God Gave Rock and Roll to You

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" is a 1973 song by the British band Argent and covered by Kiss 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, known for his Christianity.

Record World said that "'Hold Your Head Up' established British contingent as a potent singles selling act, but this Russ Ballard song will make them giants."

The song reached No. 18 in the United Kingdom, and No. 114 in the United States. "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You" was originally written and composed by Russ Ballard for his band, Argent. The band released it first in their 1973 album, In Deep. Petra released it in 1977 as part of their second album, Come and Join Us. There's also a brief reprise of the song featured as the last song in the album.

Although Ballard is credited, Petra's version features completely different verses with a more spiritual angle than the Argent version. Wes Yoder, president of Ambassador Artist Agency said about the song: "It was the boldest statement anyone in Christian music had made until that time ... This was a radical notion, especially in the minds of the leaders of conservative churches."

Petra recorded the song again in 1985 for their seventh album, Beat the System. An abridged version of the song was also part of Petra's live set featured in the album Captured in Time and Space, which was released in 1986. It features only the chorus and the closing part of the song, without any of the verses. As opposed to the full versions of the song, this one lasts barely over a minute.

Personnel

 * Russ Ballard – electric and acoustic guitar, lead vocals
 * Jim Rodford – bass, backing vocals
 * Rod Argent – organ, backing vocals, piano, electric piano, Mellotron
 * Bob Henrit – drums, percussion

Petra
"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" was covered, by American Christian rock band Petra for their 1977 album Come and Join Us and their 1984 album Beat the System. Bob Hartman wrote different verse lyrics to give it a spiritual dimension.

Kiss
American hard rock band Kiss covered the song in 1991 as "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II" for the soundtrack to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. The track was released as a single in 1991 and appeared on the band's 1992 album Revenge.

Though the power ballad covered the original Argent 1973 version "God Gave Rock and Roll to You", it had barely 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 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 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. This also marked his final video appearance with the band. He had lost all his hair from his chemotherapy treatments and wore a wig during the video shoot. The drum tracks were recorded by Eric Singer, who would become Kiss' full-time drummer following Carr's death. Singer also makes his recording debut with the band on this song.

The single was also the first to feature Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley sharing lead vocals since "I" from 1981's Music from "The Elder".

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 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. 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 albums Revenge in 1992 and in a live version on Alive III, released in 1993.

Charts
Weekly charts

Year-end charts