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| album = [[Destroyer (Kiss album)|Destroyer]]
| A-side = [[Beth (song)|Beth]]
| released = {{Start date|1976|07|28}}<ref>{{cite web |title=KISS - Detroit Rock City |url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=KISS&titel=Detroit+Rock+City&cat=s |website=[[Dutch Charts]] |access-date=28 July 2022}}</ref>
| recorded = 1976
| studio = [[Record Plant]], New York City
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*{{Duration|2:58}} (single version)
*{{Duration|3:35}} (''[[Double Platinum (Kiss album)|Double Platinum]]'' version)
*{{Duration|3:45}} (''[[Smashes, Thrashes & Hits]]'' version)
| label = [[Casablanca Records|Casablanca]]
| writer = [[Paul Stanley]], [[Bob Ezrin]]
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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 (song)|Beth]]", a ballad written and sung by drummer [[Peter Criss]], wound up catching on in different markets in the U.S., so the single was reissued with "Beth" as the A-side and "Detroit Rock City" as the B-side.
While the song briefly references [[Detroit]], the real-life incident which inspired the lyric evidently did not take place there. "I had the basic riff of the song, the 'Get up, get down' part," Stanley recalls, "but I didn't know what the song was about except it was about Detroit. And then I remembered on the previous tour, I think it was in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], somebody had gotten hit by a car and killed outside the arena. I remember thinking how weird it is that people's lives end so quickly. People can be on their way to something that's really a party and a celebration of being alive and die in the process of doing it. So that became the basis for the lyric."<ref>Leaf, David and Ken Sharp, ''KISS: Behind the Mask - The Official Authorized Biography''</ref>
On ''Destroyer'', the song segues into "King of the Night Time World", via the sounds of a car crash. The songs were played together on the [[Destroyer
On the original 7" version, the song was heavily edited; the intro was cut and the car crash ending the album version was inserted within the song itself, with the song fading out on the first bridge.
Bassist [[Gene Simmons]] wrote a notable [[bassline]] that was influenced by [[Rhythm & blues|R&B]] music.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/kiss-biggest-hit-was-about-a-real-life-car-accident.html/|title=Kiss' Biggest Hit Was About a Real-Life Car Accident|last1=Trczinski|first1=Matthew|publisher=Showbiz Cheat Sheet|quote=Simmons wrote a bassline for the song that was influenced by R&B music — a bassline which he said was very different from most of his work. Simmons compared the bassline to Issac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” and Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead (Theme From ‘Superfly’).”|date=September 14, 2020|accessdate=July 29, 2022}}</ref>
During the ==Personnel==
;Kiss
*[[Paul Stanley]]{{snd}}lead vocals, rhythm
*[[Gene Simmons]]{{snd}}bass, backing vocals
*[[Ace Frehley]]{{snd}}lead guitar
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;Additional personnel
*[[Bob Ezrin]]{{snd}}spoken word and keyboards
==Charts==
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1976)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
{{single chart|Canadatopsingles|99|chartid=4356b|rowheader=true|refname=CAN1|access-date=February 20, 2024}}
|}
==References==
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[[Category:Kiss (band) songs]]
[[Category:1976 singles]]
[[Category:Songs based on actual events]]▼
[[Category:Songs inspired by deaths]]
[[Category:Songs written by Paul Stanley]]
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[[Category:The Mighty Mighty Bosstones songs]]
[[Category:Songs about Detroit]]
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