Kid Rock To Perform At VMAs Despite Last Year's Fisticuffs

Usually when we start fistfights at parties, we don't get invited back. However, we're not Kid Rock. A year after punching Tommy Lee during Alicia Keys' performance at last year's VMAs, everyone's favorite Waffle House brawler and chart champion will be back at MTV's annual award show. In an effort to keep Kid behaved, however, MTV will keep him confined from the audience by putting him onstage. Rock is set to perform his surprise summer hit "All Summer Long" at MTV's bash, even though his Rock N Roll Jesus came out before last year's VMAs aired. Rock joins the Jonas Brothers and Lil Wayne as this year's performers, with more acts expected to be announced soon. This year's show, hosted by British comic Russell Brand, will broadcast live from Los Angeles on September 7th.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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