Motor City's $18 billion debt, 78,000 abandoned homes, and steady exodus of population and industry were part and parcel to the historical Chapter 9 filing, and both Kid Rock and Ted Nugent shared their downtrodden, but persevering feelings on the situation with Billboard.

"I don't think people are that surprised with the bankruptcy," Kid Rock told Billboard, "I mean people I know in Michigan. Everywhere else they are. Now that everything's out in the papers and they're giving all the statistics about Detroit and the shape it's in and this, that and the other people outside are like, 'Wow, I had no idea…' They know Detroit's run-down and it's dangerous and it has political problems, but when they start reading the statistics, that's what they really talk about. But I don't think it's a big shock to anybody in the area. We've all known what's going on."

Rock continued, "I guess when I say in 'American Badass' that 'I put Dee-troit city back on the map,' it feels a little different now when I say that because we're always propping up Detroit, trying to focus on the good things, and now it's like it's hit rock-bottom. But what you can do, right?"