Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus (2008)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
What would the mission of the savior of rock music be? Ostensibly to save it from dilution and corruption, to return it to the purity it once had. One can only speculate as to what impurities Kid Rock aims to wash out of the fabric of rock, but one thing is certain. The product he puts out is neither pure nor uncut.
It’s hard to say what category the Kid’s music falls under. Is it country music, sleazed up with a layer of rock and roll and injected with a tinge of rap for good measure? Or is it watered-down rock music, rollicking with hip-hoppy goodness and sissified just a bit by country influences? Perhaps it is really a white rap album, dosed up on both country and rock until the rap is barely visible. Though it’s difficult to put a finger on just what the album is cut with and what the pure substance was, it is safe to say the Kid has dosed this album with something.
But perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way. If we consider the holy trinity of rock to be sex, drugs and — of course — rock n roll, this album lives up to the standards. Rock’s lyrics are strewn with accounts of his sexual prowess and affinity for booze and narcotics. He sings quite proudly of his escapades as a “lowlife living the high life,” a theme that shoots through the album.
Ultimately, however you interpret the title of Kid Rock’s new album, the bottom line is clear: this collaboration of songs is rock n roll blasphemy.
Nate Campbell
What would the mission of the savior of rock music be? Ostensibly to save it from dilution and corruption, to return it to the purity it once had. One can only speculate as to what impurities Kid Rock aims to wash out of the fabric of rock, but one thing is certain. The product he puts out is neither pure nor uncut.
It’s hard to say what category the Kid’s music falls under. Is it country music, sleazed up with a layer of rock and roll and injected with a tinge of rap for good measure? Or is it watered-down rock music, rollicking with hip-hoppy goodness and sissified just a bit by country influences? Perhaps it is really a white rap album, dosed up on both country and rock until the rap is barely visible. Though it’s difficult to put a finger on just what the album is cut with and what the pure substance was, it is safe to say the Kid has dosed this album with something.
But perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way. If we consider the holy trinity of rock to be sex, drugs and — of course — rock n roll, this album lives up to the standards. Rock’s lyrics are strewn with accounts of his sexual prowess and affinity for booze and narcotics. He sings quite proudly of his escapades as a “lowlife living the high life,” a theme that shoots through the album.
Ultimately, however you interpret the title of Kid Rock’s new album, the bottom line is clear: this collaboration of songs is rock n roll blasphemy.
Nate Campbell