‘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. ‘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. In 2008, it was named the 16th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.
‘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. The song itself was inspired by the Slade song ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’.
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. 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.
As Gene Simmons made clear when interviewed, 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."
Label – Casablanca
Songwriters – Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Producers – Neil Bogart & Kiss
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]You show us everything you've got
You keep on dancin', and the room gets hot
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You say you wanna go for a spin
The party's just begun, we'll let you in
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
[Pre-Chorus]
You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'
[Chorus]
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
[Verse 2]
You keep on saying you'll be mine for a while
You're lookin' fancy, and I like your style
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You show us everything you've got
Baby, baby, that's quite a lot
And you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
[Pre-Chorus]
You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'
[Chorus]
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
[Outro]
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day