Detroit Rock City

Bomb Rating: 

When your choices are between K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Le Freak, and KISS, it's not exactly like choosing KISS is the equivalent of making a social statement.

For people who were sixteen or so in 1978, when this film takes place, it must be a wonderful nostalgic look back to an era when they weren't yet aware of what complete losers they were. In fact, I couldn't count the number of aging glam rockers in the audience who, when the movie ended, started bawling because they finally realized what a aesthetic desert they had grown up in.

When your choices are between K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Le Freak, and KISS, it's not exactly like choosing KISS is the equivalent of making a social statement. One is merely distinguishing between a complete loser desperate for social acceptance, and just a complete loser. It's akin to having voted for Jimmy Carter in the '76 Presidential election. His supporters still cruise cocktail parties crowing about the fact they didn't vote for Gerald Ford.

Keep in mind that as Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), Trip (James De Bello), Hawk (Edward Furlong) and Jam (Sam Huntington) try to figure out how they're going to get to the KISS concert in Detroit, they merely serve as fantasy figures for director Adam Rifkin, who is hoping to give his own childhood some meaning.

If one looks closely at glam rock as a cultural movement, it really represents the rejection of a multiracial society. Spoiled suburban kids flocked to a venue where they could join hands with their white brethren and celebrate societal chaos. Disco may have completely sucked as a musical style, but at least it proved that both white people and black people could be equally pathetic musicians and stylists.

To spread the word about this Detroit Rock City review on Twitter.