"Rock and Roll All Nite" is a song by American rock band Kiss, originally released on their 1975 album Dressed to Kill. It was released as the A-side of their fifth single, with the album track "Getaway". The studio version of the song peaked at No. 69 on the Billboard singles chart, besting the band's previous charting single, "Kissin' Time" (#89). A subsequent live version, released as a single in October 1975, eventually reached No. 12 in early 1976, the first of six Top 20 songs for Kiss in the 1970s.[2] "Rock and Roll All Nite" became Kiss's signature song and has served as the group's closing concert number in almost every concert since 1976.[3][4] In 2008, it was named the 16th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[5]
Recording
"Rock and Roll All Nite" was written by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons while Kiss was still in Los Angeles, as part of their Hotter than Hell Tour. However, during the group's concert at Cobo Hall in Detroit on January 26, 1976, Stanley introduced it as a song that was written in and for Detroit. The tour ended early (February 1975), when Casablanca Records founder and president Neil Bogart ordered Kiss to return to the studio to record a follow-up to Hotter Than Hell, which had stalled on the charts and failed to meet Casablanca's sales expectations. One of Bogart's instructions to the band was to compose an anthem, something he felt the band needed.[3][6][self-published source] The song itself was inspired by the Slade song "Mama Weer All Crazee Now".[7]
They wrote the pre-chorus, Stanley wrote the chorus, and Simmons wrote the verses, borrowing parts of a song he had previously written, entitled "Drive Me Wild". The song was one of two the group recorded toward the end of the Hotter than Hell Tour prior to returning to Electric Lady Studios for the proper Dressed to Kill recording sessions.[6] For the choruses, the band and Bogart brought in a large group of outside contributors to sing and clap, including members of the Kiss road crew, studio musicians, and Peter Criss's wife Lydia. Some of the road crew used their jacket zippers to create sound.[3][8]
Reception
Cash Box said that "the undulating beat and anthem-like quality of the chorus add up to a satanic hit" and that it opens with "pounding drums and a ferocious guitar roar."[9]Record World said that the "group allows their drummer and vocals to take control of the moment as they get down to r&r basics with the best of 'em."[10]
Kiss' version appears in a 2022TV commercial for Applebee's. In 2021, it was listed at No. 404 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[11]
Live performances
While "Rock and Roll All Nite" would eventually become a fixture in Kiss's live performances, it was not inserted into the band's setlist immediately. Nor did it immediately replace "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" as the closing number.[6] The ending of the live version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" is taken from "Getaway" (which, as indicated above, was released as the single's B-side). Kiss performed the song during the closing ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City which proved to be Ace Frehley's final performance with Kiss to date. They also performed the song live with Adam Lambert during the season 8 finale of American Idol, on May 20, 2009, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.[citation needed]
The original version of the song, as it appears on Dressed To Kill, does not have a guitar solo, while many later versions do have one. The Kiss Unplugged version features Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick sharing the solo. The Unplugged version was released as a single and reached number 13 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks.[12] The original version also ends while fading away; all live versions end with the last notes of another Dressed to Kill song, "Getaway" (which, as indicated above, was released as the studio-version single's B-side). The chorus of Alive!'s version of the song is played at the beginning of "Detroit Rock City", from 1976's Destroyer.[citation needed]
