My favorite Kid Rock album, his 2003 self-titled album. His talent as a singer-songwriter is overshadowed greatly by Kid Rock, the marketing gimmick. And it is a gimmick: the long-haired, redneck rock n roll Son of Detroit, as he identifies himself in the
ZZ Top-style boogie-rock song of the same name.
Kid Rock was a rancher. He literally was a cowboy. His dad was fairly rich from selling cars. But Kid Rock was dating a black girl and trying to break into hip-hop as a DJ and rapper. So in spite of having a rich dad, he ended up gaining a reputation for being trailer trash as he struggled to make ends meet before having a hit rap record in 1990 (
Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast).
Somewhere along the line from his early hip-hop days to rock stardom, he apparently rubbed music snob hipsters the wrong way, and that's fine. The hipsters that frequent this site aren't his target audience. He's making music for rock-n-rollers who like Skynyrd, Hank Jr. and ZZ Top.
So I'm glad his music pisses you off, and it makes me like it even more. Because what you really hate is that it is so good. And that the guy who makes it, is a multi-instrumentalist. How can someone so talented, you might say, make music like this? Because hipsters don't even have a fraction of Kid Rock's talent or songwriting skills. And that is what angers this community so much. Good.
His self-titled LP is particularly noteworthy as the most predominately non-rap album Kid Rock had made to this point. There are only three rap tracks on this album, one of which is an interlude. The album marks the most Southern rock-oriented release he'd done. And it starts off with two blues tracks back to back: "Rock N Roll Pain Train" and, featuring
Hank Williams Jr., "Cadillac Pussy". Kid Rock obviously recognized that the blues influences on
Cocky were the brightest spots on the album, so rather than try again to repeat the Diamond-selling success of
Devil Without a Cause, Kid Rock decided to push the most of what he loved best: country and blues.
But hard rock is still prominently displayed on this album, via the
Bad Company cover "Feel Like Makin' Love", and what may be my favorite Kid Rock song, "Jackson, Mississippi", a hard blues-rock stoner trek. Both of which show that he can fire some legit hard rock heat without rapping.
Instead of rapping, the hip-hop influence mostly comes out in scattered moments of DJ scratching mixed into generally bluesy or country-sounding tracks, though his rap flow does turn up some great moments on the album, such as the funk-rock track "Black Bob" and the country-rap "Hillbilly Stomp", featuring ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons singing back-up "hiiiiigh-ho's" on the chorus, creating a sort of American Indian chant.
But Kid Rock's talent as a singer is the primary focus here. Other than the cover track, the second moment where Kid Rock performs someone else's song is the heartfelt ballad "Single Father", written by country legend
David Allan Coe, where Coe takes inspiration from Kid Rock's own relationship with his son (the child he had with his black ex-girlfriend, whose ill-fated relationship was the subject of the earlier song "Black Chick, White Guy"). "Single Father" really shows off Coe's talent as a songwriter, as well as Kid Rock's talent as a singer.
The instrumentation is also varied, with some 50s rock-n-roll/blues sax on "Cadillac Pussy", the 70s hard rock throwbacks, the
Jerry Lee Lewis meets ZZ Top "Son of Detroit" and some downtempo ballads; taking a cue from the success of "Picture", where Kid Rock was compelled to write from a woman's perspective, he again does this for "Hard Night for Sarah", telling the story of a woman's divorce. Elsewhere, his break up with Pamela Anderson seems to be inspiration for some other lyrics on the album like "Run Off To L.A."
The album holds a lot of rock and roll power, touting Kid Rock's gift fir writing great outlaw country, Southern swamp rock and blues-influenced boogie. It's a perfect album.
