Kid Rock + Sheryl Crow’s ‘Picture’ Kinda Saved His ‘Cocky’ Album

Before Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow sent their duet “Picture” to country radio in late 2002, the song caused a fair bit of behind-the-scenes drama.

There were the rumors that Crow and Rock were romantically entangled, for one thing, which reportedly caused friction between the country-rock superstar and his then-girlfriend Pamela Anderson. But that wasn’t all.

Despite the fact that Crow was a co-writer on the song, her record label was not a fan of the idea of her releasing a duet with Rock, so much so that they blocked his plans to release “Picture” as a single. That caused Rock to release an alternate version of the song with “Tumbling Down” singer Allison Moorer to radio, but some radio stations began playing the version with Crow instead, and the original version ultimately became much more popular than Rock’s version with Moorer ever was.

Long story short: Crow and Rock had to fight hard to make sure their song saw the light of day, but ultimately, it was a good thing they did — for Rock, at least. Without “Picture,” his 2001 album Cocky might have been a complete flop.

The fourth and final single off the album, “Picture” was a huge success, but it’s easy to see why Crow’s label didn’t originally want the song to come out: At the time, Rock had a reputation as a loose cannon and a bad track record with radio-friendly language.

Before “Picture,” his previous single was “You Never Met a Motherf–ker Quite Like Me,” and despite the fact that he put out not one but two clean versions of the song, it was never quite clean enough for radio. It became Cocky‘s lowest-charting song, coming it at No. 32 on the mainstream rock charts. (Fun fact: Hank Williams Jr. made an appearance in the song’s music video.)

By that time, Rock’s affinity for F-bombs shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone, though. His tracklists were dotted with colorful language, including song titles such as “B–ls in Your Mouth,” “F–k Off” and “F–k That.”

But “Picture” showed Rock’s tender side, and it paid off. Despite three lackluster singles leading up to “Picture,” Cocky still notched a five-times platinum certification. The song is Rock’s highest-charting single in the United States to date, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and dipping into the Top 25 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Rock has subsequently performed the song live with a slew of other female country A-listers, including Miranda Lambert, LeAnn Rimes, Gretchen Wilson and Martina McBride.