How Kid Rock’s Haters Have Become His Greatest Asset

The other day I saw Kid Rock’s name trending on Twitter … again. Immediately I thought, “What crazy thing did he say, or do this time?” because it’s always something inflammatory – a new song featuring his very vocal political leanings, a drunken rant where he says something offensive, a verbal attack on a celebrity – let’s just put it this way, it’s never “Kid Rock saves baby goat from certain death.”

Here’s where things get interesting, every time I click to see what the conversation is about, the vast majority of the tweets are from people who don’t like Kid Rock. They re-tweet whatever the topic of conversation is, and use the opportunity to make fun of Kid Rock and/or his fan base.

What all these Kid Rock haters don’t seem to realize is – they’re the reason his name trends. They’re the reason his new videos rack up millions of views. They’re the reason he continues to stay in the public eye.

Kid Rock’s haters help him stay relevant way more than his fans could ever hope to.

This, in a nutshell, is how social media works – it isn’t about whether or not something is liked, it’s about whether or not something is talked about. The thing about music (and all other forms of entertainment) is that when people who don’t like something push that something into the greater public eye they’re giving it more of an opportunity to find its fan base, and become significantly more popular than it would’ve been.

If you want a celebrity to fade into obscurity, the best way to make that happen is by ceasing to talk about them altogether. Case in point – Paris Hilton. Remember when we, as a nation, just decided to stop allowing her name to dominate the conversation? She faded away.

Now, Kid Rock will never fully fade away, because unlike Paris Hilton, he actually does something in life, and songs from Devil Without a Cause will grace every ‘90s rock, and workout playlist until the end of time, but as long as his haters are vocal, his place in the world will continue to be far bigger than that.

Even I’ve clicked on his new videos just to see what all the talk was about. Admittedly, my album collection includes Devil Without a Cause (it’s a ‘90s classic. Fight me), but short of a press release appearing in my inbox, I probably wouldn’t have known about anything he’s done over the past few years were it not for his haters.

This isn’t me taking a stance on his current material – let's just say our views don’t necessarily align – but who wouldn’t be curious about something generating so much negativity an artist’s name trends for an entire day?

With haters like that, Kid Rock doesn’t even need to hire a publicist.