The KISS Song That Made Paul Stanley Nervous While Recording

No matter how talented an artist is, recording some songs might cause trouble. The reason might be the complicated structure, the fear of getting negative responses, or a new experimental approach they just worked on. Since most bands have a specific sound and style, experimenting with new things is indeed stress-inducing.

Currently, KISS has been on the music scene for almost five decades. Throughout their career, they achieved great success with numerous hit songs and albums. However, there was one time when Paul Stanley was pretty nervous while recording one of KISS’ songs.

Why Was Paul Stanley Worried While Recording A KISS Song?

In March 2022, Tommy Thayer joined an interview with Music Radar and revealed his top 10 KISS songs. At one point, he began speaking about the song ‘Detroit Rock City,’ which was included in the 1976 album ‘Destroyer.’ Written by Paul Stanley and produced by Bob Ezrin; the song is one of the most popular KISS songs and more technical than the others musically.

Thayer said in the interview that ‘Detroit Rock City’ was a nod to Detroit, where KISS was more popular than anywhere else, selling out the Cobo Hall arena when they were mostly playing theatres in other cities. According to Thayer, it’s a song released when KISS Army was expanding worldwide.

Moreover, Thayer said ‘Detroit Rock City’ was an epic and expansive song. He then recalled that Paul Stanley called him before ‘Destroyer’ was released and expressed his concerns along with Gene Simmons. As Thayer said, Paul was afraid of going too far away from their rock and roll roots and was hesitant about it. In the end, the album’s song ‘Beth’ became a huge hit, and KISS began to explore new heights of success.

Here is what Tommy Thayer told Music Radar about ‘Detroit Rock City’:

“First of all, it was a nod to the city of Detroit, where KISS started breaking bigger than anywhere else, to begin with. They were selling out an arena there called the Cobo Hall,  and that was when they were mostly playing theatres or opening in other cities still.

It was a story about Detroit Rock City and kids going to the concert and KISS Army expanding into that world and creating this environment where KISS fans and the KISS Army and people go to the show. It added a whole new element. It made everything bigger. They took a chance.”

He then continued:

“Bob Ezrin produced this record that was really kind of more epic and, production-wise, more expansive. Paul and Gene called me once before the album came out, and they were really nervous because they felt like they had gotten too far away from their real rock and roll roots, and there was a lot of production on that album.

They were a little hesitant or just feeling a little nervous about it. And then, you know, ‘Beth’ was the B-side of ‘Detroit Rock City,’ and DJs ended up playing that, and it became a huge hit. So it started a whole new thing, and I think it expanded the world of KISS and made it bigger.”

You can listen to KISS’ ‘Detroit Rock City’ below.