'Smokin' in the Boys' Room' Rocker Dead

D E T R O I T, July 5 -- Michael “Cub” Koda, the singer and songwriterbehind the 1970s hit “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” and the guitarist once described by author Stephen King as “America’s greatest houserocker,” died Saturday.

Koda, 51, died about 2:45 a.m. of complications from kidneydialysis at Chelsea Community Hospital, said John Mitchell Sr. ofChelsea’s Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, which is handlingarrangements.

Born in 1948 in Detroit and reared listening to jazz, Koda beganplaying drums at age 5 and took up guitar nine years later beforeplaying in a high school band called the Del Tinos.

Rock ’n’ Roll College

Coda attended Northern Michigan University in 1968, but droppedout after a year, his father, George Koda, said Saturday.

“He says, ‘Dad, I can’t be a rock ’n’ roll star and go to college,’” his father said.

Borrowing his nickname from the character “Cubby” ontelevision’s Mickey Mouse Club, Koda in 1969 formed BrownsvilleStation and wrote “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room,” which in 1973 roseto No. 3 on Billboard magazine’s charts and sold more than 2million copies.

“He wrote it when he was in high school,” his father said.“He said, ‘All kids are smokin’ in the boys’ room. We all did it.’So he wrote a song about it.”

Brownsville Station disbanded in 1979, six years before“Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” was revived by heavy metal bandMotley Crue.

“He made more money off Motley Crue that he did off BrownsvilleStation,” George Koda said.

Never Tired of Hit

In later years, Koda said he never grew weary of playing thesong, joking that “people would kill me if I didn’t.”

“Let’s just say if you could write a song that made peoplehappy when you played it, you’d be playing it, too,” Koda told theDetroit Free Press in 1995.