| |  | | Robinson: Getting back to the nuts and bolts of everything ... Whywas "Forever" the first single from the new album? Why not "Cocky"?
Kid Rock: "Forever" is typical Kid Rock. Easy for the record companyto sell, I guess. I guess it's what people wanna hear from me, I hope. Ithink it's got a good point to it, which is, "Forever" is a strong word andwhat I'm basically saying is music forever. Punk rock forever. Southern rockforever. 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 havethe 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 alot of hands. And Detroit is a lot of those hands. These people heresupported me for a long time with my independent CDs, with my independentshows. 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 kindof giving back in a way to the city, to the people to come out andexperience something, have a good time and be a part of my success. Which isin a sense their success, so it was a cool thing. It was very easy to go toL.A. and shoot in the sunny sunshine out there and call all the girls upfrom the Playboy mansion and get them out there. But I just wanna keep thisone real grass roots and really about where I am from. And the people thatgave birth to what is now known as Kid Rock.
Robinson: "Cowboy" and "Only God Knows Why" are always top jukeboxpicks. People always want to put them on in bars and stuff. Why do you thinkthat's the case with those two songs, and what do you think makes a goodjukebox song and gives it its staying power?
Kid Rock: I think they're one and two on jukeboxes because they'regood drinking songs. And I think they stay up there because people like todrink. It's really very simple. I've never seen a jukebox sitting around anarea where there was no bar close to it.
Robinson: Do you get a lot of hell from the record company when youtry to go in a different direction and grow as a musician and an artist? Arethey like, "But wait, we need 'Bawitdaba 2' "?
Kid Rock: Oh yeah. People always show their ignorance when they tryto 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 plansand which single went first. Everyone likes to get a system in place forwhatever they do in life. And they like to have everyone else follow thatsystem. And there's never another way to do it. This formula has beenproven. Everybody stick to it. And I'm not really one for formulas. I justlike to do it and I'll go out and work it and back it up. If I don't comeout and sell 500,000 records the first week, I don't care. When my firstrecord came out, it sold 5000 the first week and over the course of threeyears we sold 10 million records because I worked and I'm not scared to workand I'm ready to go out and work again. So I really hope it does take timeand we do build it and people do second-guess it because I will sell it tothem 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 atyour live show, which seems to just suck people in, and there's not a lot ofthat thing going on nowadays, with people actually going out and backing itup 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 yourselfsound great. And I'll admit it, I don't sound great every night. I don'tsound 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 whatyou're gonna get. And at least from me, you always know you're gonna getsomething, and for low dough.
You mind if I talk to your camera for a second? (Talks to camera.) We're outon world tour; one of the most visible rock acts, any corporate sponsorshipthat wants a part of this, come on, millions of dollars, whatever you wantto give. I'll give. I'll wear a Speedo and dance around. I don't care forone reason. I wanna keep ticket prices low for the fans because all thesebands going out now, charging 60, 70, 50, 40 dollars, it's ridiculous. Iwant people to come and see Kid Rock for around 25 bucks, have a good timeand go home with their money's worth.
To see part 1 of this feature check out Kid Rock: Michigan Love.
For more Kid Rock check out Kid Rock A to Z.
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