Rock N Roll
by Ryan Adams

Rock N Roll by Ryan Adams
Year: 2003
Overall rank: 12,048th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 53 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2003 (213th)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (2,096th)
Award Best albums of all time (12,048th)

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Ryan Adams bestography

Rock N Roll is ranked 13th best out of 42 albums by Ryan Adams on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Ryan Adams is Heartbreaker which is ranked number 1087 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,612.

Ryan Adams album bestography « Higher ranked (11,741st)
Demolition
This album (12,048th)
Rock N Roll
Lower ranked (15,328th) »
29

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Rock N Roll rankings

Rock N Roll rankings summary
Overall rank: 12,048th | 2000s rank: 2,096th | 2003 rank: 213th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)

Rock N Roll collection

Rock N Roll ratings

Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 53 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 53 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
50/100
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10/07/2026 20:15 daCritic  Ratings distribution  4,65073/100
 
70/100
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02/25/2026 19:52 Map  Ratings distribution  52581/100
 
85/100
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11/23/2025 11:29 Tamthebam  Ratings distribution  23,32969/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 70.7/100, a mean average of 68.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.9.


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Rock N Roll favourites

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Rock N Roll forum mentions

This album has been referenced 9 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
“Never made a bad album apart maybe from . Demolition is a belter”
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“1220 Love a bit of Ryan adams. Never done a bad album apart from maybe Which I never got this one deserves a (dis)honorable mention Not aware of it so thanks for the heads up. One to avoid then? came out 2010!! don't think I've spun it since.. Adams described it as a sci-fi metal concept album!…”
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Rock N Roll comments

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Rating:  
90/100
From 10/20/2016 00:44 | #177197
This album doesn't get a lot of love from critics, and to an extent I think that's justified. "Wish You Were Here," for instance, contains some of the lamest, laziest songwriting of Ryan Adams's career, such as this pointless string of expletives: "It's all a bunch of shit / It's totally fucked up." But I don't think the criticism that the album is too derivative makes much sense, since that is explicitly the point: this is Adams obviously and nakedly performing songs that are paens to his influences. And a lot of it is good. "Burning Photographs," for instance, is a nod to Echo & the Bunnymen-style neo-psychedlia, and it's pretty evident to me that Adams is fully invested in the passion of the song, not just aping it. I put that song, and several others from this record, comfortably among Adams's best, which is saying something.
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Rating:  
75/100
From 12/11/2011 02:51 | #32637
This album sure lives up to its title, trying on many influences to pump out some rockin' jams. Some of it works well, like opener "this is it" and its simple, driving electric guitar. Like "so alive" which feels so alive and looking forward to life and the love in the "arms i stay". The reverb-retro of "Burning Photographs" is pretty good. Most works well enough. The touching "rock n roll" is too short, almost self-deprecating with its lyric "i don't feel cool at all" in referring to performing rock music. Some songs were probably good rock ideas with incomplete execution, like "she's lost total control" and "boys" which uses the "so alive" guitar sound to middling effect.
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Rating:  
70/100
From 01/13/2019 11:38 | #229620
Definitely a lot of different rock sounds. A lot of 90s alt rock/grunge. Smidge of Rush on tracks like "1974." A deliberate and very welcome U2 riff with "So Alive." The songwriting isn't always there, but there are some killer highlights;
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Rating:  
75/100
From 04/15/2013 21:13 | #73304
Adams most uncompromised album. It is a collection of great rnr tunes which contrast fairly with the southern and country vibe of most of his catalogue, there are some great songs in this unfairly underrated recording...
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