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Rock n Roll Jesus

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Untitled

Rock N Roll Jesus is Kid Rock's sixth album under the Atlantic Records umbrella and his eleventh overall. The album was released October 9, 2007. Rob Cavallo (Green Day & The Goo Goo Dolls) co-produced the album with Rock & Al Sutton.[1].


Musical Style

The album sees Kid Rock moving away from rap, into other genres. The album mixes hard rock, southern rock and country, with traces of jazz, soul and delta blues. He still manages to rap on songs such as Sugar. The thematic elements of the lyrics include social commentary in the ballad "Amen", reflecting on the concept of getting older in the track "Roll On", and remembrance of lost love in "All Summer Long". Some of his more trademark elements can be heard in "Rock N Roll Jesus", "So Hott", "Sugar" and "Don't Tell Me U Love Me". The track "Half Your Age" takes shots at Rock's ex-wife, Pamela Anderson.

Lyrical Themes

Unlike most albums released in nowadays, the lyrics on Rock N Roll Jesus are much more wide-spread, and speak of many things. Themes range from teenage affairs to Pamela Anderson.

1. Rock N Roll Jesus

The title track of this album is about how Kid Rock became the "Rock N Roll Jesus." With [[classic rock n roll] elements being used, and mixed with a gospel style with lyrical themes relating to church and godly activities, such as kneeling. Also other lyrics are contained saying that he is going to stay a long time, unlike other "quick hits and un-American bullshit."

2. Amen

Amen is a song of worldly troubles, ranging from starving children to war, but in a more motivational way, where if we all work together, we can solve these problems, whereas believing in God and chanting Amen will help.

3. All Summer Long

This successful single is about a teenage affair during Kid Rock's careless teenage years. It speaks of how he had "sexual affairs" with a girl at the age of seventeen. He also speaks of other things, such as "smoking funny things" and "sippin' whiskey out the bottle." The song is about another song he used to love in his teenage years, called Sweet Home Alabama, which is by one of his major influences, Lynryd Skynyrd. Later he states that to this day, when he hears this song. "he starts to sing along, and think "Man, I'd like to see that girl again," which means that the song reminds him of that girl.

4. Roll On

This song is softer than most on the album. The lyrics are about he kept trying after not succeeding for years, possibly referring to the success of his 11x Platinum album, Devil Without a Cause. He song featuring a lot of female supporting vocals. And he keeps telling himself in third person to "Roll on, roll, roller coaster."

5. So Hott

This single is about how there's a girl who is very "hot", and the singer wants to get associated with her, but not in a committed relationship, but rather "I don't wanna be your friend, I just wanna fuck you like I'm never gonna see you again." There are few lines of lyrics in this song, as the chorus is repeated a few times. Also, there is a reference to drugs in the chorus where Kid Rock says "I wanna get you stoned."

6. Sugar

Sugar is about how Kid Rock's still got "it," and at the moment he wants some "sugar", which is most possibly a reference to sex. He also goes back to his rapping roots for the majority of the song. The song also references sex when Kid Rock states "I fuck hot pussy until it's cold!"

7. When U Love Someone

When U Love Someone is a song about love. It's about how when one is truly in love, he wont "care what people say", because true love will last.

8. New Orleans

New Orleans is a song referencing the city of New Orleans saying that "people gonna treat you right". The vocals on this track are more of a mumble, rather than singing.

9. Don't Tell Me U Love Me

Don't Tell Me U Love Me is about false love that women pretend to give to rich celebrities, saying that Kid Rock is aware of their tricks, and wont believe it if women tell him that they love him, because he's aware of their tricks, and wont love them back.

10. Blue Jeans and a Rosary

Blue Jeans and a Rosary is about a religious girl who believed in Kid Rock when he was young and he used to do bad things, such as "runnin' from the law" and smoking "2 packs and a pint a day." Luckily, he "met an angel to rescue him."

11. Half Your Age

Half Your Age is by most called a diss track towards Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock's latest divorced wife. He says that she is easy to "maintain" and "doesn't bitch about things we ain't got", but the main line in the song is "She's half your age and twice as hot" which most likely means that she uses her looks to try to get what she wants.

12. Lowlife (Living the Highlife)

In the final song on the album, Kid Rock is referring to himself as a lowlife, whereas he has attributes that are un-gentleman-like, such as that he "thinks racist jokes are funny", but at the same time, his success has led him to live the "highlife."

Track listing

Rock N Roll Jesus
No.TitleLength
1."Rock N Roll Jesus"4:29
2."Amen"4:40
3."All Summer Long"4:56
4."Roll On"6:11
5."So Hott"4:07
6."Sugar"3:44
7."When U Love Someone"5:40
8."New Orleans"6:36
9."Don't Tell Me U Love Me"4:20
10."Blue Jeans And A Rosary"4:35
11."Half Your Age"3:45
12."Lowlife (Living The Highlife)"4:04


The version of the album available at Best Buy has two additional tracks; "Guilty" and a live cut of 2003's "Jackson, Mississippi". Target and Wal-Mart sold limited-edition DVD's that came with the album in its first few weeks of sales. Wal-Mart had "Cowboy" and "Lonely Road Of Faith" from CMT Crossroads and the behind the scenes making documentary of the album. Target had a bonus interview DVD called "Roll On With Kid Rock". The single "All Summer Long" is also the official theme song of WWE Backlash 2008. It was the first collaboration between the Kid and WWE in over 6 years. The album was not released onto iTunes.

Reception

Critical Reception

Rock N Roll Jesus has received generally positive reviews from critics. The album has a score of 63 on Metacritic, based on 12 reviews. [2] Rolling Stone gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, stating "His good-hearted faith in rock & roll delivers a powerful kick. As he well knows--and Rock N Roll Jesus proves--roaring guitars, truckloads of attitude and an unquenchable lust for life make up for a multitude of sins." [3] Billboard stated "We may be more entertained at times by Rock's extramusical affairs, but the "Devil" should still be given his due as a clever and creative musical force." [4] Allmusic was less enthusiastic, stating "The music isn't as serious: splashy and silly though it may be, at least it gets the basic sound right, even if it's way too polished and precise." [5]

Sales

The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling about 170,000 copies in its first week.[6] It is Kid Rock's first and only album so far to go #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

So Hott was the first single off the album, and peaked at No. 2 on the Mainstream Chart Chart and No. 13 on Modern Rock.

The acoustic ballad "Amen" was the 2nd released single, peaking at #11 on mainstream rock and #27 on Modern Rock Stations.

"All Summer Long" is the album's current single. It has become a worldwide hit, charting at No. 1 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland. In the UK, the week ending July 19th the single jumped forty places from number 46 to number six, later reaching #1. The album debuted at #4 in the UK album chart selling 19,396 copies. Even in the US, it reached success. It is so far the only single off the album that has reached the Billboard Hot 100, currently at No. 38, and on the Pop 100, its at No. 25. It's also become his biggest Country hit to date, reaching the top 20 and still climbing rapidly.

The album had total sales of 380,000 units globally in it's first 4 weeks on the United World Chart. After that, it simply dropped off the charts, but it re-entered on June 21 at No. 40 with sales of 26,000. Now it is currently on the chart.

The album was certified platinum by the RIAA on May 29, 2008. After the album slowly went down the charts, the success of All Summer Long rebooted it both in the US and globally. The album slowly climbed back on the Billboard 200. Globally, album sales also began rising.

The album has worked miraculously on the United World Chart. It's first run, it sold 170,000 on it's first week. It went completely off the chart, but then re-entered at #40. Every week, it slowly rose, and after over 10 months of release it rose back to #6 with weekly sales of 135,000. Trends show it will even increase.

"Roll On" is slated to be the follow up single to "All Summer Long".

Personnel

Charts

Charts (2007) Peak
position 		Sales
United World Chart 2 [7] 1.723.280
US Billboard 200 1 [7] 1.425.881
UK Albums Chart 4
Austria 2 [7]
Swedish Albums Chart 28
Switzerland 4 [7]
Dutch 47 [7]

References

  1. ^ Billboard Magazine (August 4, 2006) Rap Takes A Back Seat On New Kid Rock Album
  2. ^ "Rock N Roll Jesus - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  3. ^ "Rock N Roll Jesus : Kid Rock : Review : Rolling Stone:". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  4. ^ "Rock N Roll Jesus". Billboard. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  5. ^ "Rock N Roll Jesus". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  6. ^ Jonathan Cohen, "Kid Rock Rolls To No. 1 Album Chart Debut", Billboard.com, October 17, 2007.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus worldwide chart positions". aCharts.us. Retrieved October 23 2007.
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
October 21 2007 - October 27 2007 		Succeeded by
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