Detective was an American/English rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 that toured and recorded in the late 1970s. Detective consisted of vocalist Michael Des Barres

Michael Des Barres

Lord Michael Philip Des Barres is a British actor and rock singer. He is known for playing the recurring role of Murdoc on the television show MacGyver and for replacing the late Robert Palmer in the band Power Station, fronting the band at the 1985 Live Aid concert...

, guitarist Michael Monarch

Michael Monarch

Michael Monarch is an American guitarist. He is best known for his work with the band Steppenwolf....

, bassist Bobby Pickett, ex-Yes

Yes (band)

Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

 organist Tony Kaye

Tony Kaye (musician)

Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...

, and drummer Jon Hyde

Jon Hyde

Jon Hyde was the singer for the early 1970s group Hocus Pocuswho had one album on Romar Records in the early 1970s, featuring former Stooges keyboard player Scott Thurston, former Yellow Payges drummer Danny Gorman,and former Steppenwolf guitarist Michael Monarch. They played the Hollywood clubs...

. The band released two albums, Detective (produced by the band, Andy Johns

Andy Johns

Andy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....

 and Jimmy Robinson) and It Takes One to Know One in 1977, as well as Live From The Atlantic Studios, a promotional LP recorded only for radio broadcast, in 1978.

In support of their second album, "It Takes One To Know One," Detective went on the road with Kiss

KISS (band)

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...

 as their supporting act. Kiss liked Detective so much that they actually considered recording one of their songs, "Ain't None Of Your Business", with Peter Criss

Peter Criss

George Peter John Criscuola , better known as Peter Criss, is an American drummer and singer, best known as the original drummer for the rock band Kiss...

 on lead vocals. While the song never made it onto a Kiss album, they did perform it live several times.

Detective did go into the studio in 1978 with producer, Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.- Early years :Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew...

, to record their third album. While their first two albums were on Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

's Swan Song label, Atlantic Records took over the band for their third release. Atlantic wanted a hit single from the band. Dowd brought in a song from a then unknown singer-songwriter named John Cougar, "I Need a Lover

I Need a Lover

"I Need a Lover" is a rock song written and performed by John Mellencamp under the stage name John Cougar. It first appeared on his 1978 album A Biography, which was not released in the United States....

". According to Monarch, they really didn't want to record it, but they did. It remains unreleased to this day along with a couple of other original songs. Monarch went on to say that the members of Detective were moving in different directions and the group decided to disband.

The band appeared on episode 104 of WKRP in Cincinnati

WKRP in Cincinnati

WKRP in Cincinnati is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta...

 as the fictional hoodlum rock group Scum of the Earth.

Their record label was Swan Song Records

Swan Song Records

Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels...

.

Discography

• Detective (Swan Song Records
  Swan Song Records
  Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels...
  
  , 1977) U.S. #135
• It Takes One to Know One (Swan Song, 1978) U.S. #103
• Live from the Atlantic Studios (1978)