How Awful is Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long”?

June 3rd, 2008

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Music

How Awful is Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long”?

We don’t have a car, and I never listen to the radio. We borrowed the former this morning to take our old G5 iMac in to get a RAM upgrade (it turns out the old girl has swollen capacitors–thanks, Apple!). I was listening to Victoria’s long-standing rock station, 100.3 the Q.

I heard the opening riff to Warren Zevon’s classic “Werewolves of London”. Sadly, the actual song was “All Summer Long”, an astonishingly awful song by Kid Rock. Here’s the video (Mr. Rock challenges Tom Petty for ugliest man in rock, eh?):

There’s nothing good about this song. It soullessly rips off not one but two classic rock tunes–Mr. Zevon is no doubt spinning in his grave. And the lyrics are just awful. Consider the start of the chorus:

And we were trying different things
We were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song

They were both trying and smoke different and funny things? Man, that’s profound. It’s like somebody imbued GarageBand with a little artificial intelligence, and instructed it to compose a country-rock song.

Up to this point, I’ve managed to remain almost completely ignorant of Mr. Rock’s musical oeuvre. My critique may come as no surprise to those more familiar with his work.

Tags: all-summer-long, kid-rock, sweet-home-alabama, warren-zevon

Comments: 33 Responses so far

Tim Ayres
June 3rd, 2008
11:58 am

Wow – This blogger and music fan agrees wholeheartedly. This sucks so badly.

I guess we car drivers/radio listeners can look forward to hearing this one – uh – all summer long?

bz
June 3rd, 2008
12:46 pm

“I never listen to the radio.”

why?

Darren
June 3rd, 2008
12:56 pm

Bz: To clarify, I never listen to the device that receives radio signals and converts them into sounds audible to human ears. I do subscribe to eight or ten podcasts that originate at broadcast radio organizations.

It’s more practical than philosophical. We don’t have a car. When I’m out and about (or even doing mundane things at home like cooking or cleaning), I listen to audio books, podcasts and music on my iPod. I have a large (by my standards, at least) and growing digital music collection, so I have lots of music on-hand that I have barely or never heard. And I get my news via the Web.

I guess I’ve just programmed my own ad hoc ‘radio station’ without ads, and with stuff that’s consistently of interest to me.

buzzbishop
June 3rd, 2008
1:25 pm

Thanks for the clarification.

gillian
June 3rd, 2008
2:37 pm

Geddy Lee of Rush is usually considered the ugliest man of rock. Where have you been? Sheesh.

Rebecca
June 3rd, 2008
4:04 pm

This abomination was playing on a number of the radio stations in Southern Ontario when I went to visit my parents a few weeks back. It kind of makes me happy that all the radio stations in my little Northern Ontario town are all stuck in some sort of time warp where music made after 1995 doesn’t exist.

filmgoerjuan
June 3rd, 2008
4:17 pm

You obviously have never heard the lyrical genius that is “Bawitdaba-da bang-da bang-diggy-diggy-diggy Said the boogie – said up jump the boogie”.

Todd Sieling
June 3rd, 2008
6:56 pm

Fact: Geddy Lee is not ugly, he’s a poet and a music icon that walks among us.

Ryan Cousineau
June 3rd, 2008
11:20 pm

Also, don’t the Geddy Lees and Kid Rocks of the world have rather a huge amount of competition from the Rolling Stones in the All-Ugly Rock Men pageant?

As for Mr. Rock’s song, it’s not the greatest country-rock song in the world, it’s just a tribute.

I think that last link should properly cleanse the palate.

Heather
June 4th, 2008
12:50 pm

I’m with Todd. Geddy’s lack of conventional hotness is belied by his talent. Kid Rock, on the other hand, seems to be living proof that sometimes genetics can be truly, truly cruel.

gillian
June 4th, 2008
3:53 pm

One can be a poet and music icon and also be ugly. Didn’t realize I was going to upset Todd, or I wouldn’t have said anything. I don’t even think Geddy Lee’s particularly homely; it’s just that he’s been mentioned whenever I’ve heard or read someone discuss ugly men in music. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Geet
June 6th, 2008
9:14 am

You can’t have a discussion on ugly men of rock and roll without mentioning Lemmy Killmister of Motorhead.

shawna
June 18th, 2008
9:37 am

i like the song actually. its just about good times with good friends during the summer & having fun…what is wrong with that? he talks about before the internet before all this technology stuff people actually went out and enjoyed nature and were more socially connected instead of how we are today, through the internet (mostly). dont hate on the guy its just an upbeat fun song. sheesh.

benzanato
June 20th, 2008
7:49 am

fun song it’s horrible. Please!!! People can’t even write songs any more they have to do remakes. Just like the movies show some originality

Suzie
July 1st, 2008
4:34 am

I Love this song…Don’t hate ppl….If you dont like it, then just don’t listen to it, turn the radio chanel or something….Allll Summer Longgggg

Tom Dillon
July 13th, 2008
6:24 pm

All summer long should be retitled BLATENT PLAGERISM!!!
ANY respect I had for mr rock has gone straight into the toilet.

glen Reply:
August 24th, 2011 at 9:15 pm

The song is ludicrous in its mixed metaphors.A dunce job!Sweet Home Alabama was a political song-a jab at left wing haters of the South like Neil Young.The “We love the Govnuh” referred to George Wallace.It was popular when it came-popular among rednecks and Wallace types all over the country.
It was not a love song-not the type of song lovers played at the lake or the beach.And it was not a song pot smokers related to.

Michelle
July 15th, 2008
10:06 am

This song irks me. If I remember Kid Rock was a wanna be hip hopper in 1989. Dating an african american girl and having a biracial child during those years. I’m sure kid rock wasn’t sitting by the lake singing sweet home alabama. He is such a fake.

Jenn
August 1st, 2008
5:10 pm

I was also in the car when I had first heard this song. I mistakened it for Sweet Home Alabama, but soon found out it wasn’t. Frankly I believe that Kid Rock should “rap” up his opinion of music and move on instead of changing his style every couple of years. He went from rap to country to rock and roll. It’s a disgrace to music. I never liked Kid Rock and now that I heard this song, I never will. He’s as fake as Pamela Anderson’s breast’s, which is probably where he got it from.

Chris
August 2nd, 2008
8:49 pm

I actually find Kid Rock to be a great source of inspiration for me. If pop musical standards have gotten so abyssmally low you can that you can steal not one but two classic rock riffs, sprinkle in a drum beat a seven year old could come up with, and then add in the type of lyrics any average Joe could put on a cocktail napkin in an hour or so, then maybe I do have what it takes to make it in the entertainment industry after all. And I too can drink about fif-teen Hein-e-kens! Gee, thanks Kid!!

Aj
August 13th, 2008
11:19 am

I’m sure most of the comments about how this song “rocks” didn’t have much exposure to the originals – I like the originals and have to admit that the song is a catchy POP tune but nothing near the classics it borrows from. It kills me how these forums always have the obligatory “I LOVE THIS SONG”,”KID ROCK ROCKS”, and “JUST TURN THE CHANNEL.” I would change the channel if it wasn’t playing on every damn station every 30 mintues. My major beef with the song is the lyrics that could have been written by any teenager in about 15 minutes.

“And we were trying different things
And we were smoking funny things”

Wow- need something that rhymes with “things,” let me think… . Hey guys, remember when we used to try things and smoke things. Very deep.

“It’s the simple things in life like when and where
We didn’t have no internet
But man I never will forget
The way the moonlight shined upon her hair”

Just flows- internet and moonlight on her hair- this guy may not be able to come up with his own music but makes up for it by dominating his genre in regard to lyrics.

The saddest part is that we’ll have an entire generation of burnouts about 20 years from now loving a new song that references how good life was when they partied “All Summer Long” to Kid Rock.

Sean
August 14th, 2008
8:41 pm

What REALLY REALLY pisses me off about this rip-off, is that the Zevon classic riff is not even played correctly.

Have a close listen to both songs’ intro and you will see the kid rock version has it wrong.

Holly
September 16th, 2008
2:03 pm

I DONT KNOW WHY YOU ALL DONT LIKE THIS SONG!!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

ITS A GOOD SONG, WHO CARES IF ITS REDONE ITS STILL A GREAT SONG AND KID ROCK DOES IT JUSTICE!!!!

Gert B. Frobe
September 18th, 2008
9:41 am

When will this piece of shit OD in some hourly motel in Reno?

God I hate this personification of all that is unoriginal and studio-propped in this time of megabit megahit shit.

Kill me
September 21st, 2008
6:25 am

This song literally hurts my head. It’s so cheesy…it’s a canned hit. Plus, the ‘dancing boat girls’ in the video appear to spaz instead of dance. Wow, breasts. Never seen those in a video before. I MUST WATCH! The power of sex in the media compels me!

Seriously, Kid Rock is from freaking Michigan…someone needs to tell him that’s pretty far North. Now we’re expected to believe your Yankee ass (dude, my dad owns a dealership) was hanging out with both Confederate flag wearing bikini girls and oh yeah, also an afroed Black bikini girl. All on the same boat. What a stupid hollywood fantasy.

matt eurosa
October 1st, 2008
8:49 am

What really pisses me off about all of this, is that most people where i live don’t even know who Warren Zevon is let alone that Kid ripped off two songs.

eden
October 13th, 2008
2:54 am

Glad to see others share in this opinion of Kid Rock. He bugs! And I’m sure he is a Republican too worried about self perceived “credibility” in the music industry to admit to it in public. Bush-lover! I can’t wait till his career is said and done!

Cokies
October 13th, 2008
3:48 pm

I’m sitting in a pre-war (WWI) gin-mill in a once bustling industrial riverside town in Connecticut JUST outside the influence of New York City. Another of Mr. Rock’s awful songs is now playing on the juke-box (something about being a cowboy…and not that “I’m a cowboy, baby” one). Plenty of inane “poignant” references he feels his audience will latch on to (and they are as I type). What bothers me most about Kid Rock’s music is how insultingly contrived it is; it’s just a lowest-common-denominator formula. I watch as my beer-swilling neighbors sing along and “experience” the music as if it’s telling their story, but it just makes me uncomfortable. There are so many heavy-thinking rappers out there who make truly inspiring excellently composed music…music KR appears to be trying to recreate in utter failure…but people are eating it. I’ll never know why.

I will say though, that although I think Kid Rock’s music is unlistenable, I can’t hate the man; his role in “Joe Dirt” as Robbie cracks me up every time I think about it:

“How about a wah-burger with cries!”

sean
February 21st, 2010
7:47 am

the internet line is speaking of how kids now have that on their phones etc and can take pics and things back then he couldnt do but he didnt need to the image of her never left his mind after all thse years

thomas
March 24th, 2010
9:07 pm

no originality-worse some people will get the idea that so much work went into this song-videos do not impress me-my grip is the new music gets reinforced by reviewers that claim the older 70s rock that they used to listen to is terrible-funny!

Who could be the modern-day Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis? — PAUL SALAMONE: A Comedian in Berlin
May 5th, 2010
10:05 am

[...] better to white people. The other one is Chris Rock. “I Hate N-Words” jokes + terrible Southern Rock covers = weirdly racist comedy [...]

Screamin eagle 29
November 23rd, 2010
11:12 am

I can’t fathom that to be a red neck, you have to be from the south, or at least claim to be. Kid rocks music is shitty(I honestly think that his lackey uncle cracker is worse!), so what is so cool about smoking herb, reminiscing about old times, and fucking by the lakeshore that makes kid rock so unique? This fool is claiming he’ s a redneck from south of the mason Dixon line, yet he is from freakin Michigan! Andrew WK had catchier stupid songs about partying till you pikes and doing beer runs.

DarrenBarefoot.com

June 3rd, 2008