The History of Rock | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | May 30, 2000 | |||
Studio | White Room Studios, Detroit, Michigan | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 64:46 | |||
Label | ||||
Kid Rock chronology | ||||
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Singles from The History of Rock | ||||
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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".
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]
Aggregate scores | |
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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]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording source | Length |
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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 |
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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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. |