Let it never be said again that I don't try new things, that I am so stubborn in my ways that I refuse to expand my horizons. I am, after all, listening to seventy-one minutes of nothing but Kid Rock, and I'm willing to give him a fair chance. Although I'll talk some shit about him to start because I can't help myself.
I have this idea in my head that Kid Rock is like the white trash version of Rage Against The Machine. At least Kid Rock circa 1998. The modern Kid Rock has gone country, which confuses the hell out of me. In any case I have a feeling this is going to really hurt.
About the country thing, I guess Kid Rock always had a tinge of that even back in the day of this album. Song 2 is called "Cowboy" and while it is the same kinda white trash rapping thing he is known for, it does feature a few country influences. There was one clever trick in "Cowboy" that I liked. Most of the profanity in the song was bleeped out using sound effects, which is funny though a lot of people do it. But the end of one of the verses was chopped off with an operator-style voice saying "Radio Edit" supposedly in its place. It worked well because the preceeding line still wound up rhyming with "radio edit". Credit where due.
Derision where due as well... I know your name is Kid Rock. You don't have to put your name in every song. Also, I don't appreciate boasting you're going platinum. It only reminds me that this shit is popular enough to make you a millionaire.
Most of the album is Kid Rock talking about how awesome he is, how much he drinks, how many bitches and hoes he sleeps with, how awesome he is, drinking jack, having lots of money and sex, how awesome he is, that he's named Kid Rock and he drinks, smokes, has lots of sex and is awesome. Yeah...
On the B-side there's a song that I don't remember the name, but it's memorable because Mr. Rock tries singing- like actually singing. Unfortunately he tries singing a soft rock song- I guess it could generously be called country-rock. Anyway, Kid Rock has a remarkably plain voice but I wouldn't be surprised if he could sing on key. I won't know for sure from this song because somebody has decided to auto-tune his voice. It's not like they took a spoken part and set it to a melody, he really sang and they auto-tuned it. So what could have been a modest but interesting outlier on the record feels either really forced or pitifully satirical. I doubt that was the intention.
So I'm at the end and there's something I'm thinking about. I'm mostly thinking about Eminem and how a lot of people have commented in my reviews that "his beats are so genius." Kid Rock is not the same kind of performer as Eminem. Cleary Kid Rock leans more towards metal while Eminem is hip-hop, but the "beats" are essentially the same, and both have good "flow". But I've never heard anyone say Kid Rock is a genius. What am I missing?
Anyhoo, I'd never listen to Devil Without A Cause again but I didn't really hate it. I really hope this crappy music is just dulling my senses. The alternative is I'm actually starting to genuinely not mind it. That's a scary thought. 2 stars.
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