Detroit Rock City (song)

"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]

"Detroit Rock City" was covered by a ska-core band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on a Kiss tribute album Kiss My Ass. 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^[7]. The power metal band HammerFall covered it on its album Crimson Thunder as a bonus track.

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 varios radio and television broadcasts of 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^[8].

[edit] See also

Music of Detroit

[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
^ Projects: Metallica & Others. Encyclopedia Metallica. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
^ http://www.rockband.com/ It can be seen in the solo drums gameplay video.

v • d • e Kiss
Gene Simmons · Paul Stanley · Tommy Thayer · Eric Singer Peter Criss · Ace Frehley · Eric Carr · Vinnie Vincent · Mark St. John · Bruce Kulick
Studio albums	Kiss · Hotter Than Hell · Dressed to Kill · Destroyer · Rock and Roll Over · Love Gun · Gene Simmons · Ace Frehley · Peter Criss · Paul Stanley · Dynasty · Unmasked · Music from "The Elder" · Creatures of the Night · Lick It Up · Animalize · Asylum · Crazy Nights · Hot in the Shade · Revenge · Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions · Psycho Circus
Live albums	Alive! · Alive II · Alive III · Kiss Unplugged · Kiss Symphony: Alive IV
Compilations and box-sets	The Originals · Double Platinum · Killers · Smashes, Thrashes & Hits · You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! · Greatest Kiss · The Box Set · The Very Best of Kiss · The Best of Kiss: The Millennium Collection · The Best of Kiss, Volume 2: The Millennium Collection · Gold · Kiss Chronicles: 3 Classic Albums · The Best of Kiss, Volume 3: The Millennium Collection · Kiss Alive! 1975-2000
Videos and DVDs	Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park · Kiss: Animalize Live Uncensored · Exposed · Crazy Nights · X-treme Close-Up · Konfidential · Kiss My Ass: The Video · Kiss Unplugged · Psycho Circus 3-D Video · The Second Coming · Detroit Rock City · Kiss Symphony: The DVD · Rock the Nation Live! · Kissology Volume One: 1974–1977 · Kissology Volume Two: 1978-1991 · Kissology Volume Three: 1992–2000
Singles	See Kiss singles template
Related articles	Band members · Discography · Filmography · Merchandising · Concert tours · Kiss Army · Wicked Lester · Anton Fig · Bob Kulick · Kevin Valentine · Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child

v • d • e Kiss singles
From Kiss	"Nothin' To Lose" \| "Kissin' Time" \| "Strutter" \|	From Hotter Than Hell	"Let Me Go Rock N' Roll"	From Dressed to Kill	"Rock and Roll All Nite" \| "C'Mon and Love Me"	From Alive!	"Rock and Roll All Nite (Live)"
From Destroyer	"Shout It Out Loud" \| "Flaming Youth" \| "Detroit Rock City" \| "Beth"	From Rock and Roll Over	"Hard Luck Woman" \| "Calling Dr. Love" \| "Ladies Room"	From Love Gun	"Christine Sixteen" \| "Love Gun" \| "I Stole Your Love"	From Alive II	"Shout It Out Loud" (Live)" \| "Rocket Ride"
From Double Platinum	"Strutter '78"	From Gene Simmons	"Radioactive"	From Ace Frehley	"New York Groove"	From Peter Criss	"Don't You Let Me Down" \| "You Matter To Me"
From Paul Stanley	"Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We're Apart)"	From Dynasty	"I Was Made for Lovin' You" \| "Sure Know Something"	From Unmasked	"Shandi" \| "Two Sides of the Coin"	From Music from "The Elder"	"A World Without Heroes"
From Creatures of the Night	"I Love It Loud"	From Lick It Up	"Lick It Up" \| "All Hell's Breakin' Loose"	From Animalize	"Heaven's on Fire" \| "Thrills in the Night"	From Asylum	"Tears Are Falling" \| "Who Wants to Be Lonely" \| "Uh! All Night"
From Crazy Nights	"Crazy Crazy Nights" \| "Reason to Live" \| "Turn on the Night"	From Smashes, Thrashes & Hits	"Let's Put the 'X' in Sex" \| "(You Make Me) Rock Hard"	From Hot in the Shade	"Hide Your Heart" \| "Forever" \| "Rise to It"	From Revenge	"God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" \| "Unholy" \| "Domino" \| "I Just Wanna" \| "Everytime I Look At You"
From Alive III	"I Love It Loud (Live)"	From Kiss Unplugged	"Rock and Roll All Nite (Live Unplugged)"	From Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions	"Jungle" \| "Master & Slave"	From Psycho Circus	"Psycho Circus" \| "You Wanted the Best" \| "We Are One"