{"id":129028,"date":"2017-11-07T01:58:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T06:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=129028"},"modified":"2017-11-07T01:58:19","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T06:58:19","slug":"review-kid-rock-delivers-on-strong-sweet-southern-sugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/07\/review-kid-rock-delivers-on-strong-sweet-southern-sugar\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Kid Rock delivers on strong ‘Sweet Southern Sugar’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kid<\/a>
Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, never expressly discusses politics, but he clearly revels in his political incorrectness. \u201cI’m a thrift store of filth\/I was built to enrage,\u201d he sings. \u201cI’m a mountain of fame\/the last of my kind.\u201d (Photo<\/a>: Kid Rock\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kid Rock, \u201cSweet Southern Sugar\u201d (Broken Bow\/BMG\/Top Dog)<\/p>\n

Getting your new album noticed these days seems to involve elaborate publicity stunts and social media gimmicks, but Kid Rock upped the ante this fall \u2014 he flirted with a run for U.S. Senate. Even Taylor Swift hasn’t gone that far.<\/p>\n

The Detroit rocker was, of course, just pulling our leg and now that \u201cSweet Southern Sugar\u201d is out, it’s pretty clear that Kid Rock should have just let the music speak for itself. The faux senator has got himself a darn good album here.<\/p>\n

The 10 strong tracks have Kid Rock’s signature stew of Southern rock, rap and country, layered with expletive-laden lyrics that evoke Old Glory patriotism, Don’t-Step-on-Me cockiness and a celebration of redneck culture. It’s sweet all right, with just enough sour to keep it interesting.<\/p>\n

There are satisfying arena-ready rockers like \u201cGreatest Show on Earth,\u201d \u201cAmerican Rock ‘n Roll\u201d and \u201cStand the Pain\u201d along with proud Southern-fried tunes like \u201cTennessee Mountain Top\u201d and the playful, bluesy \u201cRaining Whiskey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, never expressly discusses politics, but he clearly revels in his political incorrectness. \u201cI’m a thrift store of filth\/I was built to enrage,\u201d he sings. \u201cI’m a mountain of fame\/the last of my kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

His rock-rap anthem \u201cGrandpa’s Jam\u201d \u2014 yes, the Kid is now a grandpa \u2014 bizarrely name-checks Taylor Swift, J. Paul Getty, Wolfgang Puck, the Doobie Brothers, Chelsea Handler and the Yeti. You kind of have to give him props, even as you chuckle.<\/p>\n

In that song, he gets angry at if he’s called \u201cwhite trash\u201d but he also celebrates Southern cliches elsewhere, especially in \u201cPo-Dunk,\u201d where there’s \u201cBible by the bed and a bottle sittin’ pretty\u201d and a \u201chouse full of youngins and a yard full of junk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kid Rock also gets serious with the wistful, suicide-referencing \u201cBack to the Otherside\u201d and a dark cover of the Four Tops’ \u201cSugar Pie Honey Bunch,\u201d which in his hands now seems to evoke drug addiction. Yes, Kid Rock can go deep, too.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Congress’ loss might actually be our gain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kid Rock, \u201cSweet Southern Sugar\u201d (Broken Bow\/BMG\/Top Dog) Getting your new album noticed these days seems to involve elaborate publicity …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":129034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[23726,31617],"class_list":["post-129028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-kid-rock","tag-sweet-southern-sugar","mauthors-mark-kennedy","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}