| "Detroit Rock City" | ||||
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| Single by Kiss | ||||
| from the album Destroyer | ||||
| Released | July 28, 1976 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | Record Plant Studios, New York City: 1976 |
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| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 2:57 | |||
| 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. The song, recorded and released as a single in 1976, was the third single from 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. 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.[1]
During the Love Gun/Alive II tour, Stanley changed the lyric, "I know I'm gonna die, why?" to "I know I'm gonna die, and I don't care!"[2]
The song was #6 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs, [3] and is featured on the album Heavy Metal – The First 20 Years which was released on July 25, 2006.[4]
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 often use the song when the team takes the field at the beginning of the game. The song is also used on various radio and television broadcasts of games, especially (on the radio) before the start of the final half-inning of a game. The Detroit Red Wings play the tune right before the first face-off of a game.
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.[5] Kiss also played the song on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels. It is also playable on Rock Revolution. The Rock Band version of the song appears in the film Paul Blart: Mall Cop in a scene where Blart (played by Kevin James) is playing the song on Rock Band in an arcade while thugs led by a man named Veck, who is posing as a mall cop, hold the place hostage. It is also played in the 2008 movie Role Models when the main characters arrive at a fantasy role playing festival. The song will also be playable for the upcoming video games for Dance Dance Revolution.
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"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. 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. Alternative rock band Bullet LaVolta also covered the song on their 1990 EP Gimme Danger, this version also appears on Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation. Former Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider also covers the song on the Kiss tribute album Spin the Bottle.
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