Who’s the Man Behind the ‘Kid’?

Kid Rock epitomizes rock and roll. 

He’s loud. He’s rebellious. He flaunts ego and attitude. He can be a walking, talking middle finger or a heart-on-his-sleeve balladeer.
And he will be in Bristol on March 14. Along with hip-hop pioneer Reverend Run and rock legend Dickey Betts, when Rock’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival Tour fires up all cylinders on stage at Viking Hall expect a marriage of fireworks and frenzy.
Apparently, Rock saves all that energy by day. Requests for interviews through his record label and publicist were heard, but as he has throughout the tour, Rock declined.
Meanwhile, as Reverend Run was checking into his hotel room in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon, he picked up the slack and called. While the normally loquacious Rock remains silent to the press, Run praised his musical comrade.
“He’s a very creative and very generous guy,” said Run, a.k.a. Joseph Simmons.
Run said there are no opening acts for the show. Rock stays on stage for the entirety, alternating from performances of such hits of his own as “Cowboy” to rapping with Run on Run-D.M.C.’s hip-hop classic “It’s Tricky.”
Rock often defers to Run and Betts in the show. Run said that he likens it to performing on stage with his heroes.
“I do eight songs,” Run said. “Kid does all of them with me. Kid is on stage for all three hours of the show. He’s tireless, and he’s a great performer.”
That Rock tours with and features as such his heroes should surprise no one who has followed his career. He name-drops often in song, on stage, in interviews – when he decides to give them.

WHO’S THE MAN BEHIND THE ‘KID’
But who is this fellow named Kid Rock?
Born Robert James Ritchie on Jan. 17, 1971 just north of Detroit, like many teenagers of the 1980s he firmly grasped the new rebellion of hip-hop. Also as with droves of teens, he tried his hand at rapping. Yet unlike most, he was good.
Rock won contests as a rapper and as a break dancer, too. Likewise, Rock also cultivated kinships with rock and blues and even country.
In an interview with Hank Williams Jr. in 2002 aboard his bus in Richmond, the country legend commented on how he came to welcome Rock into his world. They first met after a Williams show. Rock said he was a fan but more than just a fan.
“Bobby asked me for a guitar,” Williams said. “He said that he knew more of my songs than I knew.”
There’s Rock’s ego and attitude.
“Then he started to sing ‘Hamburger Steak, Holiday Inn,’ ” Williams said.
And there’s Rock’s talent. Many hard-core fans of Williams’ would not know the reasonably obscure album cut.
“I knew right then,” Williams said, punctuated with a finger pointed, “Bobby knew my music and who Hank Williams Jr. was.”
By then, the rock and rap worlds knew who Kid Rock was. After several albums flopped, 1998’s “Devil Without A Cause” flew – huge. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the album has sold 11 million copies and ranks among the top 60 best-selling albums of all-time.
It spawned smash singles first with rap-rocker “Bawitdaba” and “Cowboy” followed by the moving ballad “Only God Knows Why.” The man often referred to by Williams as his “rebel son” was branded a rock star with but one hit album to his credit. More followed.
He rehashed songs from his past on 2001’s “The History of Rock” before spreading even further across the musical roadmap with 2001’s “Cocky.”
By then, he was more apt to hop-scotch among genres of music. Coupled with a self-titled album from 2003, the musical chameleon covered rock, pop, hip-hop, adult contemporary and even country charts.
Rock’s crisscrossing of styles progressed when he and Williams filmed an episode of CMT’s “Crossroads.” The program pairs a country performer with one from another genre before a small live studio audience during which time they perform duets and sing each other’s songs. Rock stepped on stage and opened with a snippet of Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider.” He then launched into his rock-rap hit “Cowboy” as a beaming Williams looked on – along with Rock’s new girlfriend, former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson.
Williams was and remains impressed.
“Bobby gets it,” Williams said.
Well, he sure has gotten it – though not always and exactly as Williams was referring. Rock actively courted attention, and the paparazzi obliged. In recent years, he has made more appearances in gossip publications than music.
That’s due in part to his brief and stormy marriage to Pamela Anderson. They wed in July 2006 and divorced four months later. Wars of words continue between them.
Trouble sometimes finds Rock. There was a February 2005 arrest in Nashville after a fight in a strip club. Then in October 2007, Rock was arrested following a fight in a Waffle House in Atlanta.
Regardless and as with his music, Rock’s career broadened even more to include films and television. He appeared in David Spade’s 2001 comedy “Joe Dirt” and also in 2005’s “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector.” His television roles include appearances on “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill” and even “CSI: NY.”
Amid it all, Rock’s music career hums right along. His latest album, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Jesus,” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart in October. The first single, “So Hott,” hit big on mainstream rock stations.
And now he’s preparing a new album with Reverend Run, titled “Running with the Kid.”
Buzz among the music industry also has it that Rock intends to return to his rap roots with a subsequent album.
However, first he has a show to perform in Bristol. Run said to expect a show that’s unlike any other show on the road today.
“It’s a revue,” Run said. “It’s non-stop hip-hop and rock.”
Just like Kid Rock himself.


TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He may be contacted at .
He can be reached at .

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