"Rocket Ride" is a song by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hard rock band

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, ...

. It was originally featured on their

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

album ''

Alive II ''Alive II'' is the second live album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on October 14, 1977, by Casablanca Records. The band had released three albums (''Destroyer'', ''Rock and Roll Over'', and ''Love Gun'') since the previous live out ...

''.

Background

"Rocket Ride" was written by Kiss guitarist

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

and Sean Delaney. Frehley sang lead vocals, and he noted in the booklet for the 2001 ''Kiss Box Set'' that this was his first vocal performance that he was satisfied with. It was the only studio track of the five recorded for ''Alive II'' that he performed on, as

Bob Kulick Robert Joel Kulick (January 16, 1950 – May 28, 2020) was an American guitarist and record producer, who worked with numerous acts such as Kiss, W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Meat Loaf and Michael Bolton. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, ...

was brought in to play guitar on some of the other tracks. Like many of Kiss's works, the song is a

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

, using space travel (appropriate to Frehley's onstage "Spaceman" persona) as an

innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

for sexual intercourse. Hide recreated the intro of the song for his own 1998 single "

Rocket Dive "Rocket Dive" is the eighth single by Japanese musician hide, the first to bear the hide with Spread Beaver name, released on January 28, 1998. It reached number 4 on the Oricon Singles Chart and was the 33rd best-selling single of the year. It h ...

", the title also being an homage to the track. Frehley's 2008 tour, The Rocket Ride Tour (in support of his album '' Anomaly'') was named after this song.

Personnel

– lead & backing vocals, lead, rhythm & bass guitars *

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. Criss establi ...

– drums

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that it has "grinding heavy guitar and driving rock beat, flashy solo and competent vocals." ''Rocket Ride'' peaked at No. 39 on the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100,International Chart History
/ref> making it the band's seventh US Top 40 hit. The 45 was edited in time to 3:05.

References

Kiss (band) songs Songs written by Ace Frehley Casablanca Records singles 1977 singles 1977 songs {{1970s-single-stub