Detroit Rock City (song)
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| “Detroit Rock City” | |||||
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| Single by Kiss from the album Destroyer |
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| Released | July 28, 1976 | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | Record Plant Studios, New York City: 1976 |
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| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | ||||
| Length | 5:20 | ||||
| Label | Casablanca | ||||
| Writer(s) | Paul Stanley Bob Ezrin |
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| Producer | Bob Ezrin | ||||
| Kiss singles chronology | |||||
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"Detroit Rock City" is a song by the American hard rock group Kiss featured on their 1976 album, Destroyer. The song was written by Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin and is about a real Kiss fan who was killed in a car accident on his way to a Kiss concert (in the intro you can hear a report on a car accident, narrated by Gene Simmons). The song, recorded and released as a single in 1976[1], was the third single off of Kiss's album Destroyer and was planned to be their last in support of the album.
As a single, it did poorly in sales and radio play (other than in Detroit), and failed to chart in the U.S.[2] even though it would prove to be a fan favorite. It came as a surprise that the B-side "Beth", a ballad sung by drummer Peter Criss, wound up catching on in different markets in the United States, so the single was reissued with "Beth" as the A-side and "Detroit Rock City" as the B-side.[3]
During the Love Gun/Alive II tour, Paul changed the lyric, "I know I'm gonna die, why?" to "I know I'm gonna die, and I don't care!" [4]
The song was #6 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs, [5] and is featured on the album Heavy Metal – The First 20 Years which was released on July 25, 2006.[6]
The song's title was used for a 1999 motion picture in which a group of teenage Kiss fans travel to Detroit to see the band in 1978.
The Detroit Tigers use the song when the players take the field, and also on various radio and television broadcasts of games. It is also sometimes played right before the first face-off in Detroit Red Wings games.
The song was tributed as a fictional venue - The Rock City Theater, located in Detroit, Michigan - in the music video game Guitar Hero II. It is also featured in the video game Rock Band, in which the master track is used - however, the first solo appears extended, and the ending ("Get up!/Everybody's gonna leave their seats/Get down!") was cut off the song[7]. As well Kiss played the song on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels and failed.
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[edit] Other Versions
"Detroit Rock City" was covered by a ska-core band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on a Kiss tribute album Kiss My Ass. It has also been covered by Hayseed Dixie on their album "Let There Be Rockgrass". It was also covered by the retro-swing band Alien Fashion Show in 1998, producing the single "Detroit Swing City." On New Years' Eve 1999, at a concert at the Pontiac Silverdome, Metallica, Kid Rock, Sevendust and Ted Nugent collaborated on a cover[8]. The power metal band HammerFall covered it on its album Crimson Thunder as a bonus track. Also Covered by Canadian cover band Sweet Siren. Ska punk band Less than Jake made their own recording and single entitled Gainsville Rock City. The song is their hometown anthem and makes two references towards Detroit Rock City. One of course being the title and the other is the intro which is the sound of a person entering his car and inserting his key into the ignition then starts the car. The main riff was covered by Japanese band GO!GO!7188 for their cover of "Kazari Janai no yo Namida wa" (originally by Akina Nakamori) on their cover album album, Tora no Ana 2.
[edit] Personnel
- Paul Stanley - lead vocals/rhythm guitar
- Ace Frehley - lead guitar
- Gene Simmons - bass guitar/backing vocals
- Peter Criss - drums
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ KISS singles
- ^ KISS singles chart,
- ^ Sherman, Dale. Black Diamond - The Unauthorized Biography of KISS. CG Publishing, 1997. ISBN (1-896522-35-1)
- ^ KISSOLOGY: 1974 - 1978, Live in Budokan, Live in Madison Square Garden (Bonus Disc)
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006.
- ^ Heavy Metal - The First 20 Years album info
- ^ http://www.rockband.com/ It can be seen in the solo drums gameplay video.
- ^ "Projects: Metallica & Others". Encyclopedia Metallica. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
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