Rock School
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Rock School

Rock School (also known as Gene Simmons' Rock School) is a British reality television series starring Gene Simmons from the rock band Kiss, in which he has a short time to turn a class of schoolchildren into a fully fledged rock band, following which they had to perform in a supporting slot for a leading rock band.

Rock School was made by British production company RDF Media and was shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, RTL 7 in the Netherlands, Channel Ten and Channel V in Australia, TVNZ 2 in New Zealand, VH1 in the United States and Latin America, TV 2 Zebra in Norway, Nelonen in Finland, TV4 in Sweden, Much Music in Canada, Vitaya in Belgium and ORF eins in Austria.

A comedy film with a similar theme, starring Jack Black, called School of Rock, was released in 2003, before the first series began. The creative team and Simmons insisted that they did not make the show because of the film, and that the show had been in the works since 2002.

The first series was broadcast in the autumn of 2005 and took place at Christ's Hospital, a co-educational boarding school near Horsham, West Sussex, which is famous for its strong musical tradition. The chosen class of year 9 students were all classically trained and it was insinuated that they had no interest in rock music.

The band consisted of Josh (also known as "The Emperor") as lead singer, Dudley ("Dudders") as drummer, Jesse ("Bagpuss") as guitarist, Kwamé ("Mr. Cool") on keyboards and bassist Camilla (who refused to have a "rock name"). Stylists were Fiona ("FiFi") and Frances ("Francis"), while the stage managers were Lucien and Richard ("Mr White"). On 21 October, the manager, Rodney ("Rods"), revealed the band's name to be "The Class". After a difficult start, the band successfully played to a crowd of Motörhead fans at the Hammersmith Apollo, and in the final episode of the series The Class got an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles, where all the members came together to perform a special tribute of "God gave rock 'n roll to you" for Simmons in a local venue.

The highlight of the programme was arguably Josh, "Emperor", so-called because of his love of the game Warhammer. The 13-year-old sparked plenty of controversy among his classmates as his weird antics made him an outsider. A fluent speaker of Quenya and learning Klingon by the end of the series, Josh was completely tone-deaf but was chosen by Simmons for his determination and perseverance. Simmons confessed that he saw something of himself in Josh, as he had faced similar adversity as an outsider when growing up in New York City. Completely transformed by the experience, Josh saw himself as a rock god by the end of filming and had even grown his hair in homage to Queen guitarist Brian May; however, this new persona irritated his classmates, who thought his arrogance had got the better of him.

Following strong international sales for the first series, a second series began filming in October 2005 at Kirkley Community High School in Lowestoft, Suffolk (now East Point Academy) and began airing on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 January 2006. A new twist to this series was that instead of classically trained musicians, Simmons was working with students from a comprehensive school. Unlike the first series the pupils were from year 11 rather than year 9. Their task at the end of the series would be to open for Judas Priest, Rob Zombie, and Anthrax in Long Beach.

In the first episode we meet Chris Hardman, also known as "Lil' Chris" (due to his diminutive stature), who can sing, play guitar, drum, and write songs. At the end of the first episode he goes on holiday with his family, causing Simmons to appoint Ellie Chapman as the replacement vocalist. The band, then "No Coment" and consisting of Ellie Chapman (vocals), Samanie Warren-Close (guitar), Lindsey Rose (bass), Jess Reid (keyboards) and Sammi Reeve (drums) spend the second episode preparing for their first gig, where they played to an audience of predominantly old age pensioners at a local bowls club, as well as worrying about their positions in the band upon Chris's return. Episode two also features Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who was brought in by Simmons to inspire the group.

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