KID ROCK VS. STEVE JOBS
Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 12:14pm by Axl Rosenberg
To say that Vince and I aren’t Kid Rock fans probably ranks with statements like “Vince and I aren’t Limp Bizkit fans” or “Vince and I aren’t Disturbed fans” in terms of its level of “Well duh”-ness. I once heard some jackass on VH1 says that “Bawitdaba” or whatever the fuck it was called “Sounds like rock re-entering the building,” but to me is always sounded more like dignity taking a nose-dive off the roof.
All of that being said, Kid Rock’s statements in a recent interview with the BBC actually make him sound less like a a rap metal redneck and more like Trent Reznor. When asked why his music isn’t readily available on iTunes, Rock said that “the internet was an opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money,” but that iTunes stuck to an “old system” whereby everyone gets paid… save for the artist.
The article continues with Rock admitting that he will inevitably lose the fight to keep his albums off of iTunes, but that that doesn’t mean fans should give their money to the Steve Jobs enterprise:
“The performer – whose real name is Robert Ritchie – said his record company Atlantic had asked him to ’stand up for illegal downloading’ a few years ago because it told him ‘people are stealing from us and stealing from you.’
“‘And I go: ‘Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?’
“‘I was telling kids – download it illegally, I don’t care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.’”
Of course, Rock ends the interview on a semi-obnoxious note, saying that he doesn’t have to steal because he’s rich, but hey, at least he’s being honest.
Reading these statements, it would seem that it’s only a matter of time until Rock ditches his label and goes the Nine Inch Nails route. That could be a move worth applauding, even if the idea of someone handing out copies of “Cowboy” for free scares me.
-AR
My name is KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!
Lol, Kid Rock is just trying to make himself relevant. People make fun of him all the time for sampling Metallica and I usually jump on that bandwagon. At the same time, I believe the only artist who shouldn’t be sampled or have a remake done is the great Led Zeppelin. Thats just me.
As far as the whole internet downloading thing. Metal will never sell big. Metal doesn’t get played on the radio as often as rock (yeah I seperated them into two different categories) and no one wants to be flipping through channels on the radio and hear a pig squeal. Bands have to “sell out” to make money. Selling out is a stupid phrase on this website. It should result in a filtering of it.
And if Kid Rock went the way of Trent Reznor, he would lose money, because Trent Reznor has a bunch of hardcore fans, while all of the 1998 fans that Kid Rock has are not listening to him anymore.
like his fanbase could operate a computer
The fact that KR said this earns him some serious rock points. Don’t get me wrong, the man is a douchebag on an astronomical scale, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is taking a step in the right direction, and the more musicians that start going down that road the sooner will the record companies go out of business, and that’s a GOOD thing.
I don’t like Kid Rock’s music and never have, but I would hardly call him irrelevant. I’m not sure how he remains popular, given that his music is all over the place and usually sucks, plus he looks permanently unbathed, but the fact remains that he has consistently remained on the pop, rock and even country charts for over 10 years. And he gets respected old rockers to contribute to his albums and invite him to play live with them and vice versa.
He’s this odd dichotomy of either Kid Rock the egotistical asshole windbag or Kid Rock the surprisingly down to earth Upper Midwest hard-working musician (yes, he actually plays many of the instruments on his albums).
Regardless of my dislike forhis music, I can’t figure the guy out. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I despise him.
I don’t care much for his music but he seems like an alright dude to hang out with. He doesn’t really care what people think and he bangs hot broads -Seems OK to me. Plus he likes (old) Run DMC. That has to be worth something.
Is anyone surprised people are still eating this garbage up? Long live shitty music passed off as rock and metal.