Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/09/2012 at 4:17 PM News

The Popdust Files: kid rock, nfl, nickelback, thanksgiving

Remember all the crap Nickelback took last year for having the audacity to play their music at various live sporting functions in exchange for money? The one they probably took the most heat for was playing the halftime show at the Detroit Lions’ annual thanksgiving pigskin showdown—and it probably says something about the Lions’ evolution as a franchise that for once, the fans had something to protest besides their own team’s crappiness—with one Lions fan motivated enough to start an internet petition, and Motown native Mayer Hawthorne even streaming an alternative halftime performance from his own house.

Well, this year should be mercifully free of such controversy. Kid Rock, proud son of the Motor City and generally well-liked rap/rock/country hellraiser, will be the performer at this year’s Lions game against the AFC-best Houston Texans. Better yet, he will be played a new song entitled “Detroit, Michigan,” from his upcoming album Rebel Soul. “It’s great because I’m home for Thanksgiving, number one, and it’s a huge television audience,” says Rock to Billboard. “I get to be in front of the hometown fans and it’s great to have my family down there and then go eat some turkey and watch the next football game.

Well, short of going back in time to 1965 and grabbing The Supremes and The Temptations to do a duet (with a guest rap from 1999 Eminem), this is about as much a Detroit crowd-pleaser as you could ask for. We’re sure even Dennis Guttman would approve.