October 9, 1999

Kid Rock : Cowboy

'[B]Cowboy[/B]' is still stupidly entertaining. Or at least as entertaining as something that sounds like the theme to [I]Top Gear[/I] can be.

He really has got the Devil's haircut, bless him. Yet for all his dwarf-rocking, Eminem-challenging quest to be The Vilest Man In Showbusiness, the man known as Bob Ritchie has - yes! - a moral centre.

The deep-fried harmonica twang of 'Cowboy' - the kind of noise Beck might make if you took away his art supplies, and maybe his frontal lobes, too - speaks of his desire to move west to Ca-li-forn-aye-ay, to "find an old droptop and a spot to pimp". Yet it also features the priceless line, "Start an escort service for all the right reasons/Set up shop at the top of Four Seasons". It's a mystery what "all the right reasons" would be - please your mother? Do your bit for employment figures? - it hints at all sorts of ethical dilemmas and pimp etiquette.

One evolutionary step down from Eminem on the Origins Of The Species chart, 'Cowboy' is still stupidly entertaining. Or at least as entertaining as something that sounds like the theme to Top Gear can be. Talking of evolutionary scales, Jeremy Clarkson...

Victoria Segal