Rock and Roll All Nite

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"I Wanna Rock & Roll All Night" redirects here. For the episode of the 2008 TV series Knight Rider, see I Wanna Rock & Roll All Knight.

"Rock and Roll All Nite"
RARAN Single.jpg
Single by Kiss
from the album Dressed to Kill and Alive!
ReleasedApril 2, 1975 (US)
RecordedElectric Lady Studios,
New York City: February 1975
GenreHard rock[1]
Length2:49 (album version)
3:20 (7" live version)
2:34 (studio version)
LabelCasablanca NB-829 (US)
Songwriter(s)Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Producer(s)Neil Bogart & Kiss
Kiss singles chronology
"Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" / "Hotter Than Hell"
(1974) 		"Rock and Roll All Nite" / "Getaway"
(1975) 		"C'mon and Love Me" / "Getaway"
(1975)
C'mon and Love Me" / "Getaway
(1975)
Rock and Roll All Nite (Live)" / "Rock and Roll All Nite
(1975)
Shout It Out Loud" / "Sweet Pain
(1976)
I Love It Loud (Live)" / "Unholy (Live)
(1993)
Rock and Roll All Nite (Unplugged)" / "Every Time I Look at You (Unplugged)
(1996)
Jungle (Radio Edit)" / "Jungle
(1997)
Music video
"Rock & Roll All Nite" on YouTube

"Rock and Roll All Nite" is a song by American heavy metal 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] The song itself was inspired by the Slade song "Cum On Feel the Noize".[citation needed]

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][7]

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]

On December 31, 2019 (2019-12-31), this song was performed on The 70th NHK Red & White Year-End Song Festival featuring X Japan's drummer/pianist Yoshiki Hayashi.

Other versions[]

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.[8] 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]

Appearances[]

"Rock and Roll All Nite" has appeared on the following Kiss albums:

  • Dressed to Kill (1975) – Original studio version
  • Alive! (1975) – Live version
  • The Originals (1976) - Studio version
  • Double Platinum (1978) – Studio version
  • Killers (1982) – Live version
  • Smashes, Thrashes & Hits (1988) – Remixed studio version
  • Chikara (1988)
  • Alive III (1993) – Live version
  • Kiss Unplugged (1996) – Acoustic live version
  • You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! (1996) – Live version from Alive!
  • Greatest Kiss (1997) – Studio version
  • The Box Set (2001) – Studio version and Live version
  • The Very Best of Kiss (2002) – Live version from Alive!
  • Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2003) – Live version with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
  • The Best of Kiss: The Millennium Collection (2003) – Live version from Alive! (album re-released in 2010 as ICON)
  • Gold (2005) – Live version from Alive!
  • Kiss Chronicles: 3 Classic Albums (2006) - Studio version
  • Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 (2006) – Live version from The Box Set
  • Kiss Chronicles – Original studio version (as part of repackaging of Dressed To Kill)
  • Alive IIm³ - release of Alive!, Alive II, Alive III, plus Alive! The Millennium Concert – Single Edit Version
  • Kiss Klassics (2008) – re-recorded version included on a bonus CD with Sonic Boom
  • Ikons (2008) - Studio version
  • Kiss Alive 35 (2009) – Live album produced at each of the venues
  • Kiss Sonic Boom Over Europe (2010) - Live versions
  • Kiss 40 (2014) – Live version from Alive!

Personnel[]

Sonic Boom personnel[]

Chart performance[]

Poison version[]

"Rock and Roll All Nite"
Single by Poison
from the album Less Than Zero
ReleasedOctober 12, 1987
Recorded1987
Genre
  • Glam metal
  • heavy metal
LabelEnigma/Capitol Records
Songwriter(s)Stanley/Simmons
Producer(s)Rick Rubin
Poison singles chronology
"I Won't Forget You"
(1987) 		"Rock and Roll All Nite"
(1987) 		"Nothin' but a Good Time"
(1988)

American rock band Poison covered and released "Rock and Roll All Nite" as a single from the soundtrack to the film Less Than Zero in 1987. It was released on a Poison album The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock in 2006 and again on the cover album Poison'd in 2007.

At the start of "Nothin' But a Good Time" music video, Poison's rendition of "Rock and Roll All Nite" is heard on the radio.

Personnel[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Philo, Simon (2018). Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-44227-148-7.
  2. ^ "The Complete KISS Singles Chart Action, 1974–". The KISSFAQ. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gooch, Curt and Jeff Suhs. KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History. Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN 0-8230-8322-5
  4. ^ Prato, Greg. "Rock and Roll All Nite". Allmusic. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
  5. ^ "Vh1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs". SpreadIt. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gill, Julian. The KISS Album Focus, Volume 1 (3rd ed.) Xlibris Corporation, 2005. ISBN 1-4134-8547-2[self-published source]
  7. ^ Leaf, David and Ken Sharp. KISS: Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography, Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 0-446-53073-5
  8. ^ "Billboard singles chart history-Kiss". Retrieved February 18, 2009.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  10. ^ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19750614.html[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  13. ^ Musicoutfitters.com

External links[]

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