This track was the first indication of the band's evolution in musical genre, contrasting with the approaches utilized in Primal Scream's previous album, titled Screamadelica, which had gotten released in 1991 and featured dance-related leanings.

In 2024, the song received a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales and streams exceeding 400,000.

In retrospective terms, music journalist Steve Huey (who has also been associated with AllMusic) highlighted the song as a part of a musical trend involving "guitar-oriented, post-Nirvana alternative rock" performed "by bands who received some measure of radio or [even] MTV exposure".

[1] Similarly, Johnny Loftus (of the same publication) retrospectively described "Rocks" as sounding "raucous" and wrote in a supportive yet glib fashion that the song "is sure to please your English foreign exchange student friend.

Erlewine directly compared the artist's assertive interpretation of "Rocks" to Stewart's previously released song "Hot Legs".