Kid Rock – Cocky (2001)

After the unexpected success of Devil Without A Cause and The History of Rock, Kid Rock at last had made it. He was working very consistently, and delivered this album after those two, showing he had a great musical talent and lyrical trashing to boot.

This is not Devil Without A Cause #2. It is an interesting and wonderful record to say the least, and confirmed Kid Rock’s staying power and sonic ability to rock your life.

We start off with Trucker Anthem, with its super long intro and musical assault. It sounds different to the last two albums, showing the variety that Kid Rock had in his arsenal. It’s a good intro to a killer album.

Forever follows and is a statement of self purpose by Kid Rock. It sounds so loud, heavy and bluesy that it pales some of his previous work in comparison in this regard. It’s a catchy piece and worth listening to. It also mentions his musical influences in the chorus, which is fascinating.

The follow up is Lay It On Me. It’s a down and dirty tune by Kid Rock about, you-know-what. It’s got a soulful chorus though. Not bad, especially considering the content. There’s a cool piano led outro too.

Cocky is the album’s title track, and has Kid Rock dissing just about everyone over his success. “They say I’m cocky/And I say what?!/It ain’t bragging motherfucker if you back it up.” Sums it up, really. But it’s super catchy, despite the lyrics being how they are.

The following song, What I Learned Out On The Road is a strange tale of travels and pursuits on tour and in general. It’s a good reflective piece on life doing music each night. It’s a well done piece. By this part of the album, we can hear a much wider variety of influences in Kid Rock’s music than ever before, which is a good thing.

I’m Wrong, But You Ain’t Right is an aggressive, metal like piece that has Kid Rock pointing the finger at virtually everyone who attacks him, or giving them the finger. It’s a weaker song, but still very good anyway. The guitar solo breakdown is awesome.

The next song, Lonely Road Of Faith, is so much like a Led Zeppelin piece but it’s about a different sort of topic than what Led Zeppelin would cover. Still, it’s a nice ballad to boot and makes a change from the other songs on the album. It ends with beautiful piano, and sounds mint.

You Never Met A Motherfucker Quite Like Me talks about Kid Rock’s self-importance, yet again. It has some interesting arrangements and instrumentation and the chorus is so uplifting that it’s brilliant. At least Kid Rock has a sense of humour and doesn’t take himself too seriously, as we can hear here.

One of Kid Rock’s best songs, Picture, talks about heartaches involved with romance. It features Sheryl Crow and not for the last time, either. It’s a good piece, and a rare deep and meaningful from Kid Rock. A beautiful piece indeed, only ruined by a horrendous guitar solo in the middle. Fortunately, the rest of the song is great.

I’m A Dog is perhaps referring to Kid Rock’s attitude as he goes out into the world. Note that Kid Rock is very self obsessed. This song continues that trend, but although it is a weaker song, it kicks ass.

The next song, Midnight Train To Memphis is a tale of distress in relationships. It is rather slow to start with, but quickly changes into a rocker. Still, it’s not the best Kid Rock song ever, but it’s an okay listen.

Baby Come Home is a lot better, with a catchy slide guitar riff. It’s so cool, a perfect mixture of blues and country, which is a rare thing despite rock and roll beginning from that fusion. It’s a cool story about chasing a girl and trying to find her in the world. There’s a banjo in there, too.

The last main track on the album, Drunk In The Morning is a multi sectioned piece. It begins as a slow lament, before bursting into a loud and heavy rocker that is just fantastic. It just has the attitude that everyone should feel in their lives. It follows a quiet-loud dynamic, similar to what Nirvana would do.

WCSR is terrible. It is a supposed bonus track which, despite featuring Snoop Dogg and  mentioning an interesting story with Bill Clinton (regardless of whether it is true or not), it is awful. Should not have been put on the record. Avoid this one.

So, at this point, Cocky is a good record, not a great one. It didn’t sell as many copies as Devil Without A Cause. It’s rather patchy at times, but it definitely rocks in many different ways. To own this is a joy though. Kid Rock is still making great music today, unlike many older rock artists. It’s solid enough. The album cover showed that Kid Rock was definitely cocky. What a legend.

8/10