''The History of Rock'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

by American rapper

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. After establishing himself in the Music of Detroit#Hip-hop, Detroit hip-hop scene, he broke through into m ...

. Released in 2000, the album consists of re-recorded versions of songs from Rock's 1993 album '' The Polyfuze Method'', remixed versions of songs from his 1996 album '' Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp'', demos and unreleased songs, including the single "

American Bad Ass "American Bad Ass" is a song by the American musician Kid Rock, released from his 2000 album '' The History of Rock''. The song samples Metallica's "Sad but True". Music video The music video for the single aired on MTV2 upon release, and reac ...

". The album debuted at #2 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

, with first week sales of 457,000 copies.

Music

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

" has been praised by

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as being the best song on the compilation. The

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

song is built around samples from

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's song "

Sad but True "Sad but True" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released in February 1993 as the fifth and final single from their 1991 self-titled album. The music video for the single was released in October 1992. Music "Sad but ...

", while paying lyrical tribute to Ritchie's influences such as

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by el ...

David Allan Coe David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. He ini ...

, the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

and

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...

. Also new to this compilation are the songs ”Abortion”, a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

song, "Fuck That", categorized by ''Entertainment Weekly'' as

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, and ”Born 2 B a Hick”, which has been compared stylistically to

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

. "Fuck That" previously appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 film ''

Any Given Sunday ''Any Given Sunday'' is a 1999 American sports drama film directed by Oliver Stone and produced by Clayton Townsend, Dan Halsted, and Lauren Shuler Donner from a screenplay by Stone and John Logan based on a story written by Logan and Da ...

''. ”Born 2 B a Hick” was an older song that Kid Rock had never recorded. Despite its title, "Abortion" is an

anti-drug Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definitions ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, which ''Rolling Stone'' described as " indingcommon ground between the

Geto Boys Geto Boys (originally spelled Ghetto Boys) were an American hip hop group originally formed in Houston, Texas. They saw commercial success in the 1990s with the lineup consisting of Bushwick Bill, Scarface and Willie D. The group became best ...

and

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

Reception

''The History of Rock'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics, earning a 64 out of 100 score on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

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

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

, writing for

, 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 id Rock'scatalog to date." Rob Sheffield, writing for ''

'', gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "''History'' peaks with the two new songs". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' 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)''."

Track listing

Credits

Kid Rock

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

Twisted Brown Trucker Twisted Brown Trucker is the Backup band, backing band for American musician Kid Rock. Formed in 1994, the band has contributed to nine of his twelve studio albums, as well as Uncle Kracker's ''Double Wide (album), Double Wide'' album. Histor ...

* 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 Matthew Shafer (born June 6, 1974), also known by his stage name Uncle Kracker, is an American singer and musician. He was previously a turntablist for Kid Rock's backing group Twisted Brown Trucker; since 1999, he has recorded as a solo artis ...

– turntables, background vocals *

Stefanie Eulinberg Twisted Brown Trucker is the backing band for American musician Kid Rock. Formed in 1994, the band has contributed to nine of his twelve studio albums, as well as Uncle Kracker's '' Double Wide'' album. History Formation and establishment ( ...

– drums

Other personnel

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Rock, The Kid Rock albums 2000 compilation albums Atlantic Records compilation albums Lava Records compilation albums Midwest hip-hop albums Rap metal albums