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Cocky (album)

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Cocky
Studio album by
Kid Rock
ReleasedNovember 20, 2001
Recorded1999–2001
StudioClarkston Chophouse, Clarkston, Michigan
Genre
Length63:36
Label
ProducerKid Rock
Kid Rock chronology
The History of Rock
(2000) 		Cocky
(2001) 		Kid Rock
(2003)
Singles from Cocky
  1. "Forever"
    Released: October 23, 2001
  2. "Lonely Road of Faith"
    Released: January 4, 2002
  3. "You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me"
    Released: March 7, 2002
  4. "Picture"
    Released: November 12, 2002

Cocky is the fifth studio album by American musician Kid Rock. Released in 2001, it is his third release for Atlantic Records. In May 2011, the album was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA and has sold 5,344,000 copies in the US as of December 2013.[7] According to Kid Rock's official website that made a timeline for his 45th birthday in January 2016, Cocky was certified 6× platinum on August 26, 2008. However, RIAA only certified the album at 5× platinum.[8]

Background

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The album was dedicated to Rock's former assistant and hype man Joe C., who died in November of the previous year from celiac disease complications. 75 songs were written for the album, but only 30 of them were recorded. One recorded song that didn't make the album was "If I Was President", a standard blues song Kid Rock plays frequently in concert. Another song left off the album was the Joe C. eulogy "In Your Lifetime". Some of the songs that were recorded during this album's sessions appeared on Kid Rock's self-titled album.

Artistry

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Cocky saw a shift in Kid Rock's sound, featuring more ballads, most notably "Picture", recorded as a duet with Sheryl Crow. The album has less rapping than his preceding releases,[9] and more classic rock influences.[2] "Trucker Anthem" contains a sample from The Wizard of Oz.[10] Brunner described "Midnight Train to Memphis" as MOR country, and "Lonely Road of Faith" as a power ballad.[11] "You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me" makes lyrical references to Hank Williams Jr., ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Run-DMC's Joseph Simmons, and Willie Nelson.[11] The title track, "Cocky "was used for WWF Royal Rumble.

Entertainment Weekly writer Rob Brunner described Cocky as a concept album, stating, "Boastful and defensive, confrontational and thin-skinned, loud, rude, and proud of it, Kid Rock is a composite of blatantly unpleasant stereotypes sure to scare the neighbors: strutting ghetto pimp, Skynyrd-loving redneck, heavy metal burnout."[11]

Release and promotion

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The album's first single is the rap rock track "Forever", charting at number 18 on Mainstream Rock and number 21 on Modern Rock. He performed the song on TRL and The Late Show with David Letterman, leading to a number eight debut (it climbed to number 3 after the release of "Picture"), and with Hank Williams Jr at CMT Crossroads in late 2001. The second single is the ballad "Lonely Road of Faith", released in January 2002. The song was heavily promoted by WWE in the video tribute to the History of WWE, and featured on WB's Smallville and MTV's Real World. The song peaked at number 15 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. In July 2002, a censored version of "You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me" was released to radio, peaking at number 32 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Kid Rock tested out "Picture" at CMT's Farm Aid with Allison Moorer filling in for Sheryl Crow, who's label butted heads with Rock. He released that version as a single in November 2002, and it began climbing the country charts. Crow's label changed its minds, and her version was released in January 2003, becoming Kid Rock's first crossover hit, charting at number four on the Hot 100, number 5 on the Top 40, number two on Adult Contemporary and number 17 on country radio. The single was certified gold and spent 52 weeks on top the Country Singles Sales chart, also peaking at number one on the US Singles Sales charts and number two on the Canadian Singles Sales chart. The song became Sheryl Crow's second most successful single after "All I Wanna Do", and was nominated for CMA Vocal Event of The Year.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic57/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
E! OnlineB[13]
Entertainment WeeklyB[11]
The Guardian[14]
Mojo[15]
NME5/10[16]
Q[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[19]
Uncut5/10[20]

Cocky received mixed reviews from critics, earning a 57 out of 100 rating on Metacritic.[12]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing for AllMusic, gave the album four out of five stars, writing, "unpretentious, blue-collar hard rock hasn't sounded this good in nearly 20 years, and that's reason enough to celebrate."[2]

Entertainment Weekly writer Rob Brunner gave the album a B, writing, "Kid Rock's tear-down-the-walls ideal of a world where rappers can sip whiskey with rednecks is a compelling fiction, and if the cross-pollinated musical results aren't always as exciting as the conversation no doubt would be, you have to at least admire the breadth of his vision." Brunner felt that "Too much of Cocky meanders into boring stylistic experiments", calling "Picture" a "sappy duet".[11]

Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters gave Cocky three out of five stars, writing, "Rock self-consciously builds on his badass-hick-with-a-heart-of-gold image [...] [The execution] is really corn, [...] Rock's AC/DC, Run-D.M.C. and Lynyrd Skynyrd. tributes now come across as clunky imitation."[18]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Trucker Anthem"M. O'Brien, D. Reeves, R.J. Ritchie, M. Shafer, H. Stothart, D. McDaniels, R. Simmons, J. Simmons4:39
2."Forever"F. Beauregard, Ritchie, Shafer3:46
3."Lay It on Me"Ritchie, Shafer4:56
4."Cocky"Beauregard, Ritchie, Shafer3:57
5."What I Learned Out on the Road"Ritchie, Shafer4:58
6."I'm Wrong, But You Ain't Right"Ritchie4:56
7."Lonely Road of Faith"Ritchie5:28
8."You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me"Ritchie, R. Van Zant, A. Collins4:53
9."Picture" (featuring Sheryl Crow)Ritchie4:58
10."I'm a Dog"Ritchie, K. Olson3:36
11."Midnight Train to Memphis"Ritchie, Shafer4:44
12."Baby Come Home"Ritchie3:08
13."Drunk in the Morning"Ritchie5:31
14."WCSR" (featuring Snoop Dogg)Ritchie, Broadus4:44

A clean version is also available, removing most vulgarity, as well as the song "WCSR". The clean version also features a picture of Kid Rock's face on the disc, while the unedited version has an image of Rock's hands with raised middle fingers (a reference to Rock's previous album Devil Without a Cause which featured just Rock's right hand making the same gesture); both feature Kid Rock's name. The edited version of Cocky also renames track eight to "You Never Met a White Boy Quite Like Me".

Credits

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  • Kid Rock – vocals; lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, Dobro, banjo, steel guitar, synthesizer, turntables, harmonica, organ, piano, bass, drum machine

Twisted Brown Trucker

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  • Misty Love – vocals
  • Shirley Hayden – vocals
  • Kenny Olson – bass, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
  • Jason Krause – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
  • Uncle Kracker – vocals, turntables
  • Jimmie Bones – piano, organ, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
  • Stefanie Eulinberg – drums, percussion, vocals

Guests

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Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications and sales for Cocky
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[37] 2× Platinum 200,000^
United States (RIAA)[38] 5× Platinum 5,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Masley, Ed. "Review: Kid Rock proves the perfect Birds Nest artist". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved December 12, 2022. After one more shot of old-school rock-rap, 'Cocky,' Kid returned ...
  2. ^ a b c d Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic review". AllMusic. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  3. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-74320-169-8.
  4. ^ "This Kid Has Gotten a Little Too Cocky". Los Angeles Times. December 2, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  5. ^ Hobson, Rich (March 4, 2022). "Vote for the greatest nu metal album of all-time". Loudersound. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  6. ^ Elamin Abdelmahmoud (May 17, 2022). Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces. Random House. p. 108. ISBN 978-0593496862.
  7. ^ Paul Grein (December 11, 2013). "A Britney Spears Bummer: New Album Fizzles". Yahoo Music.
  8. ^ "RIAA". RIAA.com. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  9. ^ "Kid Rock". Biography. April 2, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  10. ^ Paul, Meekin (March 20, 2015). "5 things you didn't know about Kid Rock". AXS. Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e Brunner, Rob (November 19, 2001). "Cocky". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  12. ^ a b "Cocky by Kid Rock". Metacritic. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  13. ^ "Kid Rock - Cocky". E! Online. December 12, 2001. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  14. ^ Petridis, Alexis (January 25, 2002). "CD review: Kid Rock, Cocky". The Guardian. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  15. ^ An enjoyably bad-ass record. [Feb 2002, p.102]
  16. ^ "Kid Rock: Cocky". NME. September 12, 2005. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  17. ^ While he boasts none of the verbal dexterity of Eminem, he takes America's Dumb & Dumber obsession and has mighty fun with it. [Jan 2002, p.102]
  18. ^ a b Walters, Barry (January 2, 2002). "Kid Rock: Cocky". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Some great moments, but too much filler and too few anthems. [Mar 2002, p.99]
  21. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Kid Rock – Cocky". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  22. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Kid Rock – Cocky" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  23. ^ "Top 100 Albums: November 29, 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on September 2, 2004. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  24. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Kid Rock – Cocky" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  25. ^ "Charts.nz – Kid Rock – Cocky". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  26. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Kid Rock – Cocky". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  27. ^ "Kid Rock Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  28. ^ "Top 200 Albums of 2001 (based on sales)". Jam!. Archived from the original on November 6, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  29. ^ "Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums for 2001" (PDF). IFPI. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  30. ^ "Jahreshitparade Alben 2002". austriancharts.at. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  31. ^ "Top 200 Albums of 2002 (based on sales)". Jam!. Archived from the original on September 6, 2004. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  32. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Alternative albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on December 4, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  33. ^ "Top 100 Metal Albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  34. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2002". Billboard. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  35. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2003". Billboard. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  36. ^ "The Decade in Music - Charts - Top Billboard 200 Albums" (PDF). Billboard. December 19, 2009. p. 163. Retrieved November 14, 2021 – via World Radio History. Digit page 167 on the PDF archive.
  37. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Kid Rock – Cocky". Music Canada.
  38. ^ "American album certifications – Kid Rock – Cocky". Recording Industry Association of America.
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