The History of Rock

This article is about the album by Kid Rock. For the 1980s magazine on rock music, see The History of Rock (magazine). For a general history of rock music, see Rock music.

The History of Rock
Compilation album by Kid Rock
Released	May 30, 2000
Studio	White Room Studios, Detroit, Michigan
Genre	Rap rock[1] rap metal[2] nu metal[3]
Length	64:46
Label	Lava Atlantic Top Dog
Kid Rock chronology
Devil Without a Cause (1998) The History of Rock (2000) Cocky (2001)
Singles from The History of Rock
"American Bad Ass" Released: April 18, 2000

The History of Rock is a compilation album by American rapper Kid Rock. Released in 2000, the album consists of re-recorded versions of songs from the album The Polyfuze Method, remixed versions of songs from the album Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp, demos and unreleased songs, including the single "American Bad Ass".

Music

Many of the compilation's songs were previously released on Kid Rock's second and third studio albums, The Polyfuze Method[1] and Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp.[2] The inclusions from The Polyfuze Method have been re-recorded for this compilation,[2] while the songs from Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp are remixed.

The new recording "American Bad Ass" has been praised by Allmusic and Rolling Stone as being the best song on the compilation.[1][4] The nu metal song is built around samples from Metallica's song "Sad but True", while paying lyrical tribute to Ritchie's influences such as Johnny Cash, Grandmaster Flash, David Allan Coe, the Beastie Boys and Bob Seger.[1][4][5]

Also new to this compilation are the songs ”Abortion”, a hard rock blues song,[2] "Fuck That", categorized by Entertainment Weekly as alternative rock,[2] and ”Born 2 B a Hick”, which has been compared stylistically to Chuck Berry.[2] "Fuck That" previously appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Any Given Sunday.

”Born 2 B a Hick” was an older song that Kid Rock had never recorded.[2] Despite its title, "Abortion" is an anti-drug ballad, which Rolling Stone described as "[finding] common ground between the Geto Boys and Lynyrd Skynyrd".[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	64/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	C[2]
Kerrang!	[8]
NME	6/10[9]
Rolling Stone	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Spin	5/10[11]

The History of Rock received mixed to positive reviews from critics, earning a 64 out of 100 score on Metacritic.[6]

Kid Rock promoted the album with his History of Rock Tour.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing for Allmusic, gave the album four out of five stars, saying that "It's not a great listen, but its swagger and white-trash style make it the second-best record in [Kid Rock's] catalog to date."[1]

Rob Sheffield, writing for Rolling Stone, gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "History peaks with the two new songs".[4] Entertainment Weekly panned the album, however, giving it a C, writing, "Perhaps this marginal collection by a potentially major act should have been called The History of Rap (by White Boys)."[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording source	Length
1.	"Intro"	Robert Ritchie (Kid Rock), Wes Gandy (Wes Chill)		1:08
2.	"American Bad Ass"	Ritchie, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich	New track	4:32
3.	"Prodigal Son"	Ritchie	Re-recorded from The Polyfuze Method	6:41
4.	"Paid"	Ritchie	Remixed from Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp	4:45
5.	"Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp" (feat. Joe C.)	Ritchie, Martin Gross	Remixed from Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp	7:14
6.	"Dark & Gray"	Ritchie	Re-recorded from the EP Bootleg: August 1994	4:56
7.	"3 Sheets to the Wind (What's My Name?)"	Ritchie	Re-recorded from The Polyfuze Method	3:59
8.	"Abortion"	Ritchie	Previously unreleased	4:29
9.	"I Wanna Go Back"	Ritchie	Remixed from Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp	5:29
10.	"Ya' Keep On"	Ritchie, Barbara Lomas, Carlos Ward, Dennis Rowe, Louis Risbrook, William Risbrook, Orlando Woods, Richard Thompson	Remixed from Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp	3:57
11.	"Fuck That"	Ritchie	Previously released on the Any Given Sunday soundtrack	3:42
12.	"Fuck U Blind" (Not featured on clean version)	Ritchie	Re-recorded from The Polyfuze Method	3:57
13.	"Born 2 B a Hick"	Ritchie	Unreleased demo	1:42
14.	"My Oedipus Complex" (feat. Twisted Brown Trucker)	Ritchie	Re-recorded from The Polyfuze Method	8:19

Credits

Kid Rock

• Robert James Ritchie – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, organ, drums

Twisted Brown Trucker

• Joe C. – raps
• Shirley Hayden – background vocals
• Misty Love – background vocals
• Jason Krause – guitar
• Kenny Olson – guitar
• Michael Bradford – bass
• Jimmie Bones – keyboards
• Uncle Kracker – turntables, background vocals
• Stefanie Eulinberg – drums

Other personnel

• Wes Chill – spoken word on intro
• Michael Stevens – narration

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2000) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 13 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[13] 3 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 15 Scottish Albums (OCC)[15] 50 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 23 UK Albums (OCC)[17] 73 US Billboard 200[18] 2

Year-end charts Chart (2000) Position Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[19] 35 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 77 US Billboard 200[21] 40

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[22]	2× Platinum	200,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[23]	Silver	60,000^^
United States (RIAA)[24]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The History of Rock - Kid Rock". AllMusic. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
2. Browne, David (June 5, 2000). "The History of Rock". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
3. Hobsonpublished, Rich (March 4, 2022). "Vote for the greatest nu metal album of all-time". Loudersound. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
4. Sheffield, Rob (June 22, 2000). "The History Of Rock". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
5. Hill, Stephen (July 4, 2017). "The Top 40 nu-metal songs of all time". Metal Hammer. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
6. "The History of Rock". Metacritic.
7. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
8. Myers, Ben (May 27, 2000). "Albums". Kerrang!. No. 803. EMAP. p. 41.
9. Long, April (May 23, 2000). "Kid Rock: The History of Rock". NME. Archived from the original on October 12, 2000. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
10. Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Kid Rock". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 450. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
11. Weisbard, Eric (July 2000). "Kid Rock: The History of Rock (Atlantic)". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 151.
12. "Austriancharts.at – Kid Rock – The History of Rock" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
13. "Kid Rock Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
14. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kid Rock – The History of Rock" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
15. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
16. "Swisscharts.com – Kid Rock – The History of Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
17. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
18. "Kid Rock Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
19. "Canada's Top 200 Albums of 2000". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
20. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
21. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2000". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
22. "Canadian album certifications – Kid Rock – The History of Rock". Music Canada.
23. "British album certifications – Kid Rock – The History of Rock". British Phonographic Industry.
24. "American album certifications – Kid Rock – The History of Rock". Recording Industry Association of America.