Songfacts®:

• The Stooges split up in early 1974 and stayed that way until their 2003 reunion. In the summer of 1975, guitarist James Williamson and lead singer Iggy Pop got back together to work on some songs, which became the Kill City album. They stopped production when they ran out of money, but in 1977 they completed the album when the Bomp! label agreed to release it (by this point, Pop had established a successful solo career).
  
  In a Songfacts interview with Williamson, he explained: "'Kill City' was written as the last song to the group of songs we would record as the album Kill City. Ben Edmonds, who had been instrumental in arranging Jimmy Webb's home studio to record in, felt like we were missing a hook song to round out the material we had come up with. The riff for 'Kill City' just came to me one day, and was just barely written when we went into the studio. Turned out to be the pivotal track and title track."
• Where is Kill City? The Stooges stomping ground of Detroit is a candidate, but it's more likely referring to Los Angeles, where the album was recorded. This jibes with "where the debris meets the sea" and "It's a playground to the rich but it's a loaded gun to me" (Detroit isn't exactly a fun park for the wealthy).
  
  The song is about the many temptations Los Angeles has to offer, especially when you're famous and have a few dollars. It's all great fun until you wind up in some bathroom, overdosed and on your knees.
• James Williamson had to retrieve Iggy Pop from rehab to record his tracks. "I did the vocals on weekend leave from the psych unit," he told the New Musical Express in 1986. "I was in screaming mental pain when I did it."