CADILLAC, MI — Every small town has lore, but Cadillac has a surreal story.
On Oct. 9, 1975 the rock band KISS took over this Northern Michigan town. There were parades, photo-ops, a key to the city and an iconic rock show in the school gymnasium.
It’s not just small-town lore anymore. The story reached Rolling Stone magazine that year, becoming infamous within the KISS army.
On the band’s final tour in 2019, the images captured in Cadillac flashed across the big screen in a career montage.
“We never imagined the entire town would dress in KISS makeup. And the street would be renamed KISS Boulevard,” Gene Simmons said in a 2015 interview with MLive.
“It was almost as if we were on a KISS Spaceship and landed on Planet KISS.”
Here’s a visual retelling of some of those memorable moments.
The Cadillac Vikings were hot off a two-season winning streak but fell flat during their 1974 season opener.
Assistant Coach Jim Neff and head coach David Brines knew they had the talent, but the boys were “too tight” and not finding their groove playing with each other.
As the rock n’ roll guru of the faculty, Neff was assigned to find the pump-up music. Neff checked out the record player from the library and selected vinyls from a new band out of New York.
“I picked KISS because in football there’s an old saying, ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid,’” Neff said.