Detroit Rock City

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"Detroit Rock City"
Single by Kiss
from the album Destroyer
Released July 28, 1976
Format 7"
Recorded Record Plant Studios,
New York City: 1976
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 5:17 (album version)
2:58 (single version)
Label Casablanca
Writer(s) Paul Stanley
Bob Ezrin
Producer(s) Bob Ezrin
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.

Song information

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 written and 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.

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!" The song was #6 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and is featured on the album Heavy Metal – The First 20 Years."Detroit Rock City" was based on an earlier song that Kiss performed only in concert called "Acrobat".

Popular culture

  • Its title was used for the 1999 motion picture of the same name, which revolves around a Kiss concert in Detroit.
  • Detroit Tigers often use the song when the team takes the field at the beginning of the game.
  • Detroit Red Wings play the tune right before the first face-off of a game and also during television and radio broadcasts.
  • Fictional venueThe Rock City Theater located in Detroit, Michiganappeared in the music video game Guitar Hero II.
  • It is featured in the 2007 music video game Rock Band, in which the master track from the album version is used (without the car engine sounds).
  • Kiss played it on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
  • It is featured in the 2008 music video game Rock Revolution.
  • Rock Band version of the song appears in the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
  • It is featured in the 2008 movie Role Models.
  • It is featured in the 2009 music video game Dance Dance Revolution.
  • It is featured in the 2011 movie The Dilemma.

Other versions

Personnel

See also

Notes

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