"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" is a 1973 song by the British band

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

and covered by

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

as "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II" in 1991, with modified lyrics.

Argent

Argent recorded the song in 1971 during the sessions for their album '' All Together Now'', but it originally did not appear as an album track until 1973's '' In Deep'', and was released as a successful single at that time. The 1997 CD re-release of ''All Together Now'' has the track included as a bonus. The original lyrics include a reference to British pop singer

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, known for his Christianity. The song reached No. 18 in the United Kingdom, and No. 114 in the United States.Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004

Chart history

Petra

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" was covered, with additional lyrics not found in the original recording, by American

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

band

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

for their 1977 album ''

Come and Join Us ''Come and Join Us'' is the second studio album of the Christian rock band Petra. It was released in 1977. The album continues with a style similar to the one of their previous album, which is something between country and Southern rock. Howev ...

'' and their 1984 album '' Beat the System''.

Kiss

American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

covered the song in 1991 as "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II" for the soundtrack to ''

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). ...

''. The track was released as a single in 1991 and appeared on the band's 1992 album ''

Revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

''. Though the

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

covered the original

1973 version "God Gave Rock and Roll to You", it had substantially modified lyrics in the verses, thus the reason behind the slight change in the name of the song. It is one of the few songs from Kiss' "non-makeup era" to be played live since the band returned to wearing their trademark makeup in 1996.

Personnel

It was the last Kiss song to feature longtime drummer

Eric Carr Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known professionally as Eric Carr, was an American musician who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after ...

before his death three months later after it was released as a single. Although he was too ill to play drums on the track, he is featured on backing vocals during the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

break, singing the repeated line "...to everyone, he gave a song to be sung", as well as performing drums during the video for the song. He had lost all his hair from his

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

treatments and wore a wig during the video shoot. The drum tracks were recorded by

Eric Singer Eric Singer (born Eric Doyle Mensinger; May 12, 1958) is an American drummer. Associated with the hard rock band Kiss since 1991, he has also performed with artists such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Badlands, Brian May and Gary ...

, who would become Kiss' full-time drummer following Carr's death. The single was also the first to feature

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

and

Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular ...

sharing lead vocals since "I" from 1981's ''

Music from "The Elder" ''Music from "The Elder"'' is the ninth studio album released by American rock band Kiss on the Casablanca Records label in 1981. The album marked a substantial departure from their previous output with the concept and orchestral elements. ''Mus ...

''.

Chart performance

The song proved to be a big hit for the band in many parts of the world, including making the top 10 in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland. In the United States, it reached No. 21 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Album Rock Tracks chart. The music video received heavy rotation on music television channels.

Versions

The version released as a single and on the soundtrack to ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' differs slightly from that played in the film. In the film, a 40-second guitar solo is played by

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

. It was later included on Steve Vai's album '' The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1'' under the title "Final Solo". "God Gave Rock & Roll to You II" would also be included on the Kiss album ''

Alive III ''Alive III'' is a live album released by the American hard rock band Kiss in 1993. It is the third installment of the ''Alive'' series. The recording of ''Alive III'' took place over multiple dates (in Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis) d ...

'', which was released in 1993.

Personnel

– rhythm and lead guitar, lead vocals *

– bass, lead vocals *

Bruce Kulick Bruce Howard Kulick (born December 12, 1953) is an American guitarist and since 2000 a member of the rock band Grand Funk Railroad. Previously, Kulick was a long-time member of the band Kiss (19841996). He was also a member of Union with John Cor ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals *

– backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts Year-end charts

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1970s ballads 1973 singles Songs written by Russ Ballard Argent (band) songs 1971 songs 1991 singles Kiss (band) songs Rock ballads Hard rock ballads Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Songs written by Bob Ezrin Songs written by Gene Simmons Songs written by Paul Stanley Interscope Records singles Songs about rock music