Behind the Music

Episode 186: Kid Rock

March 2, 2006 • 60 min

He's a rapper, a rocker and a country charter, a stone cold pimp with a deep love for music. By the turn of the 20th century, Kid Rock was one of America's most well known personalities and best-selling musicians, commanding admiration from his peers and bringing the funk back to Motown. But he faced a titanic struggle in a decade long quest for respect.Born Bob Ritchie on January 17th, 1971, he was the third of four children in an upper class family in Romeo, Michigan. By the time Bob was four though, the cozy, country atmosphere of his youth was shattered forever. On a wintry Michigan day in 1975, his brother Billy lost a leg in a tractor accident, changing the family dynamic forever. Forgotten by parents who now had to care for a crippled son, Bob turned to music and immersed himself in a sea of beats and rhymes by early rap pioneers. At just 15, the white kid with the six inch flat top was a polished DJ, performing at basement parties in the neighboring black community of Mt. Clemens. Thanks to his skills, people began to gasp in amazement: "Look at that kid rockin' the turntables!" Kid Rock was thus born.Despite his parents' disapproval, Bob signed a deal with Jive Records in the summer of '89 and took off for New York with dreams of hip hop stardom. Unfortunately his first album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, was released during the fateful odyssey of Vanilla Ice and Jive subsequently dropped Kid Rock from its artist roster. Re-signed the very next year by a small imprint called Continuum, the rapper released his second album but the label soon folded and Rock was once again relegated to obscurity in his hometown of Detroit. Undeterred, he polished his act in the mid-90's, implementing more instrumentation, signing up a pint-sized hype man named Joe C and taking advantage of a new form of music called rap-rock. With a fresh sound and a new look, Kid Rock was signed by Atlantic in the summer of '97 and released his fourth album, Devil Without a Cause. Riding the rap-rock craze and with a huge boost from MTV, Devil shot up the charts and sold ten million albums by years end; Kid Rock was finally a musical icon.Taking advantage of his newfound popularity, Kid Rock began dating babes from porn stars to pop stars and even proposed to one of Hollywood's hottest women, Pamela Anderson. Despite the amazing ride, 2000 marked a sad year for Rock. With barely any warning, his three foot nine inch sidekick and best friend Joe C passed away due to complications from Celiac disease. Gathering himself and his band, Rock rocked out another album in November of 2001, Cocky, and went four times platinum thanks to a country duet with Sheryl Crow. Now a rap, rock and country icon, Kid Rock has jammed with legends such as Hank Williams, Jr. and Stevie Wonder and has himself become a musical marvel. For a man who fought his way through years of adversity, his is a story of sheer inspiration.