According to Bismarck Tribune critic Patrick Miller, the message of "Rockin' the Paradise" is "for Americans to get back to the honest hard work that made the country great.
[2] DeYoung expanded on this saying that that what is needed in order to turn things around in American "common decency between human beings and people feeling useful.
[2] Newsday critic Wayne Robins felt that some of the lyrics "are worthy of a politician's adventures in locution," for example "Let's stick together and futurize our attitudes / I ain't looking to fight but I know with determination we can challenge the schemers / who cheat all the rules.
[3] Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia called the song "a total team effort of wonderfully stripped down hard rock.
"[4] Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated "Rockin' the Paradise" as Styx 4th greatest song, praising the "sparkling sense of fun and nostalgia" and the band's "inspired performance.