Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 05/30/2000
Run Time: 64:46
Devil Without a Cause was so good it caused everybody to re-evaluate
Kid Rock, including
Rock himself. As he prepped a follow-up, he unleashed
The History of Rock, a hodgepodge of new songs, unreleased tunes, demos, old cuts, and re-recordings. This not only bought
the Kid time, it gave him a chance to revamp a past that was bordering on the seriously lame. According to
The History,
Rock always knew what he was doing. Anyone that's heard
The Polyfuze Method knows that's not the case, but that's the beauty of
The History, since the early stuff now sounds of a piece with
Devil. It isn't nearly as good, but it has some of the same thrills since his band hits harder and funkier than any of its
rap-rock peers and
Rock now has a fully cultivated persona. Still, the songs just aren't here. Apart from the
"Get Out of Denver" rewrite
"Born 2 B a Hick," "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp," "3 Sheets to the Wind," and maybe the
Skynyrd-aping
"Prodigal Son," the older recordings are still clumsy, something the new song
"American Bad Ass" is not. A shameless slab of self-mythology where the former
Bob Ritchie calls out tag lines from
Devil and places himself in the company of
Seger,
the Beasties, and
No-Show Jones, all to a sample of
Metallica's
"Sad but True," it's cool, more or less, but not as monumental as
"Bawitdaba," which had true wit, original riffs, and a sense of purpose. But, once you've worn out
Devil and you need a new fix, you're not going to find it on the older
Kid Rock albums -- you're going to find it here. It's not a great listen, but its swagger and white-trash style make it the second-best record in his catalog to date.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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