BY CHARLES RUNNELLS • CRUNNELLS@NEWS-PRESS.COM • APRIL 30, 2008
Cocky only gets you so far.
Then, suddenly, you’re playing dive bars and county fairs.
Kid Rock knew he needed to step up his game or he’d be singing “Bawitdaba” to people munching corn dogs and cotton candy.
That’s why he loaded his new album with better songwriting, more meaningful lyrics and a decidedly classic-rock vibe.
It was either that or the rock-star dustbin.
“Oh yeah,” Rock said recently in a telephone interview from Nashville.
“Either people will take to this or it’ll be like ‘OK, let’s go on the fair circuit.’”
Rock shouldn’t worry too much.
Organizers for the annual Live X concert Thursday expect it to sell out.
And most of those 6,500 fans, no doubt, will come to see Rock’s famously energetic live show.
Radio personality Bob Garrett of 99X has seen Kid Rock four times now, and he’ll gladly see concert No. 5 on Thursday.
Garrett calls Kid Rock a certified rock star and showman. “He’s famous for going around the stage and playing every instrument, getting on the turntable and mixing it up.
“It’s a party. It’s about fun.”
People respond to that larger-than-life, party-hard stage personae.
“He’s definitely a rock star,” Garrett said, “right down to the trophy bimbo wife.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson were married for three months in 2006)
Even other musicians on the Live X bill are starstruck. Kid Rock will be joined by three up-and-coming rock bands: Saving Abel, Hurt and Theory of a Deadman.
Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman plans to be in the audience when Rock takes the stage.
“I heard he puts on an amazing show,” he said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
Kid Rock said he’s glad people are responding so well to his new songs. It was a gamble, he admitted.
He’s best known for rap-heavy, party-rock songs such as “Bawitdaba” and “I Am the Bullgod.” But “Rock N Roll Jesus” is a straight-ahead classic-rock album - complete with a catchy mash-up of “Werewolves of London” and “Sweet Home Alabama” on the new single “All Summer Long.”
Kid Rock said it was only a matter of time before he made this kind of album.
“It’s in my soul: Blues music and a lot of the stuff I was raised on,” he said.
“I always just loved it.”
“All Summer Long” is his favorite song on the album: a story of young lust in the Michigan summertime. And it’s been getting the strongest response on the road.
Actually, most of the new material has done great live, he said. And that’s a great sign for potential career longevity.
“I’ve never had songs play better,” Kid Rock said. “Even hits like ‘Picture.’ I played that song before it was a hit, and people just stared at me like I was a freak.
“From the first day that I played songs like ‘Rock N Roll Jesus’ and ‘Roll On’ and ‘So Hot,’ and especially ‘All Summer Long’ and ‘Half Your Age’ …I mean, I’ve never had a response like that to live stuff.”
That’s gratifying to Rock, who said he put more time into writing these songs than anything else in his career. They were much harder to write than rap-rock - his bread and butter.
“I think these songs are better, and the singing’s come a long way,” he said.
“The hard work has paid off.”
But don’t worry, rap-rock fans. Rock isn’t going all Allman Brothers on you.
His next album, he said, will either be all hip-hop or a mix of styles like his star-making “Rebel Without a Cause” CD.
“I still love a lot of that (rap-rock) music and the attitude that came with it,” he said, “but it’s just gotten very watered down.
“So, you know, I’d like to go back to there and just take everything I’ve done and make a great mix of an album like that.
“He laughed, perhaps thinking of the county-fair circuit again.
“I think it’ll be really good,” he said. “Either that, or it’ll be ‘OK, you’re done. Go home.’”
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080430/ENT12/804300354/1013
Live X: 6,500 expected at Germain; Kid Rock headlines show
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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