Kid Rock put out a video of himself shooting cans of Bud Light after Bud Light sent social media influencer and transgender woman, Dylan Mulvaney, some cans with her face on it commemorating her one- year anniversary of her transition. This brought a lot of negative attention to Bud Light and to Dylan Mulvaney. It lead to a boycott of Bud Light by right wing people that has really hurt the company financially. It also brought a lot of attention to Kid Rock. Funny thing is, do you know who is still selling Bud Light? Kid Rock. Yep as of July he was still selling Bud Light in his Tennessee bar, “Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.” I bet the people who followed Kid’ Rock’s “outrage” don’t know that. Do they care? I don’t know.
You know who wins in all of this? Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock’s music. I always have, but the man has not been relevant in two decades. When was the last time you heard a new Kid Rock song on the radio? Heck, it’s very rare that you hear an old Kid Rock song. When was the last time Kid Rock was on a meaningful tour? It’s been awhile. I pay attention to see who is coming around and Kid Rock has not played NY / NJ I would hazard in several years. It is possible he is playing some smaller venues but certainly not larger ones in the region. Now you probably think I am about to go off on Kid Rock. I’m not. Not really anyway.
First let me say I have seen Kid Rock in concert and the guy is insanely talented. I saw him do an hour in between Run DMC and Aerosmith. The guy is captivating and he played every instrument. This is a man with musical chops. Still, I don’t think music is Kid Rock’s greatest talent. I think it his ability to reinvent himself. I have a lot of Kid Rock’s albums. I was a fan. His first album, which did not sell well was a rap album. It isn’t very good as I recall. He then morphed into Rock/Rap in the late 1990’s when that was very popular. That is where he really made his name. He was vulgar, he was raw, he was fresh, it was entertaining. Then he kind of left that to the side and was putting music out that was much more country than certainly rap. Then he kind of morphed again into southern rock. As time went on, even though he kept on changing most fans kind of moved on from him. Was he being punished for evolving? Maybe. Or maybe people kind of felt he isn’t really authentic and had no interest in taking musical journey that felt a bit like a cash grab.
Somewhere along the line he became a Trump supporter. He even went to the White House to visit President Trump. Trump was very popular with some people. Others not so much. The thing about Trump is that Trump really doesn’t stand for anything. If you track his views and positions and even how he speaks you can clearly see it has changed through time. It has changed to take advantage of opportunities. When Trump was trying to build buildings in New York City he was a Democrat. He donated to Democratic politicians. Did he believe in their causes? Who knows but it is certainly easier to get things done in New York City if you have Democratic politicians on your side. Then he saw an opening and he became a Republican. He is certainly not conservative in the way Ronald Reagan was a conservative. He saw an opening and successfully hijacked a political party and I would say only he has really benefitted from that move. Still, as I said, if you are paying attention, you can’t really say what Donald Trump really cares about anything other than Donald Trump.
Which brings us back to Kid Rock. I don’t think Kid Rock really cares about transgender people whether it be hating them or liking them. He bragged about being a pimp and banging hos. So now Kid Rock has moral authority? Only the fools who believe Donald Trump has moral authority would believe that. And there are plenty of those people. I certainly don’t think Kid Rock hates Bud Light for giving some cans of beer to an influencer that people of his generation (same as mine) had never heard of. Nope, I think he saw an opportunity to get some attention. Attention nobody except his hardcore fans have given him in years. And it worked. You think I am wrong? Maybe I am. Tell you what, let’s discuss it over a Bud Light at “Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.”
