There's Not Enough Money In Cool

That's what Kid Rock told me last night in Malibu.

After he told me Billy Joel gave him shit for showing up at the Grammys in a t-shirt and Rock told him "That's why I got into this business, to dress how I want!"

The goal was never to do it their way, but your own. To utilize your success to garner freedom, instead of locking yourself down on Maggie's Farm.

Interesting conversation, Rock's quite the raconteur. And informed on politics to boot. He's pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage, but he wants everybody to work, for self-dignity, to pull themselves up by the bootstraps with government help so they can get off government help.

And I agree. Why can't we have an apprenticeship program in the USA, like Germany? Why can't we give our people a lift up?

But Rock doesn't want to be a political spokesperson, he considers himself first and foremost a musician. What does he do when he's not on stage? Listen to music!

That was interesting. I guess too many people are focusing on the trappings, so busy trying to get rich that they're ignoring their core competency, assuming they're competent to begin with.

And as for his trailblazing $20 concert ticket... It was a raging success, he played to more people, he converted them, he made millions, but good luck trying to get other musicians to follow his lead because their handlers, their managers and agents, are afraid to play without a net, without a guarantee.

And there you have it in a nutshell. No one in America is willing to take a risk. They all want a handout, whether it be from the government, the record label, Live Nation or the VC. They don't really want to build their own business, they want to cash out. How did this happen? Is everybody so scared, is everybody just looking for a pile of money to retire with? I'm not looking to retire, I want to work! Because that's where the satisfaction is. And the goal of a rock star is to do it your own way. And you end up with a fan base because you're a beacon for people's freedom. You wonder why everybody is perfecting their melisma and starting perfume companies and whoring themselves out to corporations?

Because that's what today's stars are doing.

Sure, it starts with the music. But once you climb that hill, you've got a responsibility to be a three-dimensional person, to direct and conduct yourself in such a way that you'll sustain a career, you've got to be more than an entertainer, you've got to take risk, you've got to stand for something, if it's nothing more than having it your way.

Isn't it screwy that that's the motto of a hamburger chain?

Or as I always say, the Army ripped off our slogan, "Be All You Can Be," that used to be the motto of the rock star!

Then again, Rock also told me you can't buy cool.

Those institutions can embrace our slogans, buy access to our music, but cool is reserved for those who create outside the box, live their lives far from the rule-based system.

And by those standards, Kid Rock is very cool, and he's making a lot of money being himself.

That's a rock star.


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