"If for no other reason than it's haunting me. "I want to get to the bottom of this," he says. He's hoping that his new book, and articles like this one, will spur a lead that brings a conclusive answer: Which Kiss fan's death inspired one of the band's best-known songs? "I'd be shocked if it was not."Ĭampion's detective tale doesn't have a satisfying ending - at least not yet. "Fayetteville is the ground zero of this story," he says now with confidence. And that's when a handful of candidate names emerged, several of them with ties to Fayetteville, N.C., where Kiss performed on Nov. ![]() “It must have happened, or at least he really did think it happened,” he says.Ĭampion kept digging, moving his focus to 1974 thanks to word from a former Kiss roadie. This was a band, after all, that had invented mythology for decades.īut then, why would Stanley bring up Charlotte at all? Why not just say Detroit? “If you are going to lie, lie big,” as Campion writes in his book. He plowed through public death records, solicited help from bemused police departments and dug into old newspaper archives, looking for key details in accident reports: What time did it happen? Did the vehicle include a group of teens?Ĭoming up short, Campion began to have doubts about Stanley's story. He tracked down Kiss’s 1975 tour schedule, zeroing in on dates in and around Charlotte. With his book’s deadline looming, Campion began an intensive search. “It’s a great rock song,” Campion says, “but it’s also a beautiful, melancholy tribute to (the idea) that no matter how young and invincible you feel because of rock music, there’s mortality involved.”īut who was this fallen Kiss fan? Aside from bits of speculation among diehard fans online, there were few details to be found. Kiss tried to divert attention from the screw-up by changing the printed lyrics to "doin' 95.") (One anecdote from producer Bob Ezrin: The band sang about driving "down 95," inadvertently substituting the East Coast highway for Detroit's I-75. Nailing down that vexing detail has become an obsessive, ongoing quest for author James Campion, whose just-published book, “Shout It Out Loud,” chronicles the making of the band’s iconic “Destroyer” album.Īt 380 pages, Campion’s book digs in deep, exploring the backstory of an album that many regard as Kiss’s best, with plenty of info about “Detroit Rock City,” the album’s epic lead-off track. Give me back my FUCKING drumsticks.“Detroit Rock City” has become an anthem around these parts, a hard-rocking, much-loved Kiss classic whose title gave the Motor City another enduring nickname.Īnd here’s something you probably didn’t know: That 1976 track, a tribute to Kiss’s favorite concert town, seems to have been inspired in part by a tragedy far outside Michigan, for years shrouded in mystery. Jam: I JUST LOST MY VIRGINITY IN A CONFESSIONAL BOOTH! LORD. And then that way you don't have to think about how tough it was for you when you were growing up and its probably a good thing too cause if you did, you'd realize what a lousy, goddamn shitty-ass parent you are! And then you no longer need the patience and understanding required to talk to your own son on some normal plain. Jam: Then all you have to do is go to church, light a candle, and pray to some stupid little statue for me and all is forgiven and forgotten, right mom? Then you can spend your days in a guilt free pursuit of more constructive activities like telling everybody ELSE how screwed up THEIR lives are. Destroyer, one of my favorite KISS albumsLyrics:I feel uptight on a Saturday nightNine o'clock, the radio's the only lightI hear my song and it pulls me thr. Jam: I am going to be out of your hair until I am a legal adult! Bernards Boarding School for the next 2 years of my life, remember? ![]() Jam: TROUBLE! HA HA HA! I've been in trouble for the past 12 hours! HELLO? You know I'm going to be in St. You ran out on God! My son just ran out on God! You are in a world of. Find popular songs in the key of F Convert to the Camelot notation with our Key. Bruce: Your drumsticks are the least of your worries young man. Detroit Rock City is written in the key of F. Breaking away from their typical partying-style lyrics, Bob Ezrin and Kisss Paul Stanley wrote this song about a young fan who was killed in a car accident on his way to a Kiss concert. Jam: Hey what's up mom? I'm gonna ask you this nicely first.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |