This week on Infamous, Vanessa dives into the wild and contradictory world of Kid Rock—once a chart-topping, genre-blending superstar, now a provocateur entangled in political stunts. She’s joined by writer David Peisner, who shares behind-the-scenes stories from his iconic Rolling Stone profile. Is Kid Rock a misunderstood rebel or just another troll in America's celebrity circus? Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Infamous show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Read Vanessa’s book, Blurred Lines: Sex, Power and Consent on Campus, and check out Natalie on Instagram at @natrobe To connect with Infamous's creative team, join the community at Campsidemedia.com/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Kid Rock and what is his impact on music?
Come get a Big Mac and you could go home with a million-dollar prize piece. The only problem? When they picked their head of security, the one guy in charge of protecting those million-dollar pieces, McDonald's drew the wrong card. Comedians Ify Wadiwe and Beth Stelling join Misha to break down what really happened with the McDonald's-Monopoly scandal.
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So you get this call from Rolling Stone and you're thinking it over. You're saying, maybe I'm a little too busy. Then you start to think, I have some theories that I might want to foist upon the world, which is usually the way it goes. And then you call the editor back and say, OK.
So what happened was I started sort of rolling out these stories. They didn't even know I had grown up in Detroit. And, you know, I started talking about what the music scene was like there. And I think I accidentally convinced them that, no, no, no, that I'm the guy to do this story. And so instead of me saying, I'm not available for three or four months, you should get somebody else.
They were like, all right, we'll just wait until you're ready. And so I was like, all right, I'll do it. Three or four months probably went by and then I started working on it. And I did, you know, reach out to his manager. There was no response at all. I reached out in multiple different ways. And that didn't surprise me. That's the way I thought this was going to go.
And so I started reaching out to other people. Most of the people really close to him weren't even getting back to me. His former band members would get back to me. He was like, you know, so that was kind of like the level of people I was talking to. Ex-lawyer, former band member, former manager, people like that.
But I mean, why is he so pissed at Rolling Stone? Whether he's MAGA or not, Rolling Stone is the ultimate music magazine.
I don't think he was actually pissed at Rolling Stone at that point. And he told me this. We had this discussion when I finally did meet him. He was just like, oh, I just don't need it. And to some extent, he's correct. I mean, he operates in a completely different media universe from Rolling Stone these days. Rolling Stone's readers are not really his fans anymore anymore.
He's smart enough to know that the magazine has like a liberal leaning. He's also, we will talk about, a pretty thin-skinned guy. So if he felt like it wasn't going to be straight applause, he's not there for it.
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Chapter 2: What controversies has Kid Rock been involved in?
No, I really didn't.
You didn't feel a little scared with a drunk man with a gun? No.
Well, okay. Yes. Anytime you're on alcohol and guns, it's not great. But at that point, I was really thinking, how am I going to get out of here? I did start thinking in my head is like, am I being held here against my will? Because I kept saying, look, I got to go. I got to drive back to Atlanta tonight. And he was sort of being friendly and be like, no, no, no, just stay here tonight.
You don't need to drive back. I got a room for you. And I was like, oh, that's really nice, but I can't stay. And this was, it was like this circular conversation where it just kept going on and on. And finally I was like, no, dude, I gotta go. I'm leaving. And by this point, it's like, you know, nine or 10 o'clock at night.
And I can't like, he's like, you're not gonna, never gonna find your way back to your car, which was probably somewhat true. Cause you know, it's like a different part of the property. And he, so I, like at that point, I'm starting to think, Am I being held here? How do I get out of here? I got to get out of here. I'm not staying in the night here.
And I did think, is this the way he wants this to go? Does he want us to fight? Because he did at one point say like, do you think you could whoop me?
Yeah. And he's been to jail, right, for beating people up. I mean, he's sort of known to get into brawls.
Yeah. And like, I don't know if he thought like, oh, this will be great for the story. Me fighting with the writer on the floor of my studio. Like I did. I did start thinking about that. And I was like, it honestly felt a little bit like he thought there were reality show cameras on us. It felt very performative. And so we argued a bunch. I don't think it ever happened.
I don't want to say it didn't ever come close to us getting in a fight, but it was a little bit close. We were sort of nose to nose. You know, I don't know. It was bizarre. It was bizarre.
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