''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 or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

by American rapper

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...

. Released in 2000, the album consists of re-recorded versions of songs from the album ''

The Polyfuze Method ''The Polyfuze Method'' is the second studio album by American rapper Kid Rock. Released in 1993 by Continuum and Top Dog Records, the album marked the beginning of Kid Rock's shift from hip hop music to rap rock. ''The Polyfuze Method'' saw Kid ...

'', remixed versions of songs from the album ''

Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp ''Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp'' is the third studio album by American rapper Kid Rock and the first to feature his backing band Twisted Brown Trucker. Released on January 9, 1996 by Top Dog Records, the album saw Kid Rock showcasing a more eclectic ...

'', 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, ''

'' and ''

''. 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 " American Bad Ass" has been praised by

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and ''

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

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

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

song is built around samples from

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/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 Sadness is an emotional pain associated with, or characterized by, feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment and sorrow (emotion), sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and ...

", 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 country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

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. He initially played mostly i ...

, the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

and

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...

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

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

, 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, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

. "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 depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, including Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, Jam ...

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

anti-drug The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

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

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

Reception

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

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. 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 senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, 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 digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' 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 (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...

Robert James Ritchie Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...

- vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, organ, drums

Twisted Brown Trucker 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 (1 ...

* Joe C. - raps *Shirley Hayden -

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Misty Love - background vocals *Jason Krause -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Kenny Olson - guitar *

Michael Bradford Michael Bradford (born 1961) is an American musician. A native of Detroit, Michigan he is known mainly as a bass guitarist but also plays guitar and keyboards, and has done extensive work in music production and engineering. Among others, Brad ...

- bass *

Jimmie Bones Jimmie is a variation of the given name James. Jimmie may refer to: * Jimmie Adams (1888–1933), American silent film comedian * Jimmie Åkesson (born 1979), Swedish politician * Jimmie Allen (born 1986), American country music singer * Jimmie A ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

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 and since 1999 has recorded as a solo artist. ...

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, 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 (1 ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

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 Midwest hip hop albums Rap metal albums