Kid Rock

"It's the same song spinning / but the same song's always been true." This is taken from the title track of Kid Rock's new album, Rock 'n Roll Jesus, and it's hard not to interpret it as an argument in favor of Rock's entire career up until this point. Kid Rock will never be accused of having the most forward-thinking music of his generation, but his last few albums have been loaded with just the kind of catchy country-rock songs that millions of people secretly love, no matter how much they pretend otherwise. Unfortunately, Rock 'n Roll Jesus is the tale of two Kid Rocks: the new one, whose perfection of country stereotypes has turned him into a loveable hit machine, and the old one, whose late '90s rap-rock is painfully stale.

Rock's true talent is emulating his heroes. "Amen" is a perfect Bruce Springsteen impression, and there's more than a little Grateful Dead to be found on "When U Love Someone." As if he needed to convince us of his love for all things Southern, Rock blatantly lifts the immortal riff from "Sweet Home Alabama" for "All Summer Long." All are decent enough good-time tunes, but for every handful of fun tracks, he drops an absolute dud, the biggest of them being "Sugar." The song starts off with a terrific Steve Earle vibe before descending into the Kid Rock territory of old—mindless rapping, tuneless singing and a series of lyrical non sequiturs.

It seems we're better off with the derivative country Kid Rock than the original rapping Kid Rock, even when he's ripping off his own song ("Only God Knows Why") on "Blue Jeans and a Rosary." Rock proves he's gained full control of his pseudo-country persona on Rock 'n Roll Jesus, but the album suffers when the "devil without a cause" shows up.

—Nathan Atnikov
10.12.07