This week I watched Detroit Rock City from Ohio with a bunch of Ohioans. It was my first time seeing it and immediately recognized that if I had seen this movie in high school I probably would have been obsessed with it. I had a thing for 70s men fashion then, the hair really got me. I’m also a huge fan of Edward Furlong, seeing as I think Terminator 2 is the superior movie, and I’ve yet to see a nazi seem slightly relatable in a film other than American History X (I emphasize slightly). The hard rock scene of their time was also very cult-like, considered an outcast in its era which of course has since been revisited and given a new appreciation. Part of what I really enjoyed about this film was reading all the negative reviews about it. Many sites claimed it didn’t have enough KISS, plot wasn’t any more than smut, or that it just simply goes in circles. I enjoyed this quote by a Cinema Crazed writer Felix Valesquez, he writes “Granted, “Detroit Rock City” is by no means a masterpiece; hell, it’s barely a great movie, but it packs in enough talent, fun, and healthy delusions only KISS fans are capable of.” I think the film gives a stylistic interpretation of the grungy teenage overconfidence that the characters are meant to represent, which is why it resonates on a nostalgic level with KISS fans who grew up in that time. It’s not an over-glamorized expose on the sexy rock n roll lifestyle of the band, but a realistic representation of the rough, hormonal life of the fans that made them popular. 

followed by a very tender moment of premature ejaculation

In the podcast with Adam Rifkin, they talk about how Gene Simmons’ wife plays the cougar lady in the men’s strip club that takes Hawk’s virginity. Talk about meta opportunities. I wasn’t alive then, but watching Jam’s mom turn on the record player to what she believed to be the Carpenters and hearing the opening solo to I Stole Your Love was goddamn hilarious and a comical highlight to a generational gap that can be relatable to anyone. Detroit Rock City offers lots of references, little easter eggs for those who experienced the time it does to, for a comedic effect that has aged well in the rising cult-status of the film. 

One of the first comparisons I could personally draw to the film was how much it reminded me of the boys in Freaks and Geeks, which began airing exactly a month after the movie was released in 1999. It does a wonderful job exploiting the grungy, rock n roll outsider fashion in the midst of the colorful, gaudy decade. Not to make my blog fashion-focused again, but I love making a parallel in the two military jackets in both the movie and the show, as it’s a quick reference to a post-Vietnam culture shift that is reinvented by the youths.

Being catholic gets you into way more problems than you’d think

In short, this film is as jam-packed with life and sex as the fans that made KISS golden, and it’s totally shameless about it. Despite what the cynics (Paul Tatara cough cough) say about it being “infantile” or “absurd” the ultimate point is that KISS fans really couldn’t give shit, because they thrive on their cult-authority. Another review by Contact Music writer Rob Blackwelder, who describes the film as “weak” also makes reference to the infamous KISS film “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park” that I think can also resolve some of the negativity towards DRC. He states,  

“But they knew the movie stunk. The audience knew the movie stunk. It was part of the fun.” 

Can this not also be said about the frenzied, down-to-earth film about the very fans that still loved this band despite their bad acting? I think the logistical problems of the movie come to naught in comparison to the genuine portrayal of a bunch of fan boys beating the shit out of each other to see their favorite band. Sick watch, one of my favorite. Can’t wait to see more rock n roll next week!!!!