And yeah, who can name even three songs from KISS done in the last 30 years? Bueller? Bueller?
I bought the Crazy Nights cassette back in 1987 when I was 13. I still remember a few of the “half decent” tracks. But most of it was bubble gum glam poodle rock nonsense. Even the 13 year old me listened, rolled his eyes and went back to looking at boobies.
Everything that needs to be said about this has already been said about this, so I won’t sit here for the next 30 or so minutes, racking my brains to come up with something insightful and witty.
Kiss did all the hard yards in the early seventies, to win over a loyal fanbase. They came up with a gimmick which effectively took everything that had happened in rock’n’roll up to that point into the stratosphere. Good luck to them. If they hadn’t done it somebody else would have.
Yes rock’n’roll is a business and yes the aim of any business is to make money. And Kiss are THE American success story - the epitome of a capitalist idea put into practice - give the people what they want and charge them for it. I’ll be as successful as I want to be, so fuck you, Commie" says Gene Simmons. And I respect that. However…HOWEVER…just think how boring the rock world would be if artists didn’t get out there to push their art. To challenge themselves. To challenge the audience. To push conventional boundaries. To take existing ideas and expand upon them. To turn music on its head. Tear it down and build it back up again.
If all artists out there thought like ol’ Gene we’d perpetually be living in 1988. We’d be Livin’ On A Prayer and having Nothin’ But A Good Time. For ever. And ever. And ever. There would be no progress. Nothing to challenge. No new ideas. Anybody with anything intelligent or articulate to say would be silenced as being “unfashionable whingers”. There’s be no post punk. There’d be no be art rock. There’d be no Japanoise. There’d be no Throbbing Gristle. Those things don’t exist purely to make money. Yes, it’s still a business and yes at some point these guys have got to earn a living. But what was their original motive? Surely it wasn’t fame and fortune. Why did they do what they did? And how much more interesting was modern music because of their genre pushing and boundary smashing?
Not everybody wants to be Donald Trump, Mr Simmons. Maybe some artists out there want more in life than waking up next to a playboy model and a Rolls Royce parked in the driveway. The Eddie Vedders, the Blixa Bargelds, the Patti Smiths, the Brian Enos and the Thurston Moores of this world may actually have something to say, if not something to prove. Art for art’s sake and fuck yr principles. We’ll die for this shit. It’s in our blood.
Anyway, the 40 year old me is done here. Now going back to looking at boobies.
Crazy Nights
God Gave Rock And Roll To You II
Lick It Up
I WIN.
Crap! I failed to stack the deck properly. Instead of “in the last 30 years” I meant to say, “AFTER 1983” (as I had actually looked up “Lick it Up” to see that is was from '83.
“Heaven’s on Fire” was '84, so someone could have played that card too.
But yeah . . . you win.
Level EXPERT would be to name 3 KISS songs from the last TWENTY years (no, even I don’t have an answer for this one).
I’m not sure I could name 3 KISS ALBUMS from the last 20 years.
Psycho Circus
Sonic Boom
Yeah, that’s all I got.
i reviewed their last album for a website i write for… and i dont think it was Sonic Boom. i think it was a different one, but i cant remember the name. i just remember thinking it sucked. pretty hard. though i was never really a KISS fan…
[reply]
i think it was a different one, but i cant remember the name.
They did one in 2012, apparently, called MONSTER. I bet it was a monster turd.[/reply]
THERE we go.
and yes, it was ass. of course i tried to be a little nicer about it in the review… but whenever you read a review and the phrase (or some turn of it) ‘if you like _____ then this is probably exactly what you had hoped for’ is used… you can usually tell its a backhanded dismissal. haha.
Level EXPERT would be to name 3 KISS songs from the last TWENTY years (no, even I don’t have an answer for this one).
Nope. Couldn’t do it.
I was born in 1970. I was a huge Kiss fan from 1980 to 1982. Then I just…forgot about them. Literally forgot about them. One day, back in the late 80’s, I’m watching some hair metal shit-fest on late night tv. There’s nothing else on. From out of nowhere they play the latest Kiss video. Sans make up.
“Wait. Kiss took off their make up? When? When did this happen? They’re still around? Making video clips? They sound like fucking Bon Jovi? This is awful? How come I don’t know about this shit???”
Nope. The last Kiss album I listened to was Music From The Elder. Remember that one? That’s the one where they had this bizarre Masters Of The Universe meets Excalibur thing going. Back in 1981 that kind of shit was “the bomb”. You had fantasy films coming out the proverbial kazoo. It should have been huge. Except nobody bought it.
Strange. Probably their management’s idea.
About 5 or 6 years ago I went and revisited Kiss. Bought everything from the self titled right up to Love Gun on cd. Man, that shit was great. I remembered what drew me in to start with. It was like going through a second childhood.
Good times.
On a side note: before our divorce 2 years ago, when my wife and I were going through hard times, after an argument I would go into the study room and blast Kiss throughout the whole house. My ex HATED kiss. She especially hated that track Going Blind - the one that the Melvins later covered. She thought the lyrics were creepy, as though sung by a pervert.
I was a huge Kiss fan from 1980 to 1982. Then I just…forgot about them. Literally forgot about them. One day, back in the late 80’s, I’m watching some hair metal shit-fest on late night tv. There’s nothing else on. From out of nowhere they play the latest Kiss video. Sans make up.
I remember that video, it was the late 80’s and said video had gene simmons and some other kiss dude putting on makeup at the beginning of the video talking about how the fans would hate them if they took the makeup off… so then cut to the video and they’re playing without the make up and the fans are still there
I think the song was acoustic too, the only thing else I can remember is I hated that song.
Late,
grmpysmrf
No that wasn’t it. I meant that I finally saw them without make up. But apparently they had been without make up for years.
I think the song was - Let’s Put The X Into Sex.
Yeah…it was a howler.
Oh you meant an interview! Yeah my first exposure to KISS was as a little kid and I was warned to stay away from their music and their fans because they were Knights In Satan’s Service. So as an impressionable 5 or 6 year old I stayed away. I never actually heard a song of theirs until the late 80’s and I saw the song I had described above. I still really only know only a couple of their hits. I’m not familiar with much of their work at all. and seeing as how the first song I heard of theirs was the crappy “Look we’re not wearing makeup and the fans still like us” song I never bothered to seek them out.
Late,
grmpysmrf