Detroit Rock City (film)

Detroit Rock City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adam Rifkin
Produced by	Barry Levine Gene Simmons
Written by	Carl V. Dupré
Starring	Edward Furlong Giuseppe Andrews James DeBello Sam Huntington Gene Simmons Paul Stanley Ace Frehley Peter Criss Natasha Lyonne Lin Shaye
Music by	J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography	John R. Leonetti
Edited by	Mark Goldblatt Peter Schink
Production companies	Base-12 Productions Takoma Entertainment Group
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	August 13, 1999 (1999-08-13)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$34 million
Box office	$4.2 million

Detroit Rock City is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Adam Rifkin and written by Carl V. Dupré. It tells of four teenage boys in a Kiss cover band who try to see their in concert in Detroit in 1978. Comparable to Rock 'n' Roll High School, Dazed and Confused, The Stöned Age, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, it tells a coming-of-age story through a filter of 1970s music and culture in the United States. It ultimately took its title from the Kiss song of the same name.

The film was shot at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Toronto and other Ontario locations. Other Ontario locations include Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario.

In Cleveland, Ohio, fall of 1978, a middle-aged woman (Lin Shaye) is relaxing at home and puts on a vinyl record to listen to. While sipping a red wine and reading while humming The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun", she becomes agitated as rock music plays. When she discovers the record being Kiss' Love Gun album and a secret cache of Kiss albums, she is revealed to be ultra-conservative when she says "Kiss, the devil's music". She then leaves the house.

Meanwhile, four rebellious teenage boys in a Kiss cover band named "Mystery" practice the Kiss song "Rock and Roll All Nite" in one of their members' homes. The band, consisting of guitarist-vocalist Hawk (Edward Furlong), bassist-vocalist Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), lead guitarist-vocalist Trip (James DeBello), and drummer-vocalist Jeremiah "Jam" Bruce (Sam Huntington), become elated to have tickets to see their idols in concert in Detroit the following night. Later, the same woman from the beginning races up to the house where the boys are hanging out and drags Jam home. She is revealed to be his mother, Mrs. Bruce. Later discovering the tickets, she burns them and has Jam transferred to a Catholic boarding school.