The Polyfuze Method

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In 1990, Kid Rock signed with Jive Records and released his debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast. Despite the album's success, he was dropped by Jive, and in 1992, signed with Detroit independent record label Continuum. The following year, he recorded his second studio album, The Polyfuze Method, with producer Mike E. Clark.{{cite web|url=https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2015/08/26/kid-rock-early-years-detroit/31193049/|title=Kid Rock before the fame: The definitive Detroit oral history|website=Freep.com|accessdate=9 July 2018}}

The Polyfuze Method shows Kid Rock developing a rap rock sound.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/500525/kid-rock-raps-with-the-devil/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202414/http://www.mtv.com/news/500525/kid-rock-raps-with-the-devil/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 27, 2018|title=Kid Rock Raps With The Devil|website=Mtv.com|accessdate=9 July 2018}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGC_ZNOrKDwC&q=the+polyfuze+method&pg=PA203|title=Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture|first=William Eric|last=Perkins|date=9 July 1996|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=9781566393621|accessdate=9 July 2018|via=Google Books}} The Village Voice writer Chaz Kangas described Kid Rock on this album as having "a love and mastery of Paul's Boutique-esque sample-collage based production".{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/06/27/in-defense-of-kid-rock-try-hating-these-classics/|title=In Defense of Kid Rock: Try Hating These Classics|website=Villagevoice.com|date=27 June 2013 |accessdate=9 July 2018}} Producer Mike E. Clark worked with Kid Rock to help give the album more of a rock-oriented sound than his debut, utilizing live heavy metal guitars and sampling rock artists like Pink Floyd, as well as hiring a flute player to perform on the album. The album served as a crossroads between his hip hop and rock career, still maintaining a strong hip hop sound carried over from Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, while beginning Kid Rock's use of rock and roll and country influences via sampling. A 2017 profile by Billboard categorized the album as being defined by "trippy AOR samples".{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/kid-rock-politics-musical-evolution-senate-run-7872906|title=Guns, Unions and Globalism: The Evolution of Kid Rock's Musical Populism|website=Billboard.com|accessdate=9 July 2018}}

According to Allmusic's Johnny Loftus, The Polyfuze Method "represents a significant leap forward not only in the development of Kid Rock's unlikely mixture of classic rock, hip-hop, and country influences, but his own trailer-park pimp-daddy persona." Loftus feels the music on The Polyfuze Method was influenced by Public Enemy and N.W.A. He describes "Killin' Brain Cells" as being categorized by "big percussion and a funky guitar sample", and that the song's lyrics were defined by "the confluence of blind bravado, hard liquor"—these characteristics, along with the mixture of rock and hip hop, foreshadowed Kid Rock's 1998 multiplatinum major label album Devil Without a Cause, according to Loftus.

Chaz Kangas, writing for The Village Voice, said that The Polyfuze Method "his approach’s metamorphosis into painting with broad strokes of other genres in his work". "Prodigal Son", an autobiographical song, lyrically describes Kid Rock leaving his family home to pursue a music career. Kangas wrote that "In retrospect, the song today almost sounds like his outlaw manifesto." The song "Fuck You Blind" contained live guitars, which was not typical of the era's hip hop. Atypical of the album's sound was the more commercial-sounding "U Don't Know Me", which Kid Rock recorded as a joke to prove that "anyone can [write a pop song]".

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|last=Loftus|first=Johnny|title=The Polyfuze Method - Kid Rock/Allmusic|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=the-polyfuze-method-r175960/review|pure_url=yes}}|publisher=AllMusic.com|accessdate=23 November 2010}}

}}

Kid Rock titled the album The Polyfuze Method after a line in a HairClub commercial.{{Cite magazine |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2000-06-22 |title=The Low Times and High Life of Kid Rock |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-low-times-and-high-life-of-kid-rock-200153/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128074646/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-low-times-and-high-life-of-kid-rock-20000622 |archive-date=2018-01-28}} He intended to film a music video for the song "Prodigal Son", but Continuum Records dissuaded him against doing so, in favor of a video for the more commercial-sounding "U Don't Know Me", which the label had put out as a single and on the album without Kid Rock's knowledge or approval.{{cite AV media |people=Kid Rock |date=November 1997 |title=Underrated & Unsung |language=English |url=https://vimeo.com/48648284 |access-date=2022-09-14 |format=VHS |time=5:05 |location=Detroit, Michigan |publisher=Top Dog Records |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }} The video cost $30,000 to produce. With the production of the "Back from the Dead" music video, Kid Rock was given more creative control, being allowed to produce and direct the video. At $1,500, the video also cost less than the "U Don't Know Me" video.{{cite AV media |people=Kid Rock |date=November 1997 |title=Underrated & Unsung |language=English |url=https://vimeo.com/48648284 |access-date=2022-09-14 |format=VHS |time=32:32 |location=Detroit, Michigan |publisher=Top Dog Records |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }} After signing with Atlantic Records, Kid Rock licensed The Polyfuze Method to the label.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygXnnzAlaNQC&q=The+Polyfuze+Method&pg=PA98|title=SPIN|date=1 October 1999|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|accessdate=9 July 2018|via=Google Books}} The album was not offered for sale when Kid Rock's catalog became available on iTunes.{{cite web|url=http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2013/01/itunes_to_offer_kid_rocks_enti.html|title=iTunes to offer Kid Rock's entire album catalog from 'Devil Without A Cause' on; you can pre-order it now|website=Mlive.com|date=10 January 2013 |accessdate=9 July 2018}}

The album received mixed reviews upon release. In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Johnny Loftus gave the album three out of five stars, writing, "Despite its strong suggestion of what was to come, Polyfuze Method doesn't really go anywhere." The Village Voice, however, praised the album's sample-based sound and called the song "Prodigal Son" a "classic".

{{Track listing

| headline = 1993 CD release

| title1 = Fred

| note1 = skit

| length1 = 0:25

| title2 = Killin' Brain Cells

| length2 = 3:55

| title3 = Prodigal Son

| length3 = 5:18

| title4 = The Cramper

| length4 = 4:12

| title5 = 3 Sheets to the Wind

| length5 = 4:43

| title6 = Fuck U Blind

| length6 = 3:55

| title7 = Desperate-Rado

| length7 = 4:25

| title8 = Back from the Dead

| length8 = 4:43

| title9 = My Oedipus Complex

| length9 = 5:35

| title10 = Balls in Your Mouth

| length10 = 3:48

| title11 = Trippin' with Dick Vitale

| length11 = 4:07

| title12 = TV Dinner

| note12 = skit

| length12 = 0:47

| title13 = Pancake Breakfast

| length13 = 3:02

| title14 = Blow Me

| length14 = 2:31

| title15 = In So Deep

| length15 = 1:59

| title16 = U Don't Know Me

| length16 = 5:25

| total_length = 58:52

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Vinyl release side one

| title1 = Fred

| note1 = skit

| length1 = 0:25

| title2 = Killin' Brain Cells

| length2 = 3:55

| title3 = Prodigal Son

| length3 = 5:18

| title4 = The Cramper

| length4 = 4:12

| title5 = 3 Sheets to the Wind

| length5 = 4:43

| title6 = Fuck U Blind

| length6 = 3:55

| title7 = I Am the Bullgod

| length7 = 4:51

| total_length = 27:26

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Vinyl release side two

| title8 = My Oedipus Complex

| length8 = 5:35

| title9 = Balls in Your Mouth

| length9 = 3:48

| title10 = Pancake Breakfast

| length10 = 3:02

| title11 = Rollin' on the Island

| length11 = 7:42

| title12 = U Don't Know Me

| length12 = 5:24

| total_length = 25:22

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = The Polyfuze Method Revisited (1997)

| title1 = Fred

| note1 = remixed skit

| length1 = 0:52

| title2 = Killin' Brain Cells

| length2 = 3:42

| title3 = Prodigal Son

| length3 = 5:18

| title4 = The Cramper

| length4 = 4:12

| title5 = 3 Sheets to the Wind

| length5 = 4:43

| title6 = I Am the Bullgod

| length6 = 4:50

| title7 = Fuck U Blind

| length7 = 3:55

| title8 = Desperate-Rado

| length8 = 4:25

| title9 = Back from the Dead

| length9 = 4:43

| title10 = My Oedipus Complex

| length10 = 5:35

| title11 = Balls in Your Mouth

| length11 = 3:48

| title12 = Rollin' on the Island

| length12 = 7:42

| title13 = Rain Check

| length13 = 1:13

| title14 = Trippin' with Dick Vitale

| length14 = 4:07

| title15 = TV Dinner

| note15 = skit

| length15 = 0:47

| title16 = Pancake Breakfast

| length16 = 3:02

| title17 = Blow Me

| length17 = 2:31

| title18 = In So Deep

| length18 = 1:59

| title19 = U Don't Know Me

| length19 = 5:25

| title20 = Fred

| note20 = original 1993 skit

| length20 = 0:37

| total_length = 73:01

}}

Some of these tracks were re-recorded for the compilation The History of Rock, while "I Am the Bullgod" was re-recorded for the album Devil Without a Cause.

• Bob Ebeling – drums
• Bill Grant – bass guitar, guitar
• Kid Rock – guitar, loops, bass guitar, producer
• Chris Peters – guitar, bass guitar
• Dono Zoyes – bass guitar
• Jon Slow – flute
• Peg Leg Sam – harmonica
• Mike Henry – guitar on "In So Deep"
• D-Square – producer
• Mike E. Clark – producer

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|222753|The Polyfuze Method}}

{{Kid Rock}}

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Category:Kid Rock albums

Category:1993 albums

Category:Albums produced by Mike E. Clark

Category:Midwest hip-hop albums

Category:Rap metal albums

Category:Rap rock albums by American artists

Category:Continuum Records albums