Where was rock and roll all night recorded?

Songfacts®:

• Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss wrote this track, which became their signature song and was usually played as the last song in their encores. Stanley told Bruce Pollock: "Originally Gene and I would tend to help each other fill in the gaps. 'Rock and Roll All Night' came about because we felt we needed an anthem, a song that could be the rallying cry for all of our fans. So I went back to the hotel and came up with the chorus and the melody. Then I went down to see Gene and he came up with the verses. We used to write a lot like that. As Gene and I became better writers we became either less willing to bend on our individual ideas, or it may have been that we both figured our songs would be stronger if developed by the person who wrote them."

• "Rock And Roll All Nite" is the song that defined Kiss' musical identity, which at the time wasn't clear. They wore costumes and makeup, but without a unified theme: Gene Simmons was a demon, Paul Stanley a star chile, Ace Frehley a spaceman, and Peter Criss a cat. It wasn't coming together, and they were struggling.

  Kiss released their first two albums nine months apart in 1974: Kiss and Hotter Than Hell. Both put up modest sales figures and their Hotter Than Hell tour wasn't helping. Neil Bogart, the head of their label (Casablanca Records) stopped the tour and had them hunker down to write a song that would define who they were as a band, using the Sly & the Family Stone song "I Want to Take You Higher" as a model.

  In the book Music, Lyrics, and Life, Stanley says Bogart asked them to write "A song that your fans can rally behind. A song that says what you stand for and what the manifesto is."

  The plan worked, but not right away. The studio version, released on April 2, 1975 and included on their third album, Dressed To Kill peaked at #68 on the Hot 100. But the song is best experienced live, fueled with the energy from the crowd. To capture this energy, Casablanca released a live version, recorded at Cobo Hall, Detroit, on May 16, 1975, as a single later that year. This version reached #12 in early 1976, giving Kiss their first substantial hit. It also anchored Alive!, their first of many Gold-certified albums.

• This was featured in the 1993 movie Dazed And Confused. It also appeared in these films:

  Why Him? (2016)
  The Nice Guys (2016)
  Gulliver's Travels (2010)
  Role Models (2008)
  Less Than Zero (1987)

• As Gene Simmons made clear in his Songfacts interview, drugs and alcohol are not part of the Kiss rock and roll lifestyle. They may party every day, but they do it substance-free.

  Paul Stanley concurs; he told 77 WABC Radio's Bernie & Sid In The Morning in 2019 that rather being about getting high, stoned and/or drunk, "Rock And Roll All Nite" is a song of celebration.

  "It was, 'I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day. I wanna have a great time and make the most of life,'" he explained. "And that's really what both my point of view and Kiss's point of view has always been - to celebrate life and to make the most of life - because, as far as I know, we don't get a second chance. So this is our bite of the apple. So, make the most of your life."

• Part of "Rock And Roll All Nite" plays on the car radio in the montage that opens "Detroit Rock City," the first track on Kiss' 1976 album Destroyer.

• When That '70s Show went into syndication in 2002, its distributor commissioned a video showing the cast at a Kiss concert in 1977, where they're playing this song. Of course, the gang ends up on stage and infiltrates the backstage area.

• On the 1996 Kiss Unplugged album, each of the original band members sang a line of this song as they played it on acoustic instruments. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Gary - Steeleville, IL

• Ace Frehley was Kiss' lead guitarist for this one. He feels it's some of his best work, telling Songfacts, "It's just a nice, Chuck Berry kind of solo. Reminiscent of older rock n' roll songs."

• The members of Kiss provided their voices for an episode of Family Guy where Peter and Lois are following a Kiss tour. As the band plays this song, they hold the microphone up to Lois in the crowd to sing along after the line, "I wanna rock and roll all nite and..."

  Even though most people (including non-Kiss fans) know the words, Lois doesn't, and says, "have a wonderful time." This leads to her revelation that she just pretends to like Kiss for Peter's sake, which upsets him until they go to a restaurant and meet the band, who recognize Lois from when she was a groupie known as "Loose Lois." Peter is honored that his wife slept with Kiss. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bert - Pueblo, NM

• The hair-metal band Poison covered this song for the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero. It later appeared on their 2006 compilation The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock and again on their 2007 covers album Poison'd! >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alec Thorp - Yorktown Heights, NY

• This song is referenced in the 1996 episode of The Simpsons, "Homerpalooza," where Homer says, "I used to rock and roll all night and party every day, then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find half an hour a week in which to get funky."

• Kiss and figure skating finally came together when the band performed "Rock And Roll All Nite" at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City as Katarina Witt and Kristi Yamaguichi skated to it.

• Kiss were never deemed suitable for halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl, but they did perform this song at the 1999 pre-game show with dancers dressed like the band.

• On the 1999 Friends episode "The One After Vegas," a tired Joey starts singing this to keep himself awake - right before he falls asleep.

  It was also used in these TV shows:

  The Dangerous Book For Boys ("How To Walk On The Moon" - 2018)
  Ugly Betty ("Odor In The Court" - 2008)
  Dharma & Greg ("Do You Want Fries With That?" - 1998)
  Full House ("On The Road Again" - 1994)

• On May 1, 2009, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons' voices appeared on the television show The Fairly OddParents on the channel Nickelodeon. Kiss plays the role of the "Galactic Guardians of the White Wand." The song "Rock and Roll All Nite" is played at the beginning and end of their concert. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Zach - Pocahontas, AR

• Stanley and Simmons kept the lyric in the first person ("I want to," as opposed to "You want to" or "We want to") so as not to sound preachy. As Stanley points out, it's "I pledge allegiance to the flag."

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