Sinking to New Lows of Crudity Appears to Be This Rebel’s Cause

Dumb luck?

That, literally, is as good an explanation as any of why Kid Rock finds himself a rock star of the moment after 10 years of struggle, with a mega-hit album in “Devil Without a Cause” and the drawing power to sell out two nights at the Hollywood Palladium over the weekend.

He’s simply kept at it long enough for pop-culture standards to sink to his level.

Indeed, the Detroit rap-rocker is the perfect personification of the era of World Wrestling Federation and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” a time when civility is a weakness and intellect is distrusted.

On Saturday at the Palladium--in his white-trash standard-issue sleeveless undershirt, his middle finger frequently held high and two “exotic dancers” bumping and grinding in cages behind his band--the skinny Kid did plenty to devalue both civility and intellect in a display that took the common denominator down a few notches.

The essence of his message: the phrase that in the commercial version of the current hit “Cowboy,” his pimp-wannabe manifesto, is obscured by a female voice saying “radio edit.” If you haven’t heard the song, suffice it to say that it’s a rude suggestion that doesn’t exactly show off the speaker’s brain power.

Yet we know darn well that the people behind pro wrestling and “Millionaire” are very smart--and probably nice folks, as well. And there were times Saturday that it was easy to suspect that Kid Rock is guilty on both those counts.

He’s nothing if not a savvy entertainer, pushing sure-fire and tried-and-true audience buttons from sex (a constant topic) and drugs (he has a pot anthem) to jingoistic Americana (a stars-and-stripes stage motif and a Y2K-updated verse from his pal Hank Williams Jr.’s defiant “A Country Boy Will Survive”).

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He wore many hats throughout the night, literally and figuratively, shifting musical styles from rap to rock to blues to country, and on the final number taking turns on turntables, guitar, organ and drums. He showcased his next single, “Only God Knows,” a Southern-rock ballad recalling the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See”--a million miles away from the metal-rap fury of the breakthrough single “Bawitdaba.”

If anything, he’s trying too hard. You can’t blame him. He’s worked hard and the world has opened up for him, and now he wants to show everything he’s got. For all his rebel stance, he wants to be liked, to be all things to all people.

Maybe he can, if he’s smart enough and the audience is dumb enough--or is it the other way around?