Kid Rock’s Stupid Snowflake Song Continues to Stir Controversy
Kid Rock, who’s a kid about as much as he’s a brain surgeon, recently released “Don’t Tell Me How to Live,” his first song in four years. And, unsurprisingly, given his support for Donald Trump, his aversion to wearing masks, and his casual use of homophobic slurs as insults, the lyrics of the song serve as a rallying cry for conservative culture, blaming “snowflakes,” “offended millennials” and “woke” culture for everything Rock perceives as wrong in modern day America.
Also unsurprising: the song is garbage. Kid Rock could be screaming about health care reform and it wouldn’t change the fact that the track is dreck.
Given this mixture of ridiculousness and ignorance, it’s no surprise that “Don’t Tell Me How to Live” is stirring up drama.
What is surprising is the nature of that drama and how some of the players involved are handling it.
To the first point… “Weird Al” Yankovic allegedly got so many hosannas for the track and its accompanying video that he had to go on Twitter and tell everyone it’s not one of his infamous send-ups:
“To everybody that’s congratulating me right now on my new Kid Rock parody video, let me clarify – that’s not me. That’s actually Kid Rock.”
I suspect Yankovic is just kidding around here… but there’s no denying that the “Don’t Tell Me How to Live” video is so on the nose in terms of MAGA culture in 2021 that it basically is a satire. Someday, when aliens study the extinction of the human race, they will likely watch this clip and guffaw.
Funnier still for those aliens will be learning about the beef the song has caused between Danko Jones and Monster Truck’s Jon Harvey. The latter musician came under fire from the former musician for collaborating with Rock on the track, with Jones writing on social media:
“Disappointed to hear of a certain band on a song with a certain musician who has been so public with his MAGA politics, including uttering the phrase ‘Fuck Colin Kaepernick’ during a live performance. It’s tantamount to standing in solidarity with him. Gross.”
Jones later added:
“And the video of them posing as rednecks in fur coats is FUCKING EMBARRASSING. Disappointed and embarrassed FOR that band.”
Jones later later added:
“Just so you know, I DON’T FUCK WITH bands that buddy up next to a racist POS.
“Wearing fur coats, sporting guns and smoking cigars in the music video gets that band a lifetime membership in the douchebag hall of fame.
“Embarrassing.”
Jones later later later concluded:
“Kid Rock said ‘Fuck Colin Kaepernick’ during a concert.
“Colin Kaepernick sacrificed his career to draw attention to racial inequality.
“If you stand alongside Kid Rock in a music vid calling out ‘snowflakes,’ sporting fur coats & guns, you’re as big a piece of shit as Kid Rock.”
“But Axl, didn’t you say this part was also funny?” I can hear you asking. And yes, I did. But it’s not what Jones said that was funny — it’s how Harvey reacted.
Speaking with Loaded Radio, Harvey responded to the criticism of his part in a song about people being too offended by… getting offended.
No. Seriously. After categorizing Jones as “a very angry person” who generally “gets angry about a lot of things,” he bitched about his hurt feelings:
“I’ve never called anyone a piece of shit to their face, I don’t think, in real life. The dude didn’t even use my name, didn’t use the band name, and he said these harsh things to me personally. I don’t know, man. I’m really hurt by that… It’s super offensive. My mom’s gonna read that article, and other people are, and this guy is really painting me out to be something… He’s got no idea what I’m like; he’s got no idea what my friends or my family are like. It’s some pretty harsh shit.”
So, to review: in Harvey’s opinion, it’s cool for him and Kid Rock to toss around homophobic slurs, but it’s not cool for Danko Jones to do anything that might upset Harvey’s mommy. What. The actual. Fuck.
Also, is Jon Harvey’s relationship with his mother so delicate that she might read that someone called him a piece of shit and believe it? Given his values, isn’t it possible that she, too, is kinda crappy? I’m not sure what he’s so distressed about here.
Also also, how fucking disingenuous is Harvey being here? Did he really think, in the current climate, he wasn’t gonna get hate for participating in this song?
To his credit, Jones, who you’ve likely noticed is not white, quickly called this bullshit what it is:
“Playing the victim days after releasing an ‘anti-snowflake’ anthem coupled with gun imagery is right out of the alt-right playbook.
“Also, framing me as ‘angry’ is an old overused RACIST TROPE. It’s exactly what racists do.”
Harvey hasn’t responded yet, presumably because he’s too busy crying about how the mean man called him a bad name to conjure up a hypocritical nonsense retort.
[via]
