Just spinning my old DYNASTY vinyl lp when I read a Kiss throwaway reference in another thread. Almost fell off my chair in light of the coincidince.
Must admit, apart from the odd cringe inducing lyric and Peter Criss’ WOEFULLY subpar contribution (good heavens, did that guy actually have to stop using cocaine for all of twenty minutes to come up with that abortion) the album holds up particularly well in my opinion.
I actually really like their ‘disco pop’ period (late 70s early 80s) - with I was Made For Loving You being possibly the only disco tune ever that get me on a dance floor and I don’t care how geeky that sounds. Kiss Unmasked was almost as good and I must be one of only ten people in the world who admits to owning a copy of Music From The Elder and really enjoying it (people under the age of 25 here will have NO clue as to what I am talking about).
Do not care one iota for their post make up material - it makes me ill - but the majority of their output still has me reliving the 70s and fond memories.
I’d rate their (make up) albums as:
KISS xxx 1/2
Hotter Than Hell xxxx
Dressed To Kill xx
Destroyer xxxx
Rock N Roll Over xx
Love Gun xxx
Dynasty xxx
Unmasked xxx
Music From The Elder xxx 1/2
Creatures Of The Night xxx
Any takers / naysayers?? There must be some other fans here apart from myself.
I was lucky enough to see Kiss in Auckland, New Zealand around 80-81 @ Western Springs Raceway I believe when I was about 5. I remember my brother and I even had the face paint on. The show was spectacular and the one thing I remember was fireworks going off behind Gene as he flew threw the air slappin the bass and spitting blood.
It was a big event as hardly anyone really toured New Zealand so we were pretty lucky.
As for their music…well I don’t have any of their records but would happily purchase the records if I ever come across any in the charity shops.
As for Disco…there was actually alot of killer obscure Disco records released on 12" back in the day that are now seeing reissues and edits. These are not in any way cheesy and happen to be some of the best 12"s I’ve bought over the last year actually. An example is the amazing Combi series…my fav of those is the Keep A Burning/Stone Water 12"…that is fucking killer stuff! Listen to the songs and other Combi edits on their myspace below…
God of Thunder and I Love It Loud are the only Kiss songs I care about.
Of course, I loved them in the '70s, but I was in early single digits back then.
KISS was the first concert i ever saw. it was in memphis on the DYNASTY tour. Unmasked and later is atrocious. but the first albums are great. i think their best album is KISS ALIVE 1. to me, ace frehley was god. i was 9.
Going Blind. What a fucking great song. [:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]
People tend to forget (and it’s not hard to see why - what with the sugar pop corporate fiasco they later became) that in the beginning, in the very beginning, they were fucken badass.
I remember an interview with Dee Dee Ramone where he talked about meeting them in 76 when the Ramones (the two bands have more in common than you remember) were just starting out and stating that everyone in the room was afraid of them. He said they were as hard and as street tough as they come and apparently took no shit…from anyone. To even look at them improperly risked a serious smack to the head - from Gene and Paul in particular, the other two were generally coked off their brain or stoned stupid. He said they were just fucken scary dudes with scary attitudes.
So yeah. And yes E.D, Going Blind is awesome indeed. As is the entire Hotter Than Hell album. Seriously recommended.
I think they started to lose it bad after Ace Frehley left. They totally lost what vibe they had - soon to became another in a long line of faceless 80s poodle rock acts which I find really sad.
To even look at them improperly risked a serious smack to the head - from Gene and Paul in particular, the other two were generally coked off their brain or stoned stupid. He said they were just fucken scary dudes with scary attitudes.
And by the early '90s Al was barring Gene Simmons from visiting Ministry backstage. The badass torch was passed. Those were the “Don’t fuck with Buck, 'cause Buck will fuck you up days.”
Got no idea who’s got it now. It ain’t Al anymore.
God of Thunder rules. I’m going to see them just to see what the fuss is about. I suspect I’ll enjoy the spectacle, but I’m not into the music too much.
And by the early '90s Al was barring Gene Simmons from visiting Ministry backstage.
Wow?
I guess Al was scared stiff to meet him.
Gene played bass a few times for Melvins. Would loved to have caught those shows. Would’ve been awesome if Gene was in full Kiss get up when he played for the Melvins hahahahahaha!!!
They’re new cd just came out last week… one of those walmart exclusives… sales are so low on cds that it WAS going to be # 1 then some guy (i think michael buble) pushed up his release to friday due to a internet leak and stole the # 1 and they got # 2 on billboard. Normally wouldn’t be much worth mentioning but i’m glad they didn’t get it so gene didn’t get the chance to go off on the news and all over about how kiss is still making #1 albums 30 years in…
Personally i like the cheasier kiss songs, I was made for loving you, lick it up, love gun, etc. They’re a novelty and when you go for the novelty you go ball deep.
Peligro, I didn’t know that side to them existed. It’s sort of weird how they’ve let themselves become so corporatised to the extent of effacing that element of themselves… I mean, Lemmy is arguably almost as ‘corporatised’, yet he still maintains the ‘bad mofo’ image. My guess is as good as anyone’s with regards to how that works.
Toot, I’m amazed you haven’t heard the original. The vocal delivery makes me laugh every time I hear it. Yeah, Hotter than Hell is a good album, but I still believe there were many ‘so silly it’s good’ elements to it, which has been Kiss’ main selling point. That’s not a bad thing by any means… but any other bands trying to pull this off have failed miserably.
Perhaps they get away with it because… well, they’ve got that badass element. I mean, who would fuck with the school bully if he made a dumb joke or laughed at something stupid?
I would’ve given my left nut to see Gene Simmons play with the Melvins… what an awesomely cool guy.
Kiss, …where to begin. Love them or hate them, they were certainly influential.
Hotter than Hell is one of the best rock albums of all time. From start to finish, it has a vibe that is truly authentic. (Check out Dinosaur Jr’s Goin Blind Cover)From there they lost focus and started to get pulled in different directions. They still had their moments, but never had an album from start to finish like HtH.
Ace’s new album is surprisingly decent and got a strong review on allmusic.com. I always thought Ace gave them an edge they never replaced.
On a side note from Ministry. The Kiss tribute album that came out in 1994 had a list of bands in it that got cut due to label constraints. Ministry was on that list. I was always curious as to what songs Al and Co. were planning to cover. Just think of a mid nineties Ministry covering God of Thunder or Deuce!
Music doesn’t always have to be artsy and intellectual for me to sit up and take notice. Sometimes I like my music dumb. Kiss fill that little spot quite nicely.
Apart from those rather crass and vapid solo ventures in '78, I’d say their entire 70s output holds up fairly well - especially the first two albums, which remind me of a more Sabbathy New York Dolls.
If anything, they were guilty of listening to too many outside influences and following trends rather than their instincts. Particularly dire was the late '80s run of poodle rock Bon Jovi sound alike crap. Those albums were pedestrian at best and at worst insulting to their fans. Often wonder if behind closed doors they were hanging their heads in shame.
Ministry were to cover God Of Thunder, which would have been embarassing since White Zombie covered it 7 years prior. Oops!
Decent cover though.
And I like early Kiss too. I think “Parasite” is really underrated…
NIN was going to do a “super gay” (Trent’s description) cover of Love Gun for that album, but regrettably they never did.
I think my big problem with Kiss is that, unlike their direct predecessor Alice Cooper, they’re all surface. There’s nothing beneath the flashpots and makeup and blood-spitting. Alice was writing songs that were actually ABOUT stuff, his music matched his image, and (particularly when he had the original band) the songs had ambitious and sometimes complex arrangements in addition to the straight up rockers. Alice Cooper is a band with a gimmick, but Kiss is a gimmick with a band.
KISS are great to see live. The recent Alive 35 tour was fun both times I saw it. The fans are really into it too, everyone knew every word to every song and was singing along.
Their first few albums were quite good. I even sort of like Revenge a bit too. It has it’s moments.