Kid Rock

First Kiss

Written by: PP on 09/04/2015 23:08:11

Yep, you read that right. Kid Rock is still around releasing music. In fact, he's been keeping busy. "First Kiss" is his tenth studio album since 1990, which means he's been averaging a new album about every two and half years or so. Now, if like me, you have some questionable but nonetheless fond memories of the "Devil Without A Cause" era from the late 90s with songs like the nu-metal hit "Bawitdaba" or the pure rock'n'roll anthem "Cowboy", you're about to have a bad time discovering Kid Rock anno 2015 is nothing but a has-been career musician writing perfectly safe and formulaic radio rock with some country-tinged instrumentation and choral backing vocals for added measure. If only it were just that.

A few listens through "First Kiss" will leave you standing in awe that it can actually make financial sense to be releasing albums like this one. Shamelessly geared at the uneducated American Midwest with songs about drinking beer on your back porch with your dad ("The best education I ever had / Was out there on the back porch / drinking beer with dad"), about finding Christ, or failed relationships ("You ain’t nothing but complicated / Everything you preach is a lie / Everything I try you hate it / So baby why don’t you just fuck off and die" - well, that escalated quickly), "First Kiss" depicts a caricature of rock music that's laughable only until the point where you realize it's selling millions of copies in 2015. To be fair, Kid Rock has a great voice with just the right amount of strain and charisma attached to make it suitable for country-tinged rock anthems like these, so that part makes sense. But lyrically, the content is god-awful, and instrumentally, it doesn't get any safer than this in 2015. SImple four-by-four chord progressions and the most basic drum patterns are there to make sure there's no way you'll find a hint of danger or offense in the music. You could play this to your parents and they wouldn't mind listening to it. That's not necessarily always a bad thing, but here Kid Rock doesn't have even the slightest hint of artistic credibility. Country-tinged, alternative/pop rock songs about a stupefying lifestyle that nobody outside of Alabama can relate to isn't going to earn him many credits with the music critics.

That being said, if you can fathom the ridiculously stupid lyrical landscape and the overtly formulaic songwriting, there's no denying songs like "First Kiss", "Drinking Beer With Dad" and "Johnny Cash" can be fairly catchy sing along anthems. It's just difficult getting over lyrics like "I remember waiting for the school bus Jenny Clayton was my first crush" and taking this album seriously.

4

Download: First Kiss, Drinking Beer With Dad, Johnny Cash
For the fans of: Uncle Kracker, Shooter Jennings, Buckcherry, Blackberry Smoke
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.02.2015
Warner Bros

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