Bad Reputation (Kid Rock album)
| Bad Reputation | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 21, 2022 | |||
| Recorded | 2019–2021 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 71:30 | |||
| Label | Top Dog Records | |||
| Producer | Kid Rock | |||
| Kid Rock chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Bad Reputation | ||||
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Bad Reputation is the twelfth studio album by American musician Kid Rock. It was released digitally on March 21, 2022, and on physical CD on April 6, 2022, by Top Dog Records. The album spawned five singles: "Don't Tell Me How to Live" which features Monster Truck, "Ala-Fuckin-Bama", "We the People", "The Last Dance" and "Rockin'", and three music videos were released. This was the first album since 1996's Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp to be released by Top Dog Records independently.
Background
The album was at first announced in late 2019 and was originally scheduled for release in 2021. On January 17, 2021, he held a birthday live stream event and originally announced the name of his album to be Kid Motherfuckin' Rock and announced a total of 50 songs including 10 hip hop songs, 10 rock songs, 10 country songs and 20 previously unreleased songs. The album name was announced in January 2022 during a birthday bash concert at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, Texas.
Music and lyrics
Bad Reputation is a Southern rock and country album. Some of the lyrics reflect Kid Rock's support of former President Donald Trump and criticism of President Joe Biden. "Don't Tell Me How to Live" is a rap rock cover of a song by Monster Truck, who are featured on the recording. The song's sound was compared to that of the album Devil Without a Cause. The song "We the People" attacks the media, Dr. Anthony Fauci, masks, COVID-19 restrictions, and Big Tech, and features the chant "Let's go Brandon" in the chorus.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
Upon its initial release, Bad Reputation failed to chart on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week of eligibility, breaking a streak of top 10 debuts on the chart dating back to Cocky in 2001. The album debuted on Billboard's Independent Albums chart at number 31, the Top Rock Albums chart at number 39, the Top Current Album Sales chart at number 9 and the Top Album Sales chart at number 15. Two weeks after its release, the album had sold 25,000 copies.
It debuted at number 124 on the Billboard 200 chart on April 23, 2022, a month after its release.
In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "a record that confirms [Kid Rock's] diminished status by catering exclusively to the only audience he has left: aging hard rockers who also are stuck in the past."
Touring
On April 6, 2022, Kid Rock embarked on his Bad Reputation Tour. Ritchie had announced he would specifically not tour locations with COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Don't Tell Me How to Live" (featuring Monster Truck) | 4:04 |
| 2. | "We the People" | 4:09 |
| 3. | "My Kind of Country" | 3:56 |
| 4. | "Bad Reputation" | 4:09 |
| 5. | "Never Quit" | 3:20 |
| 6. | "Shakedown" (featuring Robert James) | 2:41 |
| 7. | "Rockin" | 3:41 |
| 8. | "The Last Dance" | 4:01 |
| 9. | "See You Again" | 5:50 |
| 10. | "Still Somethin'" | 4:08 |
| 11. | "She's Your Baby (Now Rock Her)" | 4:15 |
| 12. | "Never Enough" | 3:43 |
| 13. | "Everything to Me" | 4:27 |
| 14. | "Cold Beer" | 4:10 |
| 15. | "Ala-Fuckin-Bama" | 3:56 |
| 16. | "Am What I Am" | 2:58 |
| 17. | "The Nashville I Know" | 3:39 |
| 18. | "Fifty" | 4:23 |
| Total length: | 71:30 | |
Personnel
- Robert James Ritchie Sr. – drum programming, drums, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, background vocals, B3 Organ, turntables
Additional personnel
Backing vocalists
- Herschel Boone – background vocals
- Shannon Curfman – background vocals
- Gretchen Wilson – background vocals
- Robert James – background vocals
- Perry Coleman – background vocals
- Kate Falcon – background vocals
- Victoria Camp – background vocals
- Amanda Gene Rowland – background vocals
- Stacy Michelle – background vocals
- Mason Douglas – background vocals (uncredited)
- Jason Wyatt – background vocals (uncredited)
Drummers
- Jerry Roe
- Greg Morrow
- Evan Hutchings
- Miles McPherson
- John "Rook" Cappelletty
- Richard Millsap
Others
- Mark Douthit – saxophone
- Russ Phal – pedal steel guitar
- Max Abrams – saxophone
- Marlon Young – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- David Roe Rorick – bass, drums
- Peter G Abbott – engineer
- Jimmie "Bones" Trombly – keyboards, piano, B3 Organ, harmonica
- Tim Watson – fiddle
- T.J. Watson – acoustic guitar, vocals
Guitarists
- Gordy Quist – electric guitar
- Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar
- Ed Jurdi – acoustic guitar
- Nathan Young – electric guitar
- Rob McNelley – electric guitar
- Vinnie Dombroski – electric guitar
- Nick Bockrath – electric guitar
- Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
- Gordy Quist – acoustic guitar
- Dean James – electric and acoustic guitar
- Gannin Arnold – electric guitar
Pianists
- Peter Keys – keyboards
- Jim Jonsin – keyboards
- Gordon Mote – piano (credited as "Gordan Mote")
- Jim "Moose" Brown – piano, B3 Organ
- Dave Cohen – piano, B3 Organ, keyboards, synths
Bassists
- Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
- Alison Prestwood – bass guitar
- Scott Davis – bass guitar
- Mark Hill – bass guitar
- Tony Lucido – bass guitar
Charts
| Chart (2022) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 124 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 19 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) | 22 |