Pimp On The Range

[Crenshaw_blvd]

Kid Rock has a basement that most only sit in their house and dream about. The room was huge but not ridiculous. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is the fully operational bar, then the Guns N' Roses pinball machine, old-school style. The requisite giant TV with stereo sound and all the trimmings was in place, in front of two couches that looked as though they'd seen a whole lot of action in their day. Oddly, there was also a platinum record from Eminem on the wall, which Kid told me all about and how he played a small part on the record itself. I myself was really into the full-scale pool table and the oil painting of Kid Rock that was hanging above us, guarding the place. However, all of it paled next to the pièce de résistance, a full-size stripper pole in the corner (next to a digital dartboard, something I'd never seen before). The stripper pole just stood there, letting me know that women of a caliber I'd never known had been there. It was a haunting reminder of the parties, the women and the legends that had been in this room ...

Iann Robinson: So talk to me a little bit about this place. What goes on here?

Kid Rock: What do you need to know? We got Guns N' Roses pinball.

Robinson: There you go. So, the Eminem plaque. How'd you get that?

Kid Rock: Bought it at a garage sale.

Robinson: Really?

Kid Rock: Yeah.

Robinson: Times were tight for him.

Kid Rock: No, I did a little scratching on the record. Me and him are friends so he sent me over a plaque, I sent him a few plaques. Of course, this is the real Detroit plaque right here — Live Bullet, Bob Seger.

Robinson: Nice.

Robinson: You and Eminem are both from Detroit. Does he have as much Detroit pride as you do?

Kid Rock: I think so, yeah. Sure. I think everybody that's still here that's been successful out here has a lot of Detroit pride. Talking about Uncle Ted Nugent. Bob Seger. Grand Funk Railroad, the Motown artists. Aretha Franklin. We could go on for days.

Robinson: Are you psyched the people of Detroit and surrounding Michigan area have so much love for you as a person and what you represent? What's that feel like to watch that happen, like when you were shooting the video for "Forever" and all those people came out?

Kid Rock: I found out in life that if you give a little love, you give a lot back. And that's the way it is around here. I love living out here. The best thing about Detroit is it's obviously one of the best rock and roll cities in the world. But the people here are just down-to-earth. If they see me out with my son, they'll say, "Hi Rock, " you know, "How you doing?" Then if I'm out at a bar, everybody is really cool, down-to-earth. Maybe it's because I was born and raised here, I don't know, but the people are what keep me here.

Robinson: Who painted this, this picture of you?

Kid Rock: Oh, that was from the "Bawitdaba" video shoot that I don't think we ever used. I always wanted my own needlepoint Elvis. Just happened to get one with my own ugly mug on it. I knew I made it one night 'cause right here was a stool and Hank [Williams] Jr. was sitting here playing all his hits. And Eminem's over there hanging out in the corner and my girl Pam [Anderson] was here. We're laid out on the couch right there having a cocktail and just like, "You can kill me now." It's all right. Lot of fun.

Robinson: Now you were telling me before that the best thing about your basement is the karaoke setup.

Kid Rock: Yeah. Look at that. Let the good times roll. All right. (Turns on the machine, sings "Good Times Roll" with Iann).

Robinson: All family entertainment.

Kid Rock: You know, it's like you used to shave your buddy's head, whoever got the drunkest, put Nair on his eyebrows or something. Now you just bring him into the basement, slap a diaper on him and turn the karaoke machine on.

Robinson: You worked with Sheryl Crow on the song "Picture." Had you always wanted to do something with her? How did that come about?

Kid Rock: I honestly never thought that Sheryl Crow would be somebody that was into my music. I had hope people like that would be, because of the credibility she has, her musicianship and everything about her, her singing and just being so down-to-earth and cool. To find out that she did like Devil Without a Cause was great. We met at the Grammys after-party and she's one of those people that's not all Hollywooded out. I said, "Hey, you know, you want to come to Detroit? Let's make some songs." She's like, "Sure. When?" I gave her a date, and she actually showed up.

The afternoon was humming along very well. So far we'd gone four-wheeling, played horseshoes, checked out the land and the studio ... so what else could we do? Guns, of course. Kid led me to the back area of the studio where his manager Punch had set up a skeet launcher, and was standing there holding a black shotgun. It was very rocking. The only problem was that I was getting into some personal questions with the American Bad Ass, about Pam and their relationship. I thought that asking these questions while Kid was holding a shotgun might be a bad idea, but I figured, what the hell. Kid was the first to fire off some shots, and he nailed the skeets one after the other. Next up was me, and I'd fired a gun only a few times in my life and never a shotgun. Kid did his best to explain how to line up the gun and the skeet so I could hit it like a pro. Instead, I missed them all — I must've done eight and all of them flew right past me. I figure I probably killed some poor innocent bird way back in the brush. After squeezing off some rounds I decided to get back to what I actually know how to do, the interview ...

[Crenshaw_blvd]

Robinson: Getting back to the nuts and bolts of everything ... Why was "Forever" the first single from the new album? Why not "Cocky"?

Kid Rock: "Forever" is typical Kid Rock. Easy for the record company to sell, I guess. I guess it's what people wanna hear from me, I hope. I think it's got a good point to it, which is, "Forever" is a strong word and what I'm basically saying is music forever. Punk rock forever. Southern rock forever. Hip-hop forever. I think that music is a big part of life.

Robinson: Now with the video for "Forever," was it your idea to have the people of Detroit there to hang out and watch you?

Kid Rock: Yeah, I always say this is my house, but it was built by a lot of hands. And Detroit is a lot of those hands. These people here supported me for a long time with my independent CDs, with my independent shows. Small numbers, you know, 1500 kids would come out and pay 10 bucks. That would pay my bills for three, four months. And I thought of just kind of giving back in a way to the city, to the people to come out and experience something, have a good time and be a part of my success. Which is in a sense their success, so it was a cool thing. It was very easy to go to L.A. and shoot in the sunny sunshine out there and call all the girls up from the Playboy mansion and get them out there. But I just wanna keep this one real grass roots and really about where I am from. And the people that gave birth to what is now known as Kid Rock.

Robinson: "Cowboy" and "Only God Knows Why" are always top jukebox picks. People always want to put them on in bars and stuff. Why do you think that's the case with those two songs, and what do you think makes a good jukebox song and gives it its staying power?

Kid Rock: I think they're one and two on jukeboxes because they're good drinking songs. And I think they stay up there because people like to drink. It's really very simple. I've never seen a jukebox sitting around an area where there was no bar close to it.

Robinson: Do you get a lot of hell from the record company when you try to go in a different direction and grow as a musician and an artist? Are they like, "But wait, we need 'Bawitdaba 2' "?

Kid Rock: Oh yeah. People always show their ignorance when they try to pinpoint why I sold 10 million records with Devil Without a Cause. People come at me with their charts and their scans and the marketing plans and which single went first. Everyone likes to get a system in place for whatever they do in life. And they like to have everyone else follow that system. And there's never another way to do it. This formula has been proven. Everybody stick to it. And I'm not really one for formulas. I just like to do it and I'll go out and work it and back it up. If I don't come out and sell 500,000 records the first week, I don't care. When my first record came out, it sold 5000 the first week and over the course of three years we sold 10 million records because I worked and I'm not scared to work and I'm ready to go out and work again. So I really hope it does take time and we do build it and people do second-guess it because I will sell it to them at the end of the day. Wanna buy land on the moon? I got it.

Robinson: The first time I ever really saw you on full tilt was at your live show, which seems to just suck people in, and there's not a lot of that thing going on nowadays, with people actually going out and backing it up live. How important is playing live to you?

Kid Rock: It's everything. It's everything to be able to play live. There are a lot of tools now that you can use in the studio to make yourself sound great. And I'll admit it, I don't sound great every night. I don't sound great on every TV appearance. I like to try and I like to think I do, but I think that's the beauty of playing live — you never know what you're gonna get. And at least from me, you always know you're gonna get something, and for low dough.

You mind if I talk to your camera for a second? (Talks to camera.) We're out on world tour; one of the most visible rock acts, any corporate sponsorship that wants a part of this, come on, millions of dollars, whatever you want to give. I'll give. I'll wear a Speedo and dance around. I don't care for one reason. I wanna keep ticket prices low for the fans because all these bands going out now, charging 60, 70, 50, 40 dollars, it's ridiculous. I want people to come and see Kid Rock for around 25 bucks, have a good time and go home with their money's worth.

[bez]

wow

[Suga Foot]

dope

[infinite59]

I ain't impressed, but I liked the part about Em

[Dogg_Pound_Gangsta]

sounds like a pretty chillin basement