Transcript
Speaker: If you could go to one place, where would you go? If he had one shot, you can go back in time once and survive and come back to the future. Where would you go? Jesus. Jesus. What if there was nobody there?
Speaker: Even better. I get involved myself. Just me and Jesus. No. I mean, what if Jesus wasn't there? What if you go back and you're like I just want to go see Jesus. You're like, okay. What time? He'd be there. he presents it He'd probably like a DJ back then.
Speaker: He's there. You think there's a real Jesus? Definitely? Absolutely. A thousand percent. What makes you convinced?
Speaker: My faith. mean, that's a good answer. Would you like to be introduced to Jesus?
Speaker: ah Listen, I think the concept of Jesus is absolutely amazing. And if Jesus came here and wanted to visit me, i would be psyched. Would you like to know Jesus? In what way? i can put my pastor on your show.
Speaker: I'm good.
Speaker: Hey everybody, we are back with another episode of Growing Up Christian. And Casey is not here today. Casey is out ah closely examining the mating patterns of sea turtles and stingrays.
Speaker: Is that actually No, it's not actually true. I mean, he probably is. I imagine he's taking a gander if you know the opportunity arose, I think. Who wouldn't? I mean, I've watched dragonflies mate, you know, when they're kind of doing their thing in the air, that little dance. It's cool. Yes, of course. um No, he's on vacation. Him and his wife took a nice vacation to ah Bahamas. I forget where he told me. um So he is actually a marine mammalian mating.
Speaker: Yeah, he very well could be. And the reason I say that is he sent me a really beautiful video from his balcony in his hotel room that just You can see the ocean from it, but when you look down, like the resort they're on, is um it's got like sea turtles swimming around and all sorts of stuff. like It's cool. It it looks beautiful.
Speaker: um So, you guys are hearing some new voices tonight. um My old friends, Chris and Doug, they...
Speaker: I've, well, no one knows these guys. No one knows these guys. These are my friends and they are joining me tonight, uh, doing me a solid cause I didn't want to skip a week. And I've had this idea floating my mind, which we'll get to in a little bit, but we are stand-ins. Hello.
Speaker: So Chris, say hello. So people hear your voice and associate it with the name. Hello. My name is Chris. This is me. I am here in my home drinking a beer talking to you.
Speaker: Nice. And Doug. Yeah, I'm Doug. I'm Chris's brother. um Yep. i spent a I spent a lot of weekends at you guys' house. I met you guys a little later.
Speaker: ah You guys had a pretty established friends group. and yeah you and of andon You were a stand-in. I was. a friend of the show, Jesse, yeah invited me over when he was going to hang out with you guys.
Speaker: And then you guys were in a band with Cal, our also longtime friend. um That's kind of how I started hanging out with you, I think. You were yeah screaming for that band.
Speaker: yeah well Yeah. Cal, who was just on... Was it last week or the week before? ah With Loud Sounds, we were promoting his new album. ah Cal was part of that that squad.
Speaker: And um yeah, we spent a ah lot of a lot of weekends at ah you guys' house. Hanging out, having a good time, watching the sunrise. oh you remember You remember thinking like, dude, are we actually going to remain friends with this guy? you ever You ever think about that? Like, is this going to stick? You know? Yeah. We've been friends for, what, 15 years at least? It's like 20 at this point. It's got to be 20 at this point. why I bet yeah i met you guys when I was 17, I think.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, Jesus Christ. We're looking at 40. A long time ago. On the barrel of 40, everyone now. Yeah, I, uh, no, I actually did wonder if it was gonna, if it would stick. Because, you know, when you're introduced to a new group, you can just, like, I always felt welcomed, but you, you know, you, you guys had a lot of history.
Speaker: Um, you guys went to school together. Like, the whole, everyone was more intertwined on a, on a regular basis, so. and you weren't from town, either. No, I was, like, 40 minutes away. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I'll, Met Cal in fourth grade. So like, yeah, he was just always there, you know? so up Top that, Sam. Yeah, I can't. No, but by the time we started hanging out with people in high school and shit like that, you know what I mean? Like he was he was a long childhood friend, you know?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, it it I felt like I almost got closer to people after I left and the friendship did stick.
Speaker: Cause it wasn't like, I'm just around with like, kind of like grafting into this group. It it was more, oh Hey, we actually stuck it out.
Speaker: Um, after I went to Liberty university, uh, in. Dude, we went to go see you down there. Yeah, and that that that is a bit I was gonna I was gonna say fucking even going to your your town for fireworks to me kind of felt like a chapter where it was like, oh, we're actually going to like Sam's area. And that's our fucking house all the time. You know, where me and you just on a road trip, Chris, I think we were just taking a road trip somewhere. And we just ended up down there in in Virginia area. And we're like, hey, let's set up Sam's see what he's doing, you know.
Speaker: Yeah. cool um Our buddy Mason, who we were wanted to have us with ah who we wanted to have us with us tonight, um who ended up having other plans, um he came down as well on a road trip.
Speaker: And he impromptu, along with one of the other people who was on that road trip, got they got dirty self tattoos. That's right. didn't know that. I think there was a big regret there. Oh, hell.
Speaker: but That's going be a fun regret, though. Like, you can see that for the rest of your life on your body and be like, oh I remember that time. so, i hope so man. Stupid tattoo. He's been in deep regret for a decade. Mason regrets everything, yeah. Yeah, it was... ah he got I forget where he got his, but ah one of the people who was with him, she got it like pretty big up like that her side.
Speaker: like that's yeah that That's way too much. That's the biggest mistake you could make. Bad idea. For visiting Virginia, which isn't even really the dirty south. oh it's not. I was going to say. That's like barely there. We're like three hours south of D.C. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Not really the dirty south. Crazy. Crazy. You know, it was funny. ah and That was my first time hanging out in the tattoo parlor watching people get a getting inked. And I was like, oh.
Speaker: Oh, wow. yeah Yeah. Maybe I should join. Oh, that'd be fun to join in. Get in on the gag. Not get Dirty South tattoo. Glad I didn't. Yeah, fuck that. My first tattoo, just Dirty South. Across your forehead or something.
Speaker: um But yeah, so it's funny, like, um one of the things that I've pointed out before, like, I've actually talked about our, that old friends group on the podcast here and there, because you guys were really, that, these those, you guys' friendships were really important to me because,
Speaker: i I mean, being homeschooled and having all of my interactions with people and all of my friendships that I i created being through church, you were my first group of friends like outside of that.
Speaker: um And it was, I, you know, I know that like i I, remember being preachier than you guys even recall based on past conversations. And I, it was,
Speaker: important for my social development to become friends with people who thought so much differently than me, but also weren't the caricature atheists and agnostics that I was given that like, Oh, people might, people don't, people resent this message. People have a problem with it. And then I'm like, actually these people are my, they Oh, these people are my friends and they, act they, they don't care at all that I think differently.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. yeah I can't remember ever giving a shit, really. Like, um you are the person you are anyway. And that was always pretty apparent when it came to you.
Speaker: And that was, like, who I wanted to be friends with anyway. So it didn't really matter, like, what you believed in or, like, where you came from. Like... Not that it didn't, like, not not that I would completely, like, disregard it, you know what i mean? Like, it was important to you, so I i wanted to know more about it, like like, how, why you thought differently on certain things, maybe, but um never, like, resented you for it or anything like that.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. i think I think there's obviously a barrier there. if i think if if But you weren't, like again, they have from our point of view, you weren't preachy, right? i mean like we Doug and I had family in Virginia who you know was you know Southern Baptist raised and and preachy was you know just the middle name. We've come across that before. But from from my perspective, you weren't preachy, but But, you know, yeah, I mean, anytime there was like, at least for me, when there was discussion, you know, about religion with like you or Jesse and or Jesse, it was just kind of like, i just ignored it.
Speaker: I was just like on the outs, like, I don't feel like I had a place in those conversations. So like, I think it does affect a friendship or potentially limit a friendship, but I wouldn't know, like, I don't think like, and don't think I was judgmental towards it. But like, yeah, I i would be lying if I said it, like, had no effect.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, say more about that. I think that's really interesting. Well, I don't know. Again, like I was yeah younger than y'all anyway in in the group, but like, like I just, I feel like maybe I don't have a memory of it because I was just so used to ignoring that. Like, gotcha. Like you had involved yourself from those conversations really. Like it wasn't shut up.
Speaker: I would just shut up and either leave or just zone out or whatever. Like, and that goes for other folks, not just, not just this group. Right. I mean, it was just a thing, whether I was in school or with with family or whatever. It's like, if if religion came up, it was just like, all right, like, yeah, I'll listen, but like, I'm not really going to engage because I don't have thoughts or I feel like my thoughts aren't welcome because like, at that age, I was a pretty strict non-believer, man. Like, it was me being angsty and fucking edgy, you know, by like, just ignoring shit.
Speaker: I feel like I was completely opposite with you, right, Sam? Like, I feel like um of everyone in our friend group, I remember like, wanting to have those conversations with you. I think I had those conversations with you and Jesse a lot.
Speaker: Yeah, you did. And like other people would walk away, you know, Chris, like maybe you would walk away if you were there, you know, one of our other friends would be completely uninterested, you know, or get to a point where we were like, um you know how we like, I think that's what we've always been good with too, is like, we don't,
Speaker: We can talk without, you know, sometimes it gets to the point of people feeling like if they're arguing. oh you're arguing about something. You know what i mean? But like we just would have passionate conversations about this stuff.
Speaker: And that was what was cool. You know what I mean? And like i enjoy that type of conversation anyway, you know, no matter what it's about. You know, I don't mind debating somebody's, um you know, where they came from or how they believe something.
Speaker: um because it's interesting to me. it's so It's always been interesting to me. And I feel like it is something that that people can get things from if you bother to listen to where someone else is coming from.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure, dude. i and i What too is like, know, what i remember too is like you know you you ah out of all my friends gravitated towards, you know, like the, you know, some of our our shared interest sort of, um, was music. Obviously I've diverged, but like you, I, you guys getting into that friends group is what expanded my musical horizons and opened me up to like some shit that I didn't know existed. And, uh,
Speaker: And for you, Doug, you liked a lot of the the darker side of music that I certainly wasn't introduced to. um And then, you know, you had an interest in Satanism. You had the Satanic Bible. And that was my first introduction to that. And you you were never like...
Speaker: crazy. Like you weren't like one of those people who was like, this is my identity. This is my religion, but it was an interest of yours. Um, and so like, that was fascinating to me because I was like, as I would talk to you about it, I was like, Oh, this actually isn't as actually as fucked up as I thought it was. It's actually pretty rational in a lot of ways. Um, and so like that kind of like softened me to,
Speaker: ah softened me to the idea, not in a way that I would have entertained it, but was just like, oh, ah it's actually not... You know, my understanding of my experience was like, this kind of makes you like a a bad person almost. Like, oh, that's what like real lost people are moving towards. They think that's cool because it's dark and evil. And it's like, like I had this like cartoonish understanding of what that was. And and so like, yeah i don't know, it was just...
Speaker: It was my first time like just being around people who thought differently. And it didn't have to be, it wasn't like the main topic conversation. It would come up, we'd stay up till 2 a.m. m sometimes with interesting discussions, but it always was chill. And um it was just really huge for me to be able to to connect with people in a meaningful way that were outside of the bubble that I grew up in.
Speaker: um But yeah. um what okay i'm gonna i'm gonna move us forward a little because uh i want to make sure we have time to get into the meat of what we're here for tonight and it's really important we had a really important very uh topic planned out and so i've mentioned before here um that i i do an album review club and you guys are in that album review club. So ah we're on an album like 230. We've been doing this for how many years? cup Two years?
Speaker: it It feels like more. I feel like this is ah this occupies a lot of our... our time in, in, definitely in, uh, in screen time as we, so like we listen to it. So we have like a rotating list. Someone drops an album. We all listen to it. We review it. We get in fights. Someone at some point wants to quit. ah Crash outs.
Speaker: Yeah, we have crash outs. We tell everyone they're fucking stupid and they don't understand anything good in life. And they're like, you don't like my band. yeah That's what we do every week. I know. And it's funny because it is one of those like the mute. I mean, if anything, it's taught me how much like.
Speaker: your enjoyment or your love of a band or type the types of music you like actually is a part of because feels like a part of who you are because when people shit on it you're like this is character assassination right now like you guys are i'm taking this personally a little bit and then you step back you know once it's over you move on to the next album and you just don't it's over like but it it can suck it can suck when people tear apart something you love Sam knows it better than anyone but shit up his musical taste in the club.
Speaker: Well, I want to go on record quick too and say that, I mean, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I've crashed out on an album that I've submitted.
Speaker: i i think that's probably true. I've never had a crash out because someone hated something I've liked. I've crashed out because someone liked something that I hated. Yeah. Yeah. you don't what up what I'm trying to think, is is there something that comes to your mind for an album that was that you submitted that overall people didn't like?
Speaker: didn't like yeah this this gotta to be i think i submitted like a haste the day album that did pretty bad the share christmas album oh yeah that was the first album that was just me trolling but like i mean because i gave that a two yeah that was ah i mean that's that That actually rivals what we're up against tonight.
Speaker: um yeah Yeah. And so... Yeah, this is going to be interesting. we like It's worth mentioning ah that what we're talking about tonight is not a part of the Album Review Club yet, and I fucking hope to God it not it's just not. It isn't enough. I don't see a reason for it to become part of it. I think this will suffice. Okay. good um Unless I get mad at you guys for trashing an album I love, this will be the next one. And then you have to listen to it again? No. No.
Speaker: No. So Kid Rock recently came out with a new album called Halfway to Jesus. And it was over an hour long.
Speaker: It was like 18 tracks or something. hour Yeah. it's so I think it's 17 tracks an hour and 11 minutes. yeah'm shit good Yeah. Obnoxious. The longest hour and 11 minutes of my life. I probably listened to that five times before it was over.
Speaker: And Casey and I were talking about it because I thought it'd be fun to just listen to it and do a review. But Casey was away and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to invite who was around in my album review club? Let's have the pros. stay Yeah. pros The professionals at trashing shit ass music.
Speaker: oh yeah um So we listened to this album. Did anyone do it more than once? I hope not. I did it once and then right before we did this because I listened to it like a week ago. So I had to kind of like listen to the tracks again, like briefly to like remember them, like yeah remember what I had to say. but A little refresher. I went through like a couple hours ago because I had some friends in my store and I've been telling friends about this and they're all... befuddled that that not only it exists, but that it sounds the way that it does. And um ah it's it's true it's truly an unbelievable experience listening to it, even even for a few moments. Yeah, I mean, because the first track is just called Freedom.
Speaker: yeah And it's some like chorus, like ah sorry, choir of people just singing Freedom. that's That's the intro. And that really sets the stage for...
Speaker: For the album, I think. If I'm going to be honest, it I mean, it's... This album is actually... It's all over the place. um With the styles and the... Not so much the content, I guess. The content's pretty one-dimensional. but Is it, though? I don't feel like it's one-dimensional. Okay.
Speaker: Yeah. The funniest thing to me was that throughout the whole album... he is incorporating all these Jesus themes and, and, and how religious he wants to be. But then he goes on and talks about like snorting Coke and fucking like dating strippers and like drinking and like, you're just like, dude, what the fuck are talking about? Like it doesn't make a whole piece of shit. It's like it. Oh man. Yeah. If, if this is like, man, it's weird. If this is one dimensional, then like,
Speaker: MAGA has just taken three-dimensional object and figured out how to pancake it, right? I mean, it's like, it's it's unfair that this could be considered one dimensional really but i know what you mean because it it does have like the same kind of vibe all the way through but he's talking about drugs alcohol jesus like being a dick to his wife like just a going all over the place and like the music isn't that one dimensional theoretically it's not but like
Speaker: Sure, yeah. Oh, my God. It's so's droney. yeah I guess what I mean one-dimensional is like, at least for me, when I listen to it, I hear same recycled
Speaker: read the same recycled like Christian content I've heard my whole life. So like when when you grow up in church, you'll occasionally get a um like a guest speaker.
Speaker: ah It's someone who, maybe it's a traveling minister of some sort. um Someone who used to be in the Hells Angels. Christians have this weird like If you were in Hells Angels and you got saved and you want to travel the world telling people your testimony, Christians love that shit. Christians have this weird hang up with the Hells Angels. Like it is like...
Speaker: Like it's like, like it's, uh, what was it? What's that show? Uh, about the, the biker shit. Um, Sons of Anarchy. Yeah. I feel like that's what Christians think is like, hell's angels is all like that. Like this, like, cause it's boomers who like book this shit. So they're all like back in my day, the hell's Yeah.
Speaker: would you know fuck your wife and kill your brother like they would just just had the dumbest idea of like what like cartoonish ideas of the hell's angels and i know there's some rough history there right i'm not downplaying that there was a time where there was some relevance to them but if you found out someone was in the hell's angels now you'd be like nice club bro like who cares right yeah yeah yeah well that's like ah do do you think there's any any sort of like um I don't know. I don't know if I want to get into that. Get into it. Get into it. um Like, you know, and how much does does does race play into that as far as like, hey, this is like a cool, tough guy who is now welcome to our club because, yes, he's always been like a white Christian guy. And now he wants to just have his sins cast. And yay, we love that. And look how cool he is. And now he's even cooler because he's walking away from Satan. yeah you know i actually that's an angle i've never considered and i think you i feel like hell onto something there he as far into
Speaker: into into sinnerhood as as as can be welcomed willingly right i mean like you're you you you ride, you ride motorcycles, you drink, which is cool. And you probably beat up some folks and maybe stabbed a guy. Like, it's like, you know, that's to, to, to the world. That's not that fucking bad. That's really not that fucking bad. Um, but, uh, you know, you can use that as, ah as like, uh, uh,
Speaker: a little flag of like, hey, man, look at this guy. You know, he's he's a badass. and Yeah. he's And now he's saved. Well, and that's what they like because the Christians, when anytime there's like the guest speaker, they want people who have like – a wild backstory. Like, look at all this sinning I did. And the funny thing about them is when they talk about it, you're like, dude, you miss it. You miss it so bad. Like they're talking, I used to have all this sex. I used to do all these drugs, but Hey, that was before it came to the Lord.
Speaker: And my life thought I was having fun, but I was in a dark place. And they try to like sell Jesus after they just told you some cool shit. That's exactly what this album is. Like it's propaganda for like, Oh, I used to be a junkie, but like now I'm saved. And, uh, I don't know. It's problematic in that way.
Speaker: But I think the race element that you mentioned, Chris is very fascinating and something I haven't considered because they don't, they, they love having a good hell's angels story, but you know,
Speaker: inner city violence and and drug peddling in that area. Here's the Latin King who fucking loves God. Like where's. Yeah. They don't get the same.
Speaker: Like maybe in certain spaces they do, but in white evangelicalism, I never came across it. And if they did, it was super token. You know, like if you had a ah a black guy who had a rough past, it's like,
Speaker: Thank God he saved that one. I get like, they it there's a lot of tokenism in, in, in like dog whistly type racism, evangelicals. Yeah. And like I think that's a good point, man.
Speaker: Yeah. But Doug, real quick. So like, so you, do you, I was wondering who was going to say it first, right? Who is this for? I think that is the best question to ask about this fucking record. You said it first, ah you know,
Speaker: It makes a lot of sense to think about being halfway to Jesus as a as a goal.
Speaker: So like, oh, great. I'm further than I was. isn't that awesome. I deserve my praise. I deserve my flowers. I deserve to have a glass of whiskey and I deserve to fucking, you know, drink my wine and still live my life and have fun because I'm on the way to Jesus, you know? And it's like, Oh, fucking. It's so cheap.
Speaker: It's so cheap. like of a religiosity. I don't know. It's just, it's so junky. It's so stupid. You don't deserve any credit. You don't deserve any credit.
Speaker: And what I think is funny um about the halfway to Jesus thing, there's a lot that he, we before we hit record, we were talking about AI being involved in this and and whether it was and how it seems highly likely.
Speaker: But one of the indicators for me is it has a lot of like, it's like skinned as, you know, Christian conservative, but he, he really misses the mark in so certain areas that make me go, this is, this is, this is fake ass shit right now. Because even the idea of being halfway to Jesus, like,
Speaker: if you're you're either a Christian or you're not, you either give your life to Jesus or you don't. Like the idea of being halfway, like you' you're like 50% of the way on your journey to the finish line is like,
Speaker: that's not a thing. It's right. And if you either with Jesus or you're not, there's no like on the way. It's just every, every day of your life is on the way until you make the choice to be, to, to believe in him as an evangelical would say you need to.
Speaker: And this, and this is like, he's trying to say that it's fine that he's halfway, you know what I mean? Like, It's cool if he like still rails lines, but if he's got Jesus in his heart, he's good. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's like, it doesn't really make any sense. And there's like that juxtaposition through this whole album. Like he's just like, there's a part where he's talking about the neon lights and I can't tell if he's talking about like stripper lights or like what he's talking about. I think he's talking about a liquor store.
Speaker: Yeah, like, knows? Like, just some junkie, trick like, this whole album is just full of trailer trash stuff. Like, I just picture, like, a confederate flag, like,
Speaker: hanging up in a frigging trailer park somewhere and someone blasting this record. You know what i mean? Because they think that somehow that is, you know, fine and they're saved. somehow Yeah.
Speaker: And it, so the halfway to Jesus thing connected with the song, uh, he had, there's a song on the album called seven sins. And of course, any idiot can already figure out what the song's entirely about just by the title. Like, um, but he says something like, uh, you know, uh, he's guilty of all seven sins.
Speaker: He said he's been baptized in the blood, but he's guilty of all seven sins. And that's another one of those tells for me, excuse me. Um, one of the tells is like
Speaker: the theological position for the group of people he's speaking to is that the blood washes away your guilt.
Speaker: Like no one, you're, you're, everyone's guilty until they're, you know, washed in the blood of the lamb or becomes a Christian. And so the theology is that like, once you give your life to Christ, you are,
Speaker: you areold you're washed clean. like That's not who you are anymore. That's not on you anymore. And so what he does in that song is kind of like... kind of glamorizes that he's done all those things. Interesting. And still considers himself guilty of them, which shows me, like, I know what he's trying to do with it.
Speaker: I know what he's trying to sell with it, but it shows me that you're an outsider, like, pretending to be an insider. It's a grift. That makes me go, you're a grifter.
Speaker: Wow. Wow. Can I ask a question? so Of course. when you say... Maybe this is two questions. oh Washes away your guilt. Does that mean you are no longer actually guilty?
Speaker: Or like you're no longer required to feel and experience the guilt associated with the thing no longer actually guilty which i think creates a sort of superiority complex for christians and i think it is what excuses their license for hypocrisy and like closeted sin like is that's what i'm used to like i'm used to people saying this like i but i brought this album up to my friend today as i mentioned and i barely described it i think i think i said two sentences and they were like
Speaker: Oh, are they doing like the Protestant thing where it's just like as long as they say that like they're on team Jesus, then like everything they do like doesn't really matter and they're not affected by like their sins. Yeah. Yeah. it Because if you look because as a Christian, you can still sin, but you repent.
Speaker: And and that gives you that that washes the slate clean again. God holds no record of your wrongs. You are no longer found guilty. and and and And so that's supposed to be enough. So like if someone sits down and like gives confessional or but I don't understand how it happens, but like did you, you,
Speaker: you Do you complain about feeling guilty? Is that spoken about? And that you're you're just supposed to not? Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely complaint. So confession would be, you know, if you're Catholic, um evangelicals would just, you know, they don't do that. But they still believe in, like, talking about your sins or whatever. for Mostly because they think all of them are slightly voyeuristic and want to hear the dirty, dirty. um And...
Speaker: But, yeah, it's like... Because people like, I mean, even as, ah you know, as ah late teens, twenty s whatever, like that was a constant conversation within Christian circles. Like I had sex with my girlfriend and now I feel really bad.
Speaker: And even though I know God forgave me, I'm still struggling with guilt, which then if depending on how long that struggle goes, then you get to add on a new feeling of confusion, which is that you you're almost like you're almost sinning because you're not trusting in God's work enough through Christ, like death on the cross to save you from your sins. that Now you're just kind of being like selfish in some way. Like you're just, you're too wrapped up in yourself and you can't, you can't put your focus on God enough. So like the guilt compiles and it gets heavier and heavier of a burden to bear.
Speaker: Wow. And yeah, it's it's weird that like you're not you you're being told you're not guilty. Yep. So there's nowhere to put the feeling of guilt. That's that's broken mind right now. Jesus is supposed to take it away from you with enough faith.
Speaker: But he then when you so when it doesn't go away, it's your fault for not having a faith. But there's no road map. Like that's a that's just a completely like. Yeah.
Speaker: abstract concept right when people say trust in jesus have faith you go What is that like? That's just a disposition that you're supposed to fall into, I guess.
Speaker: ah Which to me, the concerning thing is ah what I in my experience, the people who can shake that feeling of of the guilt or who can who can truly live into the idea of what's being told are fucking sociopaths and narcissists who don't actually have a regard for maybe how they've treated people or the repercussions of their actions. Mm hmm.
Speaker: So they can claim that they just are absolved of all guilt and be completely fine. Yeah. It's problematic. Wow. So I feel like but the way that he addresses, like the way that he touches on things that have like, you know, greater theological implications within evangelical Christianity.
Speaker: I just, I, I, I believe wholeheartedly that, this isn't just like a shitty guy who found like, okay, I could go a million different directions. This. I think it is a grift.
Speaker: um I think he's co-opted a this movement to like save his career, um to give him relevance ah to I know about that though. Cause like, I don't like, I was looking at his like whole discography and like he, he has released records like every couple of years for yeah a very long time now, which was like kind of surprising to me because like, obviously like,
Speaker: we were all into Bob with the Bob back in the day. Like that's the only fucking album I like know by this dude. And then you look at it and you just like, he consistently like releases albums. So like, I don't know why he felt the need to do this because I don't really think it is like, he doesn't need it.
Speaker: You know what mean? And if you look at his stream, I'm curious if any, like, uh, to 2007 is rock and roll Jesus. That's crazy to me. Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess he's been connected to like the pseudo-Christian, because country's pseudo-Christian, and he's been country for a while. like Yeah, like i don't it's not really country, though. like It's definitely not real country. It's not real country. Yeah, like and that goes back to what we were saying. like It just seems like this whole thing is fake, like just like everything else he's ever done, because he's never really been country.
Speaker: He's never really been rock and roll. He's never really been a Christian. You know, he's never, like, he's never really been anything. What the hell did you say his name was before? Like, Richie something?
Speaker: James. James. James Ritchie. James Ritchie. Like, come on, man. Like, that's your name? And you're just gonna, you're gonna reinvent yourself as Kid Rock?
Speaker: and Yeah. try to tell us all these things? Like, don't... Robert James Ritchie. Robert James Ritchie. Like, the fucking stupidest he's Bobby yeah he's Bobby doesn't he talk about Bobby in this album talks about Bobby being in a grave or something he did yeah I didn't realize who Bobby was okay um but yeah um I I think two other two things that are very important to talk about about this album are the features, the two notable features. I fucking wish we didn't have to. If you can even say they're notable, dude, like, oh my God. like If there's any indication of AI here. It's that. It's Eminem. Lil Wayne and Eminem are on this. Now, okay, my thing is, i I meant to look this up beforehand and I totally forgot because I saw some shit that Eminem wanted to withdraw his feature.
Speaker: I did see that, yeah. But, so when I saw, that's what I believed was the case. So when I saw it on the album, I was a little surprised. Yeah, because I thought, like, Wayne had to step in or something like that.
Speaker: But then I saw both features being on the album. But the Eminem feature... more than anything felt like AI. I thought his flow seemed off. Dude, that i thought flow is, if it's even his flow, it's a 20-year-old flow.
Speaker: He doesn't rap like that anymore. No. And he has he had elements of like the way he does his lyrics. You know, how Eminem does that thing where like he wrote the words he rhymes aren't the end of the sentence. It's like leading you into a new sentence. yeah And so there's so much of that that it started to feel fake.
Speaker: Well, did you notice the whole, like his whole ah feature was only about the song that they did together back on that fucking album too. you Fuck off.
Speaker: Like he just talks about that song, fuck off that they did together back in, what was it? 2001, whatever the hell it was, you know, like why is the whole, all the lyrics are just about that song.
Speaker: well He doesn't say anything else. Yeah, yeah. He has those great lyrics in it too, and this pisses me off too. um I'm trying to pull them up as I go.
Speaker: ah Here we go. It's going to be painful to read these because of how they're placed, but bear with me. We're tipping over R.I.P. to Joe to the C. From shock rap to the rock rap, my homie and me.
Speaker: He is my brother, not my political enemy. B.O. to the B. We wrote this for those who believe. In G.O. to the d oh and ge o to the D, however you voted or lean, liberal or evangelical can agree.
Speaker: It's God's first homey home of the free St. Joseph to VA shout out to Nashville, good old Tennessee, but don't need a Bible belt to turn the devil over my knee.
Speaker: That's painful. and Eminem wrote that he needs to hang up his hat and fucking retire. Yeah. It just doesn't feel like him at all. I mean,
Speaker: And I know that, like, he I guess he made a comment or whatever to, like, the Detroit fucking Sun or whoever their goddamn newspaper is or something like that about... about that right i mean just doubling down like hey it's not about it's not about science not about political matters our minds are right it's like but like bro like this is it 1990 you know yeah yeah it is now you fucking made it that we know what i fucking hate about this prick is like he's on fox news every two seconds like complaining about trans people in like just being a hyper cunt and then he rock
Speaker: Yeah. yeah And then also it's like all you do is show up for polarizing interviews and saying unhinged shit that you know is for clickbait. And then you're like, it's not about sides. It's like, bitch, you made it about sides. And like that is notoriously all about not compromising on shit like that.
Speaker: yeah well it just It doesn't make sense. And you know to just comment quick on what you're talking about, my other friend said that maybe there's something here about trying to bolster, and a Doug, you were alluding to it, about bolstering Kid Rock's presence and making him trying to force relevancy to justify all of these like kind of features and kind of like, you know, ah elbow rubbing that he's doing with like, you know, MAGA Republicans right now Yeah. yeah and I'm glad you just said that because it's, it's a MAGA propaganda show. It's, it's just to please vote MAGA cause Kid Rock does. It's, it's, yeah you know, yeah like, Oh look, we got this Wayne feature and we got this Eminem feature. Like they also will support Trump. You know what I mean? Like, and that's supposed to get people behind it. Like it's,
Speaker: like You have to be an idiot to think that that's the case. um and And that's what this is made for, right? like this is this This album is made for idiots. yeah it's It's to convince stupid people to do stupid things um without without really any regard to what's actually happening in the world. and It's just that that's what the whole album is. To be a halfway Christian, a halfway husband, a halfway idiot, that is enough. You you are loved. You are welcome. Continue to be a fucking idiot and you're good. Yeah. that's That's the message of this album, I feel like.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's why you can't even take it too seriously. You know, like, cause it's just him doing stupid shit. The same thing that's like Trump doing stupid shit. You know what i mean? Like, but it's just a big show. You know, it's kind of how it comes across. fucking good And with his whole, like, cause he loves this whole, I love freedom. God bless the USA. and M are boys. There's no size. It's like,
Speaker: But you're literally on the record talking about doing everything you can to take away people's personal freedoms. Yeah. And to erase the Democratic Party and make leftism a fiction. You know, like you. It.
Speaker: he's just so He's just so full of shit. Yeah. To be able to say... Because he doesn't believe that. Like, if you if he was right... But he's trying to make something sellable because he knows that that's like... Christians will say that. No, there's no Republican or Democrat. There's only...
Speaker: you know, yeah we just follow Jesus. And then they tell you that Jesus votes Republican on like down the fucking ballot. And it's like, oh so you, it's just, it's just all bullshit.
Speaker: Yeah. And commandeering the, the, yes um, I don't know the term, the political term for like a casual, you know, one who doesn't necessarily fucking side with anything. You're just trying to so persuade again, the the trailer park idiot to go, to go inside with you. It it it it really does feel like propaganda. Like every, like, yeah, it it sounds like this came out of a can.
Speaker: It yeah really does. and the It's like, Oh, there's to say there's no, like, i heard this all the time growing up. It's like, you know, I'm not a Democrat or Republican. I'm a follower of Jesus. And then you're like, and then you like Jesus for president. See what that means. And you go. Okay, but so then you're going to wrap all that up into.
Speaker: You're going to heaven with the good ones or you're going to burn in hell for all of eternity. And it just so happens that the people, ah that the people who believe what those on the left think are the ones burning in hell for all which So it is, you're just, you're just like changing the language and moving the goalpost a bit. Like you're not, it it's, it's a dodge. It's a way it's, it's,
Speaker: it's all like costly signaling and credibility enhancing displays to be like, Oh, yeah like a couple lashes on my back. I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not a fucking Democrat who or a free thinker or, or someone who would, or someone who would, you know, shame or potentially, you know, look down upon or, or, or whatever, when it comes to,
Speaker: you know being a shitty person. Like, again, there are there are comments in here that just give you the idea that he's excusing being a shitty person. Now, I'm not saying that because you're an addict, you're a shitty person. Right. Just he's he's excusing crap behavior, just general being a a a a mid-human.
Speaker: Like, yeah saying that that it's fine. And, like, I don't think that that's okay in 2026. Like, i being average of a person, like, with your morals is is inexcusable today. Like, you you don't have that luxury anymore. Like, yeah it's it it it's it makes you a bad person.
Speaker: Right. Because back in the ninety s it was like, when When you're talking about the delineation between like Republican and Democrat, and like the only reason I keep doing the dichotomy of Republican Democrat is because that is what's happening in evangelicalism, and that's what he's speaking to. So when I'm like, oh, it just so happens that Democrats are this way.
Speaker: I know there's a large, ah ah a wide spectrum of belief when it comes to the political... ah There's a wide political spectrum and the left is massive and it's, it encompasses a lot of varying beliefs from, you know, socialism to democratic socialism, to communism, to centrist Democrat. Like, so,
Speaker: I'm wrapping it all up under Democrat because that is a pejorative used by conservative Christians. And so like Democrats, a catch all for anyone who's not like us or anyone who doesn't vote against abortion, honestly, is where that mostly boils down to. Yeah. Single issue voters, again, being being a being a impressionable, potentially smooth brained individual probably makes you a single issue voter, which is why it's so easy to dissuade.
Speaker: But like for him, to to go to the point of like being made on your morals and just... Everything's flexible for him. And you know let's be clear. a reason he's like made on his morals is everyone's familiar with his ah Cool Daddy Cool song, right? ah From Osmosis Jones.
Speaker: No. Where he says... um I'm pulling up the lyrics right now. He says... ah
Speaker: yeah So many ads, freezing site. I don't think I know this. That's crazy. My God, this sucks. I like him underage. Yep, there it is. I like him underage.
Speaker: Some say it's statutory, but I say it's mandatory. That's it. That was in Osmosis Jones. That's insane. Yeah. ah On my cell phone, I paid G. Can't call me. Just page me. Young ladies, young ladies. I like them underage. See, some say that's statutory, but I say it's mandatory.
Speaker: Oh, like my God. How did that get pressed? Homies out here just being like, by the way, I'm a pedophile. Just real quick, want everyone to know. Like, it's cool. It's cool to like underage girls. And like...
Speaker: that's what they're pumping the money into, right? Like that's why like people who have money get away with sleeping with underage girls and, and, and doing terrible things because and they're just promoting it as like this.
Speaker: Yeah. You can just do whatever the fuck you want when you're a kid rock, you know what i mean? Like vote, vote red. We'll, we'll, we'll support you.
Speaker: it was Yeah, i mean it it but I mean, that was a little while ago, but it's not like MAGA isn't the pedophile party. Oh, it is. It's just pedophile billionaires. That's it.
Speaker: Every day. Like, a new person's accused of some sort of sex crime within the MAGA movement. It's nonstop. Everyone in a position of power is a, you know, a misogynist, a rapist, ah ah pedophile, whatever. It's all very...
Speaker: I mean, it's all documented. Like, I mean, Trump's been accused of rape 28 times, you know? I mean, just logically speaking, like, you did one of them. Like, you don't get accused of that 28 times without doing at least one.
Speaker: It's impossible. Right. Like... Right. um Real quick, too, the the whole, like...
Speaker: Going back to the made-on morals, Chris, I... i He's also a liar in this album because he has that one song where he's talking about like, I can't even smoke anymore. I can't even drink anymore. Like I feel bad about it.
Speaker: is that then he is i don't drink the whiskey anymore is it yeah that' ah I don't drink the whiskey anymore. Yeah. Yeah. But then he has the song where he's like, talking about how at the end of the day, he wants to go out for a little drink or a little smoke. And it's not even a big deal because he loves God and God loves him.
Speaker: It's like, get you can't get your fucking message straight. oh Yeah. Yeah. I have more tracks after that about drinking whiskey. It's crazy. yeah I was going to say, yeah, I think the next track is about him fucking, there's, there's one where he's talking about railing lines. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, like, it was just like,
Speaker: I'm just going to rail lines to Jesus, you know, and like I'll ah' rail a few lines, drink a few whiskeys and then repent, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: I love, I forgot about the railing the lines. It's such a bad, it's such a stupid, uh, I'm trying, I'm going to see if I can pull that one up because talking about water into wine was goofy as fuck. Yes. That one I feel like is like the one that stands out because you you put that in the chorus. Like what did you say?
Speaker: ah You know, um if if the good Lord didn't want me to have a good time, for Jesus turned poter water to wine. yeah You don't understand. You don't understand the history like and you don't even care to like consider what's happening in the messaging there. You're just saying, i want to be drunk.
Speaker: yeah but but yeah And it's just so asinine. Like Jesus loves his sinners, but his saints have more fun, which I don't know what that means. ah So I'll be staring at the moon till I'm howling at the sun.
Speaker: It's if the good Lord didn't want me to have a real good time, why the hell would Jesus turn that water into wine?
Speaker: It's so stupid. It it is. And and yeah the whole thing, just musically real quick, like it's it's so... Yeah, let's talk about the music side of this. It sounds so fake. Like none of the drums don't sound real. The fucking humans don't sound real. The chants Kid Rock's voice doesn't sound fucking real. It's all hyper polished. It's all... It sounds like it came out of a can. All of the levels are fucking...
Speaker: just a block i mean it is so fucking even it's it's so bad um they all like there's a lot of riffs that are ripped off like these sound like beginnings and endings to other tracks potentially some christmas song fucking yeah yeah i didn't say that i i when i was taking notes i said um one of them sounded like the beginning of like a good like a disney soundtrack And there's one on, like, there's, like, a lot of, like, gospel, like, shit thrown in here. yeah Bad quasi, like, horribly excused gospel. Not, like, anything good. Like, it's, like, trapped from something fucking terrible. Yeah, like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Honky Tonk. I just said Honky Tonk too. He's got this Honky Tonk strip club vibe. He's always had that. yeah um It sounds like something you would hear while watching some girl take her clothes off.
Speaker: But he just thought like if he interweaved some religious lyrics in here, it would it would work. And it just didn't work. um it's It's sad because it does sound pretty wet good. like It sounds alright, but it like it makes you hate it more. It's such dog shit tracks.
Speaker: yeah that's a dog shit track yeah Yeah, that's why I say canned, because like it it it'll it's all passable to to two two to to like a, you know, a four year old. Right. Like they're not going to be able to know. It's like it's like a fucking canned bunch of SpaghettiOs. You know what I mean? It's like they're digest that like it's going to pass through you. Oh, yeah. I listened to the album just fine.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's artificial. All an hour and 11 minutes of it. suffered through it. But, like, I was like, dude, why why? Like, why was this produced? Like, I could have quit after the first song because that's all the vibe you gave me. You know what I mean? like And it got worse as it went on. like it did. and i ah Maybe it got worse. Maybe, like,
Speaker: the like the hate listen, ah ah enjoyment aspect wore off after about 30 minutes is probably more accurate. But to the music point that you guys are making, this is where I want to, at at the top, I mentioned kind of going out on a limb here and saying that.
Speaker: in I'm almost embarrassed to say this because ah I don't want it to reflect me and my character, but in some respects, in In the...
Speaker: To the people that he's reaching, to the people that this is for, whoever that is, because we yeah cause we've established that it's not really... orle but Musically speaking, this is kind of fine for the group that it's allegedly targeted at.
Speaker: ah the gospel choir, the gospel shit is, is very like very much the quality that you hear in like contemporary Christian music. A lot of this is very much within like the average quality of contemporary Christian music.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: In the same way that like, you know, you have your like big pop artists, whatever, where it's like, there's like a cookie cutter mold for how you produce certain types of music for a certain audiences.
Speaker: And I almost want to say that this is well done for the audience that it's supposed to be for. Maybe it is. i don't I don't have really much to compare it to. the only thing that comes to mind is I have to like navigate backward in my brain to some sort of country music is the only thing that I would be able to really compare it to.
Speaker: um I don't think there's any pop that sounds this bad. I don't think there's anything modern in the past oh five to ten years that sounds this bad. No, you're right. I'm not saying that within like within like get Cause you guys haven't heard a lot of church music. And that's so like the stuff that gets people excited in church, like a, a pretty like bad, like to mid church band, like a youth group band. Like when I was growing up, there was a, there was a band that played at my church and
Speaker: they like, they went into the studio and recorded their original music and all that. And I hear, I hear this and go, that's on par with that. Okay.
Speaker: Sure. It's what I'm like, that's what I'm getting at when I say like for the quote unquote target audience, yep they they hear that and they go, this is some pretty good stuff. Like it's just like that box for them. Even with the even with the, um, the classic rock elements, I think there are classic rock elements on this. absolutely you know like i i think i even wrote down that he wants to be leonard skinner like that yeah that's what kid rock wishes he was he wishes he he could write a leonard skinner album and it's boxed for people who want to hear shit like that you know what i mean like four four timing all hot up all the way through just yeah and it's just it's like you said before like the cool hell hell's angel thing Like they want to blast this on their motorcycle and like pretend that like they're really cool. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's that type of stuff.
Speaker: That's who it's boxed for. They'll throw in a little gospel so you can throw your nice cross on and, and, and go hit your Harley. You know what I mean? Like, after you had a couple beers and not feel bad about it. But what he what he fails to know, I think, and again, why I think he's just a grifter.
Speaker: I don't think he knows he's a grifter. I think, you know, he's just like putting his finger, like licking his finger and putting it the wind and like saying it's for the people. like i But with what he does on Fox News and Newsmax and showing up to all this right-wing shit, like think –
Speaker: I think where he's like just misreading the tea leaves is, you know, in an interview, i he said something about like, oh, yeah, like I want to do like honor. I want to honor God and do like this Christian stuff because, i you know, Jesus saved my life and blah, blah, blah. But then like the the average Fox News watcher, your average church goer who's looking for conservative media to consume.
Speaker: who wants people on that screen repeating back to them the things that they believe. The people who like Donald Trump and will excuse his language and his poor behavior, but would never allow that in their Christian space.
Speaker: You know, I think where he's missing the mark is that you're not going to get a lot of church-going evangelical Christian listeners for this because they still don't like the swearing.
Speaker: You know, like they're they're still rigid like that, where they're fine with putting children in cages in concentration camps for immigrants. Yeah. Or, you know, the yeah the United States bombing an elementary school in Iran and just dismembering little girls.
Speaker: So like if I can interject, you so you're saying like that's indicative of him being a grifter, and I agree, but I'm just still so surprised by that. like i have I wrote it down. I was like, I'm surprised by the language and and and how just bluntly he's talking about drugs and stuff like that that Doug was you know mentioning because it's like, well, I thought we were pandering to – you know, middle America churchgoer.
Speaker: And it's like, that doesn't land though. Like, why wouldn't you want to clean it up a little more? Like, especially if this was written for you, if this was, you know, if this was done by, you know, whoever else just propping it up. So it's like, yeah, there's a bit of a, a mismatch there of like, why, why wasn't this cleaner and, and, and more, you know, digestible to a, to a, to a, you know, moderate.
Speaker: Yeah, i think it's I think he's out of touch. I think he's so used to like a MAGA bass, liking it when he like shoots Bud Light cans because they're trans. I think he's so used to like people getting up getting hard for that kind of stuff that he...
Speaker: thinks that like he can still do the bad boy within Christianity. It used to be, I'm a bad boy. So I'm going to like do bad boy shit within secularism, which is like going real hard on the drugs, going real hard on the sex. ah But like now that he's moved into this audience, he's like, I'm still a bad boy for Jesus. And it's just, I know I said we were going to shy away from this term, but you know,
Speaker: he is just gay. I'll do it. I'll drop it. Cause we're all thinking it, you hear it and you're like, this is, This is ridiculous. like It is ridiculous. This is like gay for Jesus. This is i did think there was a homosexual song on the album, actually. Me and Jesus was the was the homosexual anthem.
Speaker: he's yeah like It's closeted like i kind of want to be gay for Jesus on here. This is truck nuts for Christians. This is lift kits for Christians. This is everything that you think of when you're like...
Speaker: yeah when you're like yeah It's like that that oh that overcompensating... like i'm I'm overcompensating with my straightness. like How masculine you are. It just comes off as like it's just cringe and pathetic. It just like makes you seem like a closet case.
Speaker: I mean, he is. so i like Maybe that's just his identity showing, too. like It might be. Because he's kind of a messed up person. Yeah. And he's kind of stupid as well.
Speaker: So like I don't think... like Maybe we're giving him a little bit too much credit for trying to target a different audience. Because like I don't i think he knows how to do that.
Speaker: I really thought this was propped up. And like the more think about it, it's like it's it's probably not. like it's like Someone showed him that you can fucking...
Speaker: you know, just buy a bunch of pre-made fucking tracks and just, you know, tell a computer to fucking spit out, you know, music for you and he was just like oh hell yeah you know like i guess i can just roll with that and that's why it feels like it was kind of manicured and manufactured but um not your reputation laundering going on here yeah too yeah so i mean yeah maybe he's just a fucking idiot what was the album that came out before that was 2022 bad reputation
Speaker: that was two thousand and twenty two bad reputation See, like, not that long ago. Real tough. Not at all. But, like, did you do the bad boy shtick when you're, like, fucking 60? Get this. sixty He's American bad.
Speaker: Bad Reputation's run time is exactly to the minute. Same exact time. Now we're in 11 minutes. That's weird. That makes me think it is, like, in general. Dude, it's hard to look at this guy, too, because it's like, you're acting like you've cleaned yourself up and that you've given your life to Christ, but we know you're still, like,
Speaker: He's drunk every day. Coked out of your mind. You're doing massive drugs. You're drunk. His skin's melting off his face. so He's not okay. he doesn't He looks unwell. Yeah, no.
Speaker: We're watching his demise. Absolutely. Like everyone had an uncle that looked like that before they went to rehab or died, you know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then he has that, like that song, uh, till you can't, which is just like, oh no yeah it's like cats in the cradle ass bullshit. You know, it's like, Oh, you want to do all these things until you can't like yeah live for the moment, do the thing now. Like it's just, um,
Speaker: It's the most cringe way to communicate like not being a pussy, you know? Right. Yeah. He has those little monologue parts that go on for so long.
Speaker: ah It's, uh, let pull up some lyrics from it. It's, uh, if you've got a dream, chase it. Cause the dream won't chase you back.
Speaker: If you're gonna love somebody, Hold them as long and as strong and as close as you can till you can't till you can't.
Speaker: Yeah. Like this is some like cows jump over the moon ass shit. ah
Speaker: It's a room full of mittens in a room full of kittens in a bowl full of mush and an old lady whispering hush like the fuck. Yeah. I think he thinks if he can like make it that nice-nice, that would give the the christian element that he's trying to push some some some footing i guess it's fucking perplexing this whole shit was perplexing and i'll just say now as i refresh my goddamn spotify here that's that's right on top that is now recommended listen right on no way yeah amended well now it's there because i've fucking hit play so many damn times on this piece of shit Does ah Spotify still does it show you like the amount of plays per song?
Speaker: No, for some reason it doesn't. On certain albums it will. On certain albums it will. Okay. and if you look at like their main profile and it goes and you look at popular, let me go to popular songs. Nothing on this album is there. nothing so No, Heal My Faith with Eminem is.
Speaker: Not on my screen. Oh, no top five. It's a top. So all summer long is his biggest hit with 673 million streams. After that is picture with that Sheryl Crow song, the feature with 280,000, 80 million. That's second. You, I would think that that would be fair. Shockingly.
Speaker: Ba with the bar is for way lower than that with 191 million. And then Cowboy with $165 million, followed by Healing My Faith featuring Eminem with $795,000.
Speaker: But the song is only two weeks old. Yeah. it's ah it's like It's actually pissing me off. Yeah. So they're putting, and that's the only song, that's the only song up there. And it's funny that it shows it popular at number five because, you know, only God knows why is at 95 million.
Speaker: um It's, they must be putting it up there because it's recent, but there's nothing, there's nothing else from his new album anywhere near that is like most listened to shit, which I guess would make sense. I mean, his oldest shit's from like the late nineties. So of course, or in early two thousands. So of course it's going have more streams. And, All summer long in picture are like the most like radio friendly songs. Yeah.
Speaker: Imaginable. Like this comes nowhere near the radio. If I ever, if I ever fucking hear that, I'm, I don't know, man, it might be over for us. If this makes radio, they'll play the target or something. No, we got Walmart. It's probably more of a Walmart.
Speaker: I do think, ah you know, we don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I think one really important thing to end on before we, I want to jump into final thoughts and you know, this is, we are the album review club, so we are going to, we do need to toss a rating out here to close us out. But um ah I want to point out that track number 17 is a cover of God bless the USA. Oh yeah. It's a big deal. yeah It is a cover, right?
Speaker: Yes. That's like that. Yeah. oh Yeah, I mean, it is a cover. And when it first came on, I was like, is this his own version of it? Are we actually doing this? I thought he changed some of the lyrics, no?
Speaker: Nope. I don't think he changed any of them. And that is a cover. That song sucks ass. And to do it worse. Yeah. That's just game over. Yeah, not a good move.
Speaker: but Covers are risky. Go ahead, Chris. fun I can't believe it's 1984 original. I thought it was much older than that. Which song? God Bless the USA, the original. It's 1984? That's what it says.
Speaker: I didn't think it was that old, actually. I thought it was 90s. Lee Greenwood, 1984, recorded in 83. three We'll put a boot up your... No, that's not that one, is it? No, that's the... ah What's that one? Put a boot up your... Really?
Speaker: Oh, I think I know what you're saying. Yeah, the song that's like... uh that's uh toby keith courtesy of the red white that's why i no i don't know why i jumped to that because that's my that's like the number one worst country song of all time probably but in america god bless the usa is cringy it's always been it's bad i hate i mean i even before i didn't love america you know we're not in a good spot i don't love this place um I'm critical of it. I think it can be better. I think if, it you know, we're, if we're not, if I think we might be at the point of no return, I think we're owned by the billionaire class and, you know, our political system's totally fucked probably beyond repair. But if it's not, I could like this place a lot again.
Speaker: ah but God bless the USA is not a good song. It's, it doesn't hold up. It's cringy as fuck. And then,
Speaker: to do it so much worse. Like he, he, he strips it down to like a few chords and trying to like showcase his voice.
Speaker: Yeah. Which isn't a good move. Which is like, who needed that? Who, who like to think that you're going to like sing that song slower and with less instrumentation and that people were looking for that.
Speaker: over the original is, is baffling. It, it, it, it, there's a, oh it, it confirms the delusion that we've assumed he's had this whole time. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's a good capstone for like, is he delusional? And then you end on that. you're like, yeah yeah. Oh, he is very much. So absolutely fucking absolutely. I have a fun fact for you on, again, I'm just on the Wikipedia for the original, uh, God bless the USA. That song only hit, uh, billboard country, uh, position seven in 1984, but in It was number one for U.S. digital song sales.
Speaker: That's actually nuts.
Speaker: That's crazy. That's got Trump written all over it.
Speaker: That is crazy um But yeah, Bad Song, terrible way to end the album. Terrible way to end a terrible album. it It is a fucking train wreck of an album. It is it is the gif where the train just rail just just screams off the rails. I mean, it god awful. Yeah. This thing sucks.
Speaker: and um I think, Sam, you mentioned the latter half of the album is awful. you it's it's just You can tell. He's he's done. he's like The fun, cringy aspects are gone, and he it's like too serious, but without the comic relief of being to of of lacking self-awareness.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's so sporadic. Again, like the mood swings are crazy. Yeah. Lurically and musically. it does It doesn't know what genre it wants to be. It's just pandering left and right to multiple different like corners of musicality, even though it's junk music all the way through anyway. You think somebody paid him to make this album?
Speaker: I thought so, but like now I'm not so goddamn sure. Yeah. I feel like. i he does he own his own studio? He's got to be saving money in the back end making this. This isn't like a $250,000 album or anything. No.
Speaker: no yeah i really would doubt if if many actual humans were involved in the construction of this music. It's doesn't feel like it.
Speaker: There's a handful, according to the Wikipedia page. Yeah, but that's just them using their computer. It's not them playing music. Right. Yes, it's all produced. Because even a lot of the guitar parts, there's like a couple of solos thrown in that were really embarrassing. in my When I heard those come on, my thought was like, I need to go on YouTube and in search for kid rock doing solos. i I would be shocked if he knows how to play a solos. Like he considers himself a musician and a guitar player. And he even has a song on this album where he talks about like, just, you know, it's trying to do that. Like I'm, um I like the simple things like that country ass bullshit of like, I just need a cold beer in my guitar, like fucking whatever. And it's like,
Speaker: I'm like, he wants to just go sit outside at night and play his guitar and drink a beer. Like, can he do anything other than like the guitar guy at the party shit where you just like throw out a few chords and try to get your dick sucked?
Speaker: no i try I really don't think he can. Like, I think that's his whole personality, dude. I think you put the nail on the head. i don't think he can play a solo. I don't think he actually knows how. No, I think they're made. I think someone else did the solos at best. Hasn't that always been the case? Even though the oldest albums that he has, like those weren't, he didn't write those.
Speaker: He, I don't know. i don't know what the he with and twisted, twisted Brown trucker band, right? Oh God, you're dropping shit that yeah I'm not aware of. Yeah, that was the original name. That was ah like Kid Rockin' the Twisted Brown Trucker Band, I believe.
Speaker: That's... i did I never knew that. This is new information for me. and Yeah. or yeah That was the original name of of the the band. And then they changed it, but I mean, it was still very prominent things like... Yo, he went by Kid Rock. had a band. the hell's the name of that album with the red picture on the cover that everybody knows with Bob DeBois on it? What the hell's name of that album?
Speaker: um, devil without a cause or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that, that whole band played that album, wrote that album for them.
Speaker: Yeah. And they toured with them and it's like, we saw it. We know it was there. Oh, wow. That's just not the case anymore. That hasn't been the case for a long time. Yeah, and that's probably why this sounds so, like, generated.
Speaker: He's like, i would I'd be cool to not have to split all my money four five ways. Dude, that band big. It was, like, seven members. Yeah. Oh, God. Seven members to make that music?
Speaker: Yeah. That's tough. that's ah Oh, my God, dude. Yeah, no, the members. Dude, it's still... Whoa. Technically, it's still around. What? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, technically. Just dissolved somewhat. Some people died. I wish they turned into Big Ass Truck. I wish that's what Big Ass Truck was. Kid Rock is still technically a member, so maybe they maybe he does tour with them.
Speaker: God. Mm-hmm. Who likes him? Like, he doesn't have friends. He can't have meaningful relationships in his life. yeah Maybe, dude. Didn't he used to date Pam Anderson? Yeah.
Speaker: Dude, he's still got the same drummer, bro. He did. That girl, Stephanie, he's she's still drumming for him. Is she really? Yeah. That's fucking crazy. we got We got to get out of here. This is nuts. Yeah.
Speaker: All right. So let's go around the table. ah Final thoughts, summation of our reviews, however, some, however simple they are. And then at a one, one through 10, where are we landing?
Speaker: So don't forget you can start at 0.1. Lowest go as a 0.1. That's right. I I've never gone below. I've never actually gone below a two in our club. I don't think, or a three, which is insane.
Speaker: Who's first? let's go dog go ahead you're on my left i was gonna give this two out of ten all right yeah and uh where where does it get where does it get the where where do we get the two from why not a one why not a three where i mean i why not as 0.1 like where are we getting a cut where are getting a marginal and a amount of points our our so our scale is what two is bad i believe um So just straight bad. um I think for the reasons that we said, like the music quality itself, like you said, it was probably accessible to the people that it was aimed to and all of that.
Speaker: um are the Is the songwriting dog shit? Yes. Could I only really listen to this in a trailer park in Florida? yes um, you know, but like generally it's, it's fine. It's not, it's not below it too. Um, but obviously it's a piece of shit album, um, that didn't need to be made. so yeah, that's fair. All right.
Speaker: Chris, uh, this thing is trash. This thing is God awful. And, uh, when I hear two, I hear Cher in my head.
Speaker: I hear this Cher Christmas this album. i i Dude, I would honestly listen to this over Cher Christmas album. I swear to God. Exactly. Probably would, yeah. Exactly. So for me, like that's that's your bad level of like, oh, this is like annoying department store music and i do want it off. I don't want this and I cannot listen to it front to back.
Speaker: But like, This, I question its... I don't even know how much of music it really is. Yes. I really do question that. This is a 1.3 out of 10. This is awful.
Speaker: This is awful. There is only comedic value here. There is a lot of comedic value that does get points for comedic value. Very few, though. like i'm um like I'll only guarantee you quarters. I'm only at a two, man.
Speaker: No, I know. I'm just saying, like as far as comedic value, like even that, like i'm I'm reaching for like two or three choruses where I can laugh, and the rest is just straight fucking... just so Torture? Ear abuse. This is just ear abuse. yeah yeah it's it's It's a 1.3 out of 10. Never fucking show me this ever again. In fact, not only am but will I never listen to Kid Rock again, but I am done with Eminem.
Speaker: Right? I'm done. And I thought I respected him, and I could listen to a lot of his shit, but moving forward, fuck him. Fuck the lane. Just for being on the South. Don't touch this. Don't come near me. I'm with you, man. That changed...
Speaker: how I, that changed how I felt about Eminem big time. I i don't know that he can come back from this, that this was not featuring on this should his career suicide. We didn't even talk about Wayne. We didn't even talk about how does it make you feel about Wayne? To me, it didn't change my idea about Wayne because Wayne just wanders into places high on lean and just fucking spits out of hers. He doesn't even fucking know where he was or that he was on this album, dude. He has no fucking idea. yes So I don't care. I mean, he's ah he's already... wayne
Speaker: He's already proven he'll feature any fucking thing. He's already proven that. And if there's enough money, he'll do anything. We're weak, but it was very still Wayne. Like Eminem sold out hard for it. Wayne like made it his own and like kind of massaged it and worked his way. Like I'm actually, I'm not even mad at Wayne for doing this.
Speaker: Oh, I'm still mad. I'm definitely still mad, but I hear what you're saying. I think he like massaging it is ah is a, is great term to use. I don't, it's not like Wayne and kid rock hung out when they decided to do this.
Speaker: Wayne was given a contract and he had some money on the table and he was like, yeah, I'll throw some bars together that fit within this fucking. And it didn't even, it was like a terrible Wayne verse. Like he didn't try at all. Yeah. He left all of his like, uh,
Speaker: his little overlay on there and everything. It's like, it's eating very like, he recorded this one take and said, here you go. with this like Fucking shit album. All right. I'll, uh, what do,
Speaker: ah all right i' ah one
Speaker: Like it this one's tough because I mean, i think part of all of us wants to just do the point one, you know, as a reaction to how. No, that was what's it called? That's the worst album ever.
Speaker: How? what what what What did you give a point one to, dude? The one that John submitted. Corey Feldman. Corey Feldman. Oh, God damn. That's right. one yeah That has to be our worst reviewed album of all time. that thing I think it does. Yeah. We all fucking harmed. There was decimal points on that shit. Yeah.
Speaker: ah Yeah, that is that that that is worse than this Kid Rock album. But yeah it's more but you could still argue it's more entertaining. No. does No? No. No.
Speaker: Because of the amount of pain in that album. Comedically. just torture. comedically i think that i i was personally more along for the entertainment ride like that that's like watching you know and total like see film like it makes me think of when i watched i watched this like you know found footage style filmed on a old like uh camcorder where you put the little like vhs in it like there's this movie i watched oh when i was probably it was probably it was probably 22 and it was called monstered
Speaker: And it was like the sewage was dumped somewhere. And it turned to this guy who who escaped from jail, who was hiding in the sewers into a human, a massive human shit. And he would like come up from the toilets with like a ah shit spear and like shoot it up someone's asshole and kill him. Like, and it was...
Speaker: it it It had like a real found footage look, but it wasn't supposed to be found footage. It was just poorly filmed. Sure. um I'm looking at it. It's got a 3.6 on IMDb. sam And it it's it's horrendous. see movie But like it's just one of those like you can't you can't watch it alone.
Speaker: ah But you can watch it for entertainment with a group of people when you're, you know, drinking and smoking and whatever. So like there's entertainment value in how bad things are. And to me, that was Corey Feldman. Corey Feldman was my monster.
Speaker: This this had a few songs where you're like, it it's funny, like it's funny to laugh at how dumb this is. But there is some that were trying to be too serious.
Speaker: That were like, again, like that till you can't one. um It was so long. I'm going to 1.8. That's where I'm going.
Speaker: I'm almost splitting the difference. But um it's it's this is a horrible album. um it it it But it you know with the caveat that it is on unfortunately on par with a lot of contemporary music,
Speaker: Christian music quality, which shows you like how bad music is within it that has an existing market. And that's like, I think part of what made me even dip at some points is like, I feel like I had like trauma flashbacks, like listening to this was like a slight trauma response, thinking about the Christian music that I grew up with and what I used to think was cool to listen to around other people.
Speaker: Like people will think I'm, you know, how we talk about how like every once in a while someone drops an album when you're like, I'm embarrassed to listen to this while driving down the road. Windows have to be up.
Speaker: Um, But it's like there was stuff that I liked as a kid that was as cringe as this that I would have listened to Windows Down if I was 13. You know, it brought me back to that in a way that made me like angry in some ways where I was like, this is trash. Yeah, that's good. We wouldn't have been friends. So it's it's good we met. Yeah.
Speaker: No, I would. We would. We would not have been friends when I was 13. I hear what you guys, you guys were like, we'll call back to shit from when you were 13 about liking lamb of God or doing this or that. And I'm like, I was listening to music about being raptured into heaven while everyone else went to hell. That's what I was doing.
Speaker: Insane. And it was like a total, like Seager ripoff kind of stuff. Like everything in contemporary Christian music at that time was a ripoff of something that was big and 15 years before the ripoff was made.
Speaker: That's all it was. Contemporary Christian music was like 10 to 15 years behind copycatting shit that wasn't cool anymore. Do you because like that was the same way? It wasn't rock or anymore. It was like, oh, it's it's it's been it's old enough where it's not edgy or new in like too rock so Christians can like it.
Speaker: Do you feel like the same thing happens with like hardcore and shit Christian hardcore is cringe um but it and it definitely happened after the the actual hardcore movement after the hardcore movement but ah the Christian music is different in the heavy scene because like Christian metalcore actually was wildly influential ah in in the progression of metalcore not so much in hardcore but like
Speaker: You can still find some Christian hardcore bands that I hear them and it's cool. It sounds cool. But then I'm at a point now where I'm like, if you're just singing about Christ too much, it's just cringy. I don't even care how good your music is. And I don't like being that guy, I guess, because.
Speaker: But it just feels so forceful and like. silly that's why i always couldn't get into it like yeah a lot of the christian like metalcore hardcore bands that i was listening to back then like the i could only listen to the ones that weren't like super preachy like wasn't talking too much about you know religious themes because if it was it did it seemed like it just was like lame i didn't want to hear it like Because you don't like it's no one cares if you have a message and your beliefs influence your art.
Speaker: But when you use your like art as a vehicle to try to preach to people, it it just feels a little annoying. But I mean, you can even say that because, you know, so i' I'll listen to stuff where people take a hard left stance in their music and I'll get into that. So whatever. yeah it's just not It's just not for me anymore. But if a good like this pipe bomb.
Speaker: is this like Christian hardcore band that I learned about recently. And musically it's pretty good. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. But then when you see how hard they go for Jesus, I was just like, it's dorky now. yeah You made hardcore lame by being like that. Like you be a Christian band. I don't care. But like when you start overselling it, I stopped trusting you.
Speaker: yeah that's ah I think that's where I'm at is I just don't trust people who oversell Christianity. I think and don't that permeates into other areas too. Cause like straight edge hardcore was this probably the same way, you know what I mean? Like they went a little too hard. They tried to, for they would like beat the shit out of you. If you drank a beer at a show, you know what I mean? Like they did a lot of that same stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's, I never got into the straight edge hardcore either for the, probably the same reason. So I appreciate you connecting it to something that allows me plausible deniability for being a hater.
Speaker: But all right, we can get out of here. Uh, thanks for guys. Thank you so much. This is a lot of fun. I'm really glad you guys suffered through this terrible album to play. Yeah. Hopefully I need to put out a podcast.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah Anytime. Um, I, uh, we could plug, let's, let's plug high ground comics, Chris. Oh, thanks. Yeah, sure. Um, I run a comic shop in Providence and, uh, you can find me Providence, Rhode Island. Yeah, that's Rhode Island Providence. So if you if you're in the area looking for comics and good conversation.
Speaker: Or not in the area. Yeah, or not. Maybe you're visiting. Maybe you want to take a flight all the way. Or you just want to follow on Instagram because yes because why not? Yeah, I'll tag you on Instagram too. People should follow it. Do you sell stuff online too? Yeah.
Speaker: You do a subscription-based shit? So you don't even have to be in the area if you want to get a... You want to read, you want to collect. Yeah. i don't know.
Speaker: See cool shit, read cool shit. Yeah, we have it. And um I can ship to you as well. Hell yeah. All right. Well... On that note, let's end with a, you know, a moment of silence for Kid Rock and and a... Fuck, that sucks!
Speaker: Holy shit, he sucks so bad! Yep, thank All right, everyone. Thanks for listening, and we will see you next time. Adios!
