist Benmont Tench, Kid Rock and producer Rick Rubin created a testament of Midwestern rock ‘n’ roll. For an artist who spent the early part of his career debating whether he wanted to be a rap rocker or an outlaw country balladeer, Kid Rock has firmly decided with the release of Born Free to settle on a Rust Belt country rocker.
There comes a time in every artist’s development where they mature, where they wise up and depart from their adolescent ways and release a work that breaks from their past. Born Free isn’t that sudden U-turn. It’s more of a slow, sweeping 90-degree turn, cruising down a valley with the Hard Rock Mountains on the right and the Country Range on the left. Kid Rock’s new musical direction is working man’s music, blue collared and greasy, but with AM country gold melodies. Granted, when Kid Rock appears at Verizon Arena on Feb. 9, the packed audience will be treated to glimpses of the artist’s former Detroit gangster rocker image. Perhaps a fur-coat as Kid Rock struts across the stage. But this is a new Ritchie, a man who walked his talk for long enough. Now, he wants to make serious music. Now, he is ready to claim his spot in the annuals of rock, sliding onto the barstool somewhere between Bob Seger and Ronnie Van Zant.
Rock is 40 now. The artist who started his career performing as an over-the-top caricature of the Beastie Boys circa Licensed to Ill and rose to stardom with rap rock, lumping him with appalling acts such as Limp Bizkit, has slowly shed that image. He is still slightly bombastic but a little smarter, too. Still rebellious and fun-loving, but the defiant attitude has been channeled, creating a still rowdily fiery artist, and all that brash masculinity has mellowed into a gentleman’s confidence.
He is still Kid Rock. Still the chosen one and the living proof. Love him or hate him. But this slow conversion from Kid Rock, rap rocker, to Kid Rock heartland rocker, makes old Bob Ritchie just a little easier to love, and maybe even respect.
SEE THE SHOW:
Kid Rock brings his Born Free Tour to Verizon Arena on Feb. 9, with doors opening at 6 p.m. and the music starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 and $49.50 at the Verizon Arena Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com. All the usual Ticketmaster fees push ticket prices to $33.10 and $60.20. The $89 floor seats are sold out. Opener Jamey Johnson is worth the price of admission because his country isn’t this sugar-loaded, I-only-love-God-more-than-America-and-family rubbish that passes for country on today’s radio dial. It’s the real deal. Raw and visceral, and filled with narratives of broken hearts, broken bottles and a broken country, but also a shot of redemption.