Did you buy and ENJOY Kid Rock's first MAINSTREAM album? My story...LONG

I remember I had seen the video for "Bull God" late at night...back when MTV still played videos.

I bought Orgy "Candyass" the same day. I bought Kid Rock because it was $9.99. This was early December of 1998.

I played it for some buddies and they LOVED it. This was before mp 3. We played it all the time on the living room cd player at my good friend's house. It was THE album we became accustomed to listening to before a naive, unpredictable (and uncaring) night of beers, Valium, and pot. The album became soooo soooo good that we thought anyone who was not listening to this was ignorant. We loved "Cowboy" and the ballad songs the most. Little did we know...

That whole 1st half of 1999 blew Kid Rock up. I loved that, but I couldn't believe he caught on to the pop crowds. I remember traveling to see friends in Monroe and going to some bra/club called the 13th floor. They had an electronica room in the back that all the XTC lovers and house/trance heads would go to. I remember eating some tabs (this was 16 years ago, folks). I stayed in the electronica room and listened to local, half-arse dj's spin 1997 records. Then, my party and I walked out toward our cars, but we had to go through the main room of the club. "Cowboy" was playing. I was so f'd up, but I had never seen a popular music dance room go so crazy over a song. I'd go to another club in BR and couples were making out to the "Only God Knows Why" song. I gotta admit...all this ruined my love for what was the one night I sat in my room and saw the video to "Bull God". I wonder had Kid Rock stayed as underground as I thought he would've...would I still listen? At this time, I loved all types of music -- especially Wu Tang, RATM, Deftones, and Nas, so rap-rock made sense to me.

By start of LSU fall semester, 1999, I cam across the biggest "sorority girls" and one of them, in her 4Runner, had Brittany Spears, Sugar Ray, N Sync, and Kid Rock in her cd changer (I swear to God, as I made a mental note of this forever). I knew then that Kid Rock would be huge. I thought buying a 10 dollar cd in 1998 was a steal and that meant that the artists who had that price labeled on to them must have not appealed to many. Anyhow, I listened to Orgy's debut and liked 2 songs. I must have liked every track, at one point, on Kid Rock's first mainstream album.

So, I just want to know whee your experience fits in? When did you hear him for the first time and how did you respond? What did you think? I hate to say it, but the big time mainstream love made me not want to listen as much -- either because I had already worn out those songs or because I thought I made a unique discovery that I naively misunderstood was my "secret CD". Well, obviously I was dead wrong in assuming that it was mine and only mine when i bought it. 5 years later, I saw Kid Rock in concert and thought the show was phenomenal. I don't listen to him and have not since 1999...but he's put out a lot of songs and made a name for himself with girls (Pam) and his association with rap, country, rock, etc. and the respect he garners from all genre greats.

Kid Rock was a god for a couple of months in my life. Then, he became what he is to me now -- respected but not for me. I've never loved a CD so much, so quickly and then drop it. Did I get tired of "Bahwitaba" and "Cowboy"? Immeasurable of how much I hated those songs by June of 1999. Ironically, "Bull God" ended up being the 5th or 6th most notorious track on that album.

Thanks for reading. I wonder how many Kid Rock stories (outside of Detroit and Milwaukee and Minneapolis) are like mine.