Kid Rock Says Country Shouldn't Chase Pop
Constantly, I am reading this battle on the CMT blog between people claiming a certain artist is too pop while another is too country, or not enough, and so on and so forth. It seems to me that many are overlooking the actual music to focus on its classification. I am guilty of this, too. But I remember a lengthy conversation with Kid Rock last year when he told me, "Go where you're celebrated, not tolerated."
He said that his friend Rev Run once gave him that advice and Kid went on to explain that country music and hip-hop music parallel and influence one another. However, he said most people don't realize it. "I think what country can do to better its image is to be more themselves -- to try not to be part of the pop world and not try to be part of the mainstream. ... If you really want to get down to country music, just be more of that, exactly what it is," he said. "So, go where you're celebrated, not tolerated. You can have a much more enjoyable experience in life with everything."
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Joe says:
Pop/Country has always been infused for over 4 decades and it’s time to accept it as that.
Rhinestone Cowboy, Islands In The Stream, Elpaso all hit #1 on the pop charts….
Waylon Jennings added rock to his music, don’t forget the Urban Country of the early-mid 1980’s….
mahaila says:
Agree with Kid Rock 100%.
Lee says:
That means bye bye bye to CU if what Kid Rock says!
Kristy says:
Kid rock has a country album out and he’s only tolorated at best, in the country industry and dares to say something like that, and shame of Whitney for repeating such a thing.
If you took the pop away from country you would have to go back about 4 decades and have only a handful of artist that sing nothing but fire and brimstone tunes.
Shame on CMT for even writing such a dreadful blog.
Courtney says:
I’m a little indifferent about Kid Rock’s quote. I understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t believe it necessarily relates to everyone. There are some artists who just truly enjoy country and pop. They shouldn’t have to stick with one genre just because this is where they’ll receive the most glory. Take, for instance, Taylor Swift, who is widely known as an artist in the country and pop industry. Some people don’t consider her country at all. But she does what she does because that’s what she enjoys. And no, I’m not some crazy, “Taylor is the best!” fan. But I do have respect for her because she seems honest about her music and is a grateful person. I am a huge country fan and country music is all I really listen to. I can listen to Patsy, Emmylou and Merle one day and Taylor, Kellie Pickler and Carrie Underwood the next. Just because their style is different doesn’t mean they don’t all enjoy it the same. I just listen to music that soothes my soul, whether you want to call it country or not. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.
Current album of choice: Miranda Lambert-Revolution
Baron Lane says:
agree with Kid Rock…still don’t like him.
Redmaz says:
First of all Pop is not an individual genre of music. Pop is an industry consisting of many genres of music including Country. Pop also includes the genres of Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, R&B, Adult Contemporary, etc. If it’s played on Mainstream Commercial radio, it’s POP Music, no matter the genre. Then of course there’s Indie Pop, which is a whole different subject. To Kristy, if you took Pop away from country music, you’d still have today’s Roots Country. Which makes up about 90% of today’s Country music scene. Overall in musical terms Pop Country is a very small part of today’s Country Music.. As far as Kid Rock. he’s had very little Pop country recognition and no Roots Country recognition whatsoever, but I do agree with what he said about going where you are celebrated. That’s why the legends and established artists such as Merle and Emmylou are recognized and respected in today’s Americana/Roots Music, and totally ignored in today’s Mainstream/Pop music. Which is fine. I accept both industries for what they represent. You and Kid should too. There may be a few exceptions, but I don’t see many Roots artists chasing the Pop industry, so overall he doesn’t know what he’s talking about
dan says:
Guess who is not a taylor fan!
Sis says:
I agree with Kid on this one.
mahaila says:
Kid Rock has more country in his soul than many of the fake, jump on the bandwagon pop country artist that have surfaced the last few years.
kj5kj57 says:
YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bullride says:
Kid Rock is making a fool of himself, and making this more difficult and confusing than it really is. He’s making no sense. Is he saying pop country should not be a part of pop music or is he saying roots country should not try to be a part of pop country? The dude is lost as a lugnut..
drdjwu says:
I’m really confused.
Which is not an uncommon reaction when I listen to Kid Rock speak. Or watch him — I like his voice, but his rock-rap-country music seems a bit unfocused. Maybe it’s a new disorder — “genre confusion”.
In any event, he seems like the last person who should be talking about going where he’s celebrated. Yes, he won some Country music Awards. Does that make him celebrated in Country now?
jp says:
When I think of Kid Rock…what comes to me is MTV and Blondes that are WELL ENDOWED..& BOOZE!!!!
Big One says:
MTV, well endowed blondes and booze? That sound like an Underwood video.
hotelmotel says:
Except for the part about going where you are appreciated, Kid Rock’s comments don’t seem very substantive or helpful.
Also, the “better its image” stuff is vague and almost meaningless. Better its image among who? How does he have any clue at all that removing pop influences from country would better the image of country? There are some country acts that are not pop-oriented but is there image better for it. Did the images of Kathy Mattea or Marty Stuart improve in any significant way once they stopped making songs for pop country radio and started making music more focused toward Americana? Perhaps Americana fans were happy, but did this improve the “image” of country music among non-country (whether pop oriented or not) or non-Americana fans.
And all that aside, while I respect Kid Rock’s talent, he doesn’t exactly seem to be putting forth an image that would command respect. The picture at the top of this blog doesn’t exactly say “This is someone who deserves respect.”
fluffy says:
I persoanally don;t like kid rock , but he is right on the money that country music needs to be about country music , that is real traditional country music , the kind of music that is worth listening to, not this crap the record labels are putting out, alot of the singers these days, I for one can’t understand the words they are supposedly trying to sing, lets turn back the clock to the 1990’s when there was actual coutry music being made , songs like ricky van shelton’s -I meant every word he said - sammt kershaw’s -yard sale , lorrie morgan’s -good as I was to u. and any patty loveless song, now these are real country songs , if any of these singers these days could sing songs like these , then it would be worth turning on the radio/tv, but we can dream
drdjwu says:
Going “where you’re celebrated, not tolerated” is one of those easy sayings that sounds like good advice; but when you really think about it, isn’t it just saying nobody should ever leave home, or try to do ANYTHING NEW?
Elvis should have stayed in Mississippi … cut a few more rockabilly records for Sun Records … coupla people might buy ‘em … hey, don’t tick off the parents with that devil’s rock n’roll music, that won’t even be tolerated let alone celebrated … now, ya see,Elvis, ya got your lower half censored by Ed Sullivan.
Bob Dylan should have stayed in Minnesota …well, if he hadda go to New York, at least he should keep playing acoustic guitar and mouth harp, doing Woody Guthrie covers, really good at that … no, wait, Bob, stay away from that electric guitar! … what’s that? DRUMS! oh no! …see thet! .. the folkies have disowned you Bob, you’re not tolerated here no more!
Matt B. says:
Kid Rock does have a lot of country in his soul. I mean, he’s playing a show with Zac Brown Band in Atlanta at the end of this month.
dazzie says:
youknow what country music dosnt need to improve thereimage ther image is just fine its the pop singers who cant make it in pop so they cross over to keep there fading image up for just alittle bit longer to just keep hanging on to that last little bit of hope merl johnny cash toby keith and lets not for get kris kristopherson i think that there pretty much them self
Northcountry says:
Kid Rock is from Romeo MI .. where you are more likely to hear country music in the business places.. it is orchard country in MI.. and spent his summer’s in Northern MI.. where that is what is played.. above Bay City.. so he embraced “Rap” when he first started .. but listening to the “Outlaw” music is something that country people do here
And to Redmaz .. I wish MI embraced Americana and Roots country more .. I am guessing you from TX or there abouts .. you have the best music coming out of your area.. it’s rare we get any Stoney, CCRagweed, REK, Reckless,MMC or much less the ones that only TX gets.
Hubby and I are planning a trip to visit my aunts in TX.. and hope to get to a few of historic Dance Halls to see in person some of this great music.. you have any other suggestions who we should listen to..
and BTW .. EmmyLou Harris is still one of my favorites beautiful lady.. voice.. and class act
Tenn says:
and can we reverse that title please - POP shouldn’t chase country - the one thing I will say about coming out with a country pop song is great if you don’t remix it for POP radio like Taylor does because it confuses the fans - I have heard many complaints from mothers who bought Taylor remixed songs thinking they were the “country version”(and those remixes do sound incredibly different , even her singing is different) only to have to go out and buy the country version- Kid Rock -I saw his ads for his tour last year - totally disgusting - he’s in it for the money just like everyone else
drdjwu says:
Tenn, do you have some habitual need to make things up when it comes to Taylor? I’m sure you HAVEN’T “heard many complaints from mothers who bought Taylor’s remixes thinking they were the country version” because (1) those remixes are simply not available on CD’s in stores, only the country versions are and (2) even if you found them on the internet and downloaded the ringtone or the remix, they’re ALWAYS clearly marked “Pop Re-mix” … because that’s their whole selling point, it’s different from the album! Mothers actually read labels much better than men, they can figure out what pop re-mix means, and very few moms buy music off the internet.
solongsowrong says:
Artists like Kid Rock, are only jumping from one form of Pop music to another. It’s not much of a stretch, and it’s easy to see why he would say that they parallel and influence each other. Forgetting about the opinions of Kid Rock… because that’s all it is… I’d like to get back to Whitney’s original statement saying that many are overlooking the actual music to focus on its classification, and making it to sound like that’s a bad thing.
The Pop music industry… Pop Country included… are the ones most guilty of classifying music. When I’d call up a local commercial Country radio station, and ask to hear my favorite Roots artist, I would point blank be told that they were not allowed to play that artist. Hence, if I want to know where to find a station that plays my favorites, I need to know the classification. Once I have established that, I then can concentrate on the actual Country music that I enjoy listening to the most, instead of coming on here like many do, to complain about the Country music that is currently being played on commercial radio, and calling it too Pop. If you want to hear the Country music you like, you need to know the genre, and where to find it. The best way to do that, is to know its classification.
I agree when he says you should go where you’re celebrated, though. And fans should go where the music they look for is celebrated. It’s senseless to look for new music from Patty Loveless or Emmylou Harris on Pop Country radio, and it’s senseless to complain about Taylor Swift, Jessica Simpson, or Kid Rock being played on Pop Country radio. If more people understood that, blogs like this wouldn’t be necessary.
Derrik says:
The first comment on this page says it all!!!
Country/Pop has been around for decades and i think it is time to just accept it!!! Its not going to disappear so there is no use complaining about it!
smittybebad says:
Kid you keep playing the music you like. Whatever you put out there seems to be liked enough. You ROCK and always WILL.
sugar says:
I would like to know country album the person is saying Kid Rock has you mean he has songs that have crossed over. Kid makes me to cross all boundaries and reach all people he really seems to keep that in his mind.
That why you see him welcomed by not only country artist but rap, rock, heavy metal, pop, soul, hell he has even done a standard. There is so much more to him than anyone is really taking a look at.
Kid Rock is like a play list at any given time in your life you can find a song or watch a performance of him to suit your mood or musical taste.
Patty says:
First of all, I don’t think country needs to “better its image” I think that is part of the problem. Country is not supposed to be pop, hip hop or rock. If certain artists want that sound, go over to that genre and see how you do. Country should remain country. Unfortunately that does not seem to be the case when artists like Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and some others continue to sound more like pop every day, and get more radio time than the real country singers.
Redmaz says:
Patty you seemed to be a bit confused. As stated Pop is NOT an individual genre of music. It’s an industry consisting of MANY genres. Bullride, you bring up some very good points, ans since mahalia, Baron lane , and Sis agree with Kid Rock I’m sure they can explain what genre of todays country Music Kid Rock is talking about. Pop Country or Roots Country? I’m interested in hearing their response too. To Northcountry, it’s nice to see someone here who understands todays music scene.
Robin says:
Did Kid Rock actually “say” anything? I mean, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Sugarland, etc. are ALL celebrated in country music and they are “pop” country acts. They are not just “tolerated”, they are the superstars in country right now.
How do I determine this? They are the one’s receiving radio airplay. They are the one’s selling albums. They are the one’s winning awards. So, maybe it’s the “heart” of pop country that should go somewhere else? Miranda Lambert is not getting the radio airplay, the record sales or the awards the others are so maybe she’s “just tolerated”. I say that this is not true. I think being “celebrated” is an intangible and while Carrie, Taylor, Brad, Sugarland, Keith and Kenny are clearly celebrated, so is Miranda.
So, Kid Rock said absolutely nothing.
hotelmotel says:
I think Kid Rock is mostly just talking in cliches. The problem is, for every cliche saying one thng, there is a cliche saying the opposite. And in any case most of what Mr. Rock says is too vague to be of any substance. He sounds like a sports announcer, just spouting off generalities that may have dubious relevance.
Big Mike says:
Oh so it’s “Mr.Rock” eh? Try, Mr. Ritchie. Did you know “Kid Rock” is just a stage name, or did you really think that was his name at birth? I suppose you call the person who sings paradise by the dashboard light, Mr. Loaf too eh? Reality called…they want you to join.
hotelmotel says:
Of course I know its a stage name. Its pretty obvious that he wasn’t named “Kid Rock” at birth. And, yeah, I would call Meat Loaf, Mr. Loaf. Its a sign of respect. If I got to know him well, though, I would just call him Meat.
theshootist says:
I agree with Kid Rock. I like some of his songs, but he is a pop or rock music artist. Classification is everything and teenie boppers like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood are NOT country music. George and Alan said it best in their song “Murder on Music Row”. Country music should be “twag”, and have fiddles and steel guitars. What has happened? I do believe that is why guys like John Conlee, Bobby Bare, Don Williams, etc are seeing a new interest in their music and are again on tour, especially with the Indian Casino’s. I am not an old guy either, I am in my 30’s but I wouldn’t walk across the street to see a free performance of people like Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, or any other of these crappy singers. I have seen several “live” on tv and if they didn’t have the program auto tone, they can’t even carry a tune, this is from my wife’s cousin who actually works in the industy as well. He claims it is all a show now and that most can’t even really sing live. I feel you have to have a certain sound and a certain look and guys with long hair and earrings is not that look nor girls who dress like sluts and barely cover themselves. If you want to sing pop or rock, go do that, but leave country….country, traditional country…..
This is not a comment to make anyone mad. If you like that new age crap, fine, but it should be on the pop shelf, not the country shelf.
theshootist
Redmaz says:
To theshootist, Pop is not an individual genre of music, it’s an industry consisting of MANY genres including Country, so the same question can be asked of you. Since you agree with Kid Rock, you must know what he’s talking about. Is he talking about todays Pop Country or todays Roots Country that should not be chasing the Pop industry. It certainly would be nice for someone to defend their position, because I would gladly debate/discuss it with them
drdjwu says:
Well, “theshootist”, my problem is I can’t get by your second line, “Classification is everything”. Maybe if you’re a zoologist or librarian it is, but in creative arts, it’s just limiting. Even your hero George has said he DISAGREES that he should be labeled a traditional country guy — he RESPECTS Trad country, he just doesn’t want to be classified like that.
All this talk about genres and insistence that artists stay one in one place (even if it’s where they are celebrated) strikes me as elitism, provincialism, and inbreeding, and will ultimately lead, not to some preservation and purity of music, but to its boring demise.
If an artist abandons his/her original vision to pursue pop-country, rock, soul, rap or whatever because he/she wants the fame and money and popularity, that’s sad. But if they do so because their muse leads them that direction and they believe creative things are possible in any genre or hybrid, that’s when they should be celebrated … not for playing it safe and standing pat.
Redmaz says:
Still waiting for mahalia, Baron Lane, sis to explain, and defend Kid Rock’s and their position. To theshootist, Murder on Music Row is a Larry Cordle/Larry Schell song, and was written about Pop Country, the very same genre Strait and Jackson are a part of.
Redmaz says:
Still waiting. So there’s your answer Whitney. The “classification”, basic music fundamentals and/or genre description come before the actual music focus. I’m a fan of Americana Music, but I hardly like all I hear of it. As a matter of fact of all the Americana music I listen to, I like less than half. I don’t care what anyone listens to, but I do expect them to know what it is.