Call it Cadillac Rock City: Michigan town fetes 50 years after visit from KISS

Cadillac’s high school football team in 1974 got excited for games by playing KISS albums, leading to a winning season
When the coach wrote the band to say thanks, the band showed up for a surprise visit in October 1975
Fifty years later, Cadillac is planning a slew of events to commemorate the anniversary of the visit

CADILLAC — Fifty years ago, Cadillac became the loudest small town in America, when heavy metal band KISS brought their black leather, platform boots and face paint to the high school’s homecoming.

In a weekend visit steeped in rock and roll history, the band visited Cadillac High School on Oct. 9, 1975, after learning its football team used their music to psych themselves up for games en route to a conference championship.

Like the band, the visit was a spectacle: KISS marched with the team, played a full concert in the high school gym, received the key to the city and roared off in a helicopter from Veterans Memorial Stadium, scattering leaflets reading “Cadillac, KISS Loves You.”

“It’s one of those moments people mark time by,” said Jim Neff, who was an assistant coach for the football team and wrote a letter to the band that prompted the visit

“They’ll say, ‘I was a junior when KISS was here,’ or, ‘My kids were at that concert, and you could hear it two miles away.’”

Now, 50 years later, Cadillac is cranking up the amps again. The KISS50 Cadillac Reunion began in August and culminates this weekend.

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Downtown is decorated with KISS banners and window displays, while a giant welcome banner greets visitors entering Cadillac West. The Wexford County Historical Society Museum has opened a special KISS50 exhibit packed with newspaper clippings, rare photos and artifacts donated by local fans.

Businesses are joining in, too — Clam Lake Beer Co. is pouring “Clam Lake Party Every Day Hazy IPA” and “Rock and Roll All Night Session Light,” The Sweet Shop is scooping a “Cadillac Rock City” ice cream flavor, and Wildflour Bakery is frosting KISS-shaped sugar cookies. Even Mackinaw Timbers Cabins has gotten in on the act with a full-on KISS-themed cabin.

Other celebrations include a KISS-themed drone show, a 5K run, a documentary, concert by a KISS tribute band and reunions and other events.

A member of the band KISS plays football with high schoolers wearing KISS makeup on their faces — KISS goofs off with Cadillac’s high school football team in October 1975. (Cadillac News archives)

“Cadillac has had this magical connection to KISS,” said Kathy Morin, executive director of the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau.

The group’s current and former members have been invited to the celebration and it would be “icing on the cake” if one of them showed up, Neff said.

That spirit, he says, is part of Cadillac’s DNA now.

When giving KISS tours around Cadillac, Neff said one stop always stands out — the high school gymnasium where the concert was held nearly 50 years ago. Once inside, he has visitors face where the stage once stood. He then asks them to close their eyes. That, he says, is when the magic happens.

“You can feel rock-and-roll history. You can go to Madison Square Garden and not get that feeling you get standing in the Cadillac High School gym,” Neff said, recalling the building shaking to KISS in ’75.

Neff said he wants a lasting memory for those who were there 50 years ago, as well as for those who weren’t.

“Ten years from now, I hope people will look back and say, ‘I was there for that,’” he said.