You either love him or hate him.<\/p>\n
But Bob is standing up for much of what you believe. This is the only promo he’s doing, this and Megyn Kelly, he’s had it with the music industry, kissing ass, playing the game, it’s just him and his music, his show and his personality, isn’t that enough, hasn’t he earned it?<\/p>\n
That’s right, the man you hate is on your side.<\/p>\n
Now he tried for a long time before Andy Karp rescued him from obscurity for his release on Jason Flom’s Lava Records. The beneficiary of MTV, this cowboy became a giant just before the end of the century, when you lived and died on the video, when you could go diamond and be ubiquitous, but that paradigm is dead, everybody’s niche, the only difference is Kid Rock admits it.<\/p>\n
Great to hear someone with a sense of humor about himself and the game. Someone who’s not so busy playing to a theoretical king, but rather tearing the kingdom down.<\/p>\n
Rock admits he’s shared the stage with musicians far better than he is. Humility? Haven’t heard that in eons, certainly not from someone rooted in hip-hop.<\/p>\n
But Bob has left that aside. First he went rock and straddled the country world, now he’s more of an outlaw, in his own sphere, playing to his own audience, that’s right, he’s more twenty first century than most major acts out there.<\/p>\n
And he knows he’s selling not only music, but religion, a whole experience, the Kid Rock lifestyle, where the downtrodden come together to party, and this is where I get off the train, when there’s too much of this redneck us vs. them propaganda. Then again, Rock’s playing rock music, and…<\/p>\n
It’s taken him a while to find his voice. He sang too high. The tracks were too dense. But now, it’s as if Bob Seger were sitting on a porch in Tennessee with his homies, drinking a few and playing up a storm. And if you don’t want to get in on that, you’re no friend of mine.<\/p>\n
As for going to the White House…<\/p>\n
Rock played for Obama too. And he’s not about to turn down an invitation. He’s played for five Presidents. Hell, it’s hard to argue with an American on that.<\/p>\n
As for all that hunting and fishing b.s., he told Howard that he’d missed out by not eating freshly killed deer, a delicacy. And I’d be fine if they banned all guns, although bows and arrows would be cool, and the truth is someone has to prevent overpopulation. And the point is if you’re not willing to look at all sides, I don’t want to hear your opinion. I may not hunt, but I will say a fish never tastes as good as the one you’ve caught yourself and fresh meat is exquisite and now you’re wincing but I’m just saying it’s complicated, life is so complicated.<\/p>\n
As for the Senate thing, it was a joke, it was always a joke, Rock said yes to another’s bandwagon, he picked up the cause, and on Howard’s show he said he wouldn’t run, not that he doesn’t have opinions.<\/p>\n
Gay marriage fine. Then again, he said some lame stuff about transgender people. Although what he primarily said was he couldn’t understand it, which is different from accepting it. Hell, Rock seemed more open-minded than most left wingers.<\/p>\n
I’d be all for Rock being in the Senate. He’d bring some sense to the right wing cabal, assuming he wasn’t co-opted. Then again, I don’t believe in everyday people being in government, it’s a profession, leave it to the professionals, we don’t want to see elected officials on stage singing and strumming guitars.<\/p>\n
And Rock admitted being brought up in an upper middle class household and having to wrestle with admitting it. That’s one thing I hate about America. Everybody grew up poor. They did poorly in school. Then they say they went to Harvard and you’re scratching your head saying HUH?<\/p>\n
But that’s Hollywood for you, everybody lies.<\/p>\n
But Rock has left Hollywood behind.<\/p>\n
But the funniest thing he said was his jet was better than sex, that he’d give up sex rather than his plane. It represented the essence of America, FREEDOM! He could go where he wanted to go, with whomever… AND HE DID! People talk about freedom, but just like Sally in that movie, they don’t go anywhere, they don’t have sex on the kitchen floor.<\/p>\n
You’d want to hang with Rock because he’s FUN!<\/p>\n
I hear from him late at night. Always giving me shit. Always in my face. But if you don’t take offense, if you give it back and play along he calms down and becomes real and it’s like some guy you went to high school with, who you sat in the back of class with and connected.<\/p>\n
Rock is not Plant. First and foremost he doesn’t believe he’s that good! And he doesn’t take it that seriously, although he does love music.<\/p>\n
And why is it Rock tackled ticket prices and nobody else did. Why is it Rock gives so much to charity and others don’t. As for money, Rock kept saying he was loaded, had so much, didn’t need more, which is funny, since the techies and the financiers are never satisfied.<\/p>\n
As for the perks of the road…<\/p>\n
Rock is faithful to his fiancee. After all, he’s forty six!<\/p>\n
Rock was refreshing. He had a sense of humor. He got excited. He expressed vulnerability. He rolled with the changes, he was a good hang.<\/p>\n
But what has got me writing this is when they got to the new album and Howard played a few tunes…I LIKED THEM! I GOT THEM IMMEDIATELY!<\/p>\n
You won’t listen. But the truth is you won’t listen to so much of today’s music, everybody’s in their own hole. And Rock realizes this. He’s feeding his own frenzy, those already addicted, who bring their friends to his balls-out show.<\/p>\n
So you may not care, but Kid Rock is a modern rock star in an era where that no longer exists.<\/p>\n
Do you call someone who whores himself out to the corporation a rock star?<\/p>\n
Do you call someone who’s so busy working they’ve got no life a rock star?<\/p>\n
Do you call someone who’s so busy boasting they’ve lost touch with reality a rock star?<\/p>\n
No, a rock star is someone who’s made it who does it his way. Who doesn’t hew to the corporate line, who doesn’t care what society says, who plays to himself and has a bunch of acolytes who help him survive.<\/p>\n
That’s Kid Rock.<\/p>\n
He’s a rock star. A modern day cowboy. Someone who knows you don’t have to be master of the entire range, just your own domain. That if you’re true to yourself, the audience senses it and bonds to you.<\/p>\n
So this is a great experiment. Sans hype will Rock’s tickets sell?<\/p>\n
And that’s all that matters these days.<\/p>\n
I’m thinking yes.<\/p>\n
I’m hoping yes.<\/p>\n