Detroit Rock City (song)
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| "Detroit Rock City" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Kiss | ||
| from the album Destroyer | ||
| Released | July 28, 1976 (US) | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | Record Plant Studios, New York City: 1976 |
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| Genre | Hard Rock Heavy Metal |
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| Length | 2 min 57 sec | |
| Label | Casablanca NB-863A (US) | |
| Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Kiss singles chronology | ||
| "Flaming Youth" / "God of Thunder" (1976) |
"Detroit Rock City" / "Beth" (1976) |
"Beth" / "Detroit Rock City" (1976) |
"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). 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 Rock and Roll Over/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.
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.
[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
