The success story of Detroit rap rocker Kid Rock is one of the most unexpected success stories in rock music at the turn of the millennium. The musician has achieved incredible success. He released his fourth full-length album in 1998 with Devil Without a Cause.
What made this story so shocking is that Kid Rock recorded his first demo a decade before it was released on the big Jive label. The breakthrough came only after the debut album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast by the Beastie Boys in 1990.
It was this work that became the first successful recording for Kid Rock. Prior to that, he worked in obscurity. Released albums for a small dedicated fan base, mostly local. At the same time, he suffered a lot of ridicule from other musicians.
However, Kid Rock survived. By the time rap metal began to attract a significant audience, it had refined its sound. Because of this, Devil Without a Cause had a distinct personality.
The birth and youth of musician Kid Rock
Bob Ritchie (real name: Robert James Ritchie) Born January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan. This is a small rural town just north of the Detroit metro system.
Life in a small town was very boring. Kid took up rapping, learned how to breakdance, and started putting on talent shows in Detroit.
Inspired by the album Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys (white rap and hard rock artists), Kid Rock decided to record the first demos in 1988.
He ended up getting the chance to open for Boogie Down Productions. The performance, in turn, led to a record deal with Jive Records.
It was on this label that Kid recorded and released his debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast. It happened way back in 1990. In some ways, the work was a derivative of the Licensed to Ill album. Which the young musician was so fond of.
However, he soon became infamous. Trouble arose when a New York radio station began playing Kid's Yo-Da Lin in the Valley, which was dominated by profanity and descriptions of sexual pleasures. Soon the radio station was fined more than $20.
Despite Kid Rock's successful tour with Too $hort and Ice Cube, the label saw no prospects in the young rock rapper and dropped him from their list of musicians.
Working with the Continuum label
After moving to Brooklyn, Kid Rock joined the small label Continuum and radically “stepped over” from rap in favor of hard rock. In this genre, in 1993, the musician released the album The Polyfuze Method.
Reviews were mixed, with some critics praising the album's humor and eclecticism, while others dismissed it as "absurd" and very forced.
The next attempt to win "fans" was the EP Fire It Up (1994). As you know, he did not find a stunning success. Ultimately, Kid Rock returned to Detroit and began work on another album.
Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp, which was released in 1996, was recorded on a very limited budget.
Creation of the Twisted Brown Trucker band
Despite the fact that Kid sometimes had to illegally resell his records in order to pay for the rent, he still set out to form a full-fledged backing group. Although with great effort, he assembled the Twisted Brown Trucker team.
The first to join the young team was rapper Joe C. (Joseph Calleia). He was a longtime fan and regular at Kid Rock concerts. In addition, he knew Kid's repertoire well and was immediately able to get to work.
The rest of the band's line-up was formed primarily from Detroit musicians: guitarists Kenny Olson and Jason Krause, keyboardist Jimmy Bones (Jimmy Trombley), drummer Stephanie Yulinberg, DJ Uncle Kracker (Matt Schafer, who has been with The Rock since the early 1990s) and backing - vocalists Misty Love and Shirley Hayden.
Kid Rock: finally a success!
As rap metal bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine began to dominate the hard rock scene, Atlantic Records decided to take a chance and sign Kid Rock.
The album Devil Without a Cause didn't really help the musician gain fame after its release in August 1998. However, a huge publicity push came from the MTV label, which helped Kid Rock turn Bawitdaba's second single and its accompanying video into a nationwide hit.
The next work of the artist was the album Cowboy, which achieved similar success. After 10 years of trying to record a real hit, Kid Rock has become a superstar. The album itself went platinum 7 times. Hit the Top Five chart. It was also presented at the Woodstock festival in 1999.
Considering how he could continue the success of Devil Without a Cause, Kid Rock acquired the rights to his own indie label. There he re-recorded his best material. By releasing it in the compilation The History of Rock, which was released in 2000. It also included several new songs.
However, not everything was smooth in the life of a musician. Joe C., who was not just a "fan" and colleague of Kid, but also a close friend, was forced to take a leave of absence due to health reasons. A year later, on November 16, 2000, the rapper died in his sleep.
Continuing Kid Rock's Successful Career
Even after such a tragedy, Kid Rock did not abandon the recording of the sequel to Devil Without a Cause. During this time, the media focused on his relationship with actress Pamela Anderson, while his career was overlooked. Kid's music was even ridiculed by some journalists.
His beatmaker, Uncle Kracker, launched a successful solo career. In the summer of 2001, he left Rock without one member. Nevertheless, by the winter of the same year, the rocker finished working on the Cocky album and released the single Forever, thanks to which he “blew up” the country's radio stations.
In the fall of 2003, Kid Rock returned with a new job. A cover version of the Bad Company song Feel Like Makin' Love became the first single. The cover of his 2006 live album Live Trucker paid homage to the Bob Seger & Silver Bullet Band's Live Bullet LP.
Just a year later, the studio recording of Rock N Roll Jesus was released. She started right from the first positions in the charts. In total, 172 thousand copies were sold in the first week.
Born Free, produced by Rick Rubin and featuring Martina McBride, Tracey Adkins, Zach Brown, Sheryl Crow, Bob Seeger, James Hetfield and TI, was released in 2010.
Born Free debuted at number 5 on the Billboard charts. But not a single hit single ever came out.
In 2013, Kid Rock embarked on his Best Night Ever tour where he capped all ticket prices at $20. He moved to Warner Studios in 2014 and began working on his next album, First Kiss, which was released in February 2015.
Kid Rock: Our Days
Kid Rock left Warner after the release of First Kiss. He signed with the country-oriented label Broken Bow Records. In July 2017, he released his first two singles for the label Podunk and Greatest Show on Earth. They went out on the same day, but the event was overshadowed. Rock planned to run for the US Senate in his home state of Michigan.
The Rock denied the rumors on the October 24 episode of The Howard Stern Show, revealing that his next project would be to "promote" Sweet Southern Sugar, which was released in November 2017. His 11th full-length single broke into the Billboard 200 Top Ten, and also peaked at number 1 on the Top Rock and Independent Albums charts and number 4 on the Top Country list.
At the end of January 2022, three compositions premiered at once. We The People, The Last Dance, and Rockin' received an incredibly warm welcome from the "fans". The artist noted:
“I dedicate these works to the madness that is happening in the world today. I touched on the topics of politics and imaginary social justice. You probably know about the attacks on me by journalists, just because I supported Trump. I take the hit, but I hit back harder.”
Note that the released tracks will become part of the musician's new LP Bad Reputation, which is expected to be released at the end of 2022.
