My Life With KISS

[phlemmy]

I first heard KISS in 1975 when one of my older brothers brought home DRESSED TO KILL. Before even hearing it, I asked, "Why do they look like evil clowns?" Anyway, this is where my life-long affection for heavy metal began...with KISS. It was only shortly thereafter that I head the first Black Sabbath album. Now follows my album by album review of the first band I loved.

KISS - 1974
Going back and listening to this album again after a few years, it still sounds fresh to me. There are only a few songs on here I never cared for: Firehouse, Kissin' Time, Let Me Know and The Love Theme From Kiss. For a debut album, this was a good one. KISS were pretty far ahead of the curve and were already smart with marketing. They were doing something new with the makeup and were just starting to take NYC by storm. I would say my favorite songs from this LP are Black Diamond and 100,000 Years and gotta love Strutter.
6/10

Hotter Than Hell - 1974
This one is in my top 3, if not my favorite album by them. Great album artwork, great songs, it had it all. Production was a tad lacking but it didn't hurt the balls of this album. Favorite songs are Goin' Blind, Mainline and Parasite and there are no real stinkers in the bunch.
9/10

Dressed to Kill - 1975
Again, my introduction to hard rock/metal. This album was pretty good but nowhere close to what Hotter Than Hell had going. I can remember sitting in my brother's room after school listening to it over and over. His original LP had a skip in it about halfway through Two Timer and to this day, it still sounds wrong when I hear it without the skip. The only song on there I don't like and really never did was Rock and Roll All Nite.
6/10

Destroyer - 1976
The KISS Army is growing by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to join. This is a great album beginning to end. Detroit Rock City and Shout It Out Loud are way played out, but for their time, they were definitive rock anthems. God of Thunder and King of the Night Time World are my faves. Ever hear the Wicked Lester version of God of Thunder with Paul singing? It's pretty cool. Beth was pretty wimpy but I had the 45 when I was a kid and having it made Cindy Clary from across the street want to be my girlfriend. hahaha
9/10

Rock and Roll Over - 1976
This is in my top 3 as well. Every song on it good although I could live without Baby Driver. I never cared much for Peter Criss' songs. My favorites would be I Want You and Ladies Room. This LP still gets heavy rotation in my player, always as.
9/10

Love Gun - 1977
This album never did that much for me but KISS were marketing geniuses by this point. It has some really good songs on it but for whatever reason, I only found it to be average. Stinkers: Got Love For Sale, Tomorrow and Tonight and Hooligan. Gems: I Stole Your Love, Shock Me, Christine Sixteen and Plaster Caster.
5/10

Dynasty - 1979
The album everyone loved to hate. No, it wasn't a great album and KISS probably was (posthumously) trying to get on the dance phase, but it still wasn't that bad overall. Their cover of 2,000 Man was awesome. Ace was showcasing his voice for sure. I always liked I Was Made for Loving You. Yes, it was different for them but it was catchy which was a trademark of theirs.
6/10

Unmasked - 1980
I remember reading interviews with KISS about this album coming out and how we were all going to see their faces finally. All of us fans were pretty stoked about that. Then it hit the streets and everyone was like "WTF?" Brilliant marketing once again by the masters. The album wasn't that good overall. Shandi, Tomorrow and Two Sides of the Coin are the standout tracks, and they aren't even that good.
4/10

Music from the Elder - 1981
Peter left? Who could ever replace such an average drummer? Enter Eric Carr. I know so many KISS "fans" who have never even heard this album. I have always liked it. Talk about progressive? This is KISS being progressive. Too bad it was such a miserable failure for them. It had some really good songs on it...World Without Heros (Gene cries in the video and Paul plays a great solo), I, Mr. Blackwell, Odyssey. I like the whole album, but it's so very different. By the way, nice hair, guys.
8/10

Creatures of the Night - 1982
This is such a fine album. War Machine, Saint and Sinner, Creatures of the Night, Killer. The weak track would be I Love It Loud, only because it got so played out on the radio.
8/10

Lick It Up - 1983
They lose the makeup and we find out why they wore it to start with. This is a pretty darned fine piece of music for KISS. They got heavier and still kept their trademark cheese factor in tact. Exciter, All Hell's Breaking Loose, Not for the Innocent and A Million to One are my faves. I even like the title track. Dance All Over Your Face is probably the worst song on here.
7.5/10

Animalize - 1984
I think I am one of the few people who liked this album beginning to end. Heaven's On Fire (awful video) and Lonely is the Hunter are my two faves.
9/10

Asylum - 1985
OK, here's where KISS really starts to lose it. I blame Kulick. Other then Tears are Falling an King of the Mountain, this album was pretty awful.
3.5/10

Crazy Nights - 1987
WTF? Hell or High Water is about the only song I can stomach from this one. It was just bad.
1/10

Hot In the Shade - 1989
Then it got worse. Forever was an OK song but this album just sucked.
1/10

Revenge - 1992
OK, let's wear a bunch of black leather and try to be a metal band. Sorry guys, it didn't work. Unholy was better than anything on the last few records, but it was just so blatantly contrived. The real metalheads saw right through it! haha. That being said, Domino is probably in my top 5 all-time favorite KISS songs. It's perfect.
4/10

I just couldn't be bothered with anything else after that one. I didn't review Alive or Alive II as I've never been a big fan of live albums. I don't have either one of those in my collection although I have thought of picking up Alive lately since it's got such a good set list.

[rickenbrother]

The first album by KISS that I heard was "Hotter Than Hell", shortly after it was released. I did become quite a KISS for a while. KISS was the headliner of the first concert that I ever went to back in '75, the opening act was Point Blank, followed by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band and then The J. Geils Band.
I lost interest in KISS a while after the Rock N Roll Over album was released. Everytime I was in a record store, I saw a bunch of little kids asking their parents to by them a KISS album.

I'm sure that "I Was Made for Loving You" made them a grip of money, but I hated it!!

After I heard the song Domino, shortly after it's release, I started finding an appreciation once again for the older KISS music that I loved so much in high school.

[nattiep]

My first two KISS records were Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun. My dad had burned me a cd with those two albumns on them. I listen to it constantly. I'm gonna put those on now actually.
Back to what I was saying. I love most KISS. Although some of the cheesey 80's stuff bugs me.
Music From The Elder is one of my favs. It's so.. not KISS. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's nice to hear a difference.

Sean, give Carnival Of Souls a shot. It's my second favorite KISS record. It's so heavy!

[wmthor]

I have some friends in Dallas that are such big KISS fans that they named their first-born, Ryan Frehley.

http://www.kissonline.com/kidsofkiss/2002/09/479

[marc61]

I grew up next door to the parents of Neil Bogart in Brooklyn. He signed Kiss to his label Casablanca records. I remember he needed his parents to help cosign for money to get the label started, after he gone gone bankrupt before with Buddah Records(1910 Fruitgum Co, The Brooklyn Bridge etc...). He had two acts he was high on. One was a female singer, whose sound created a new genre(Donna Summers and disco)...The other, some local boys, who dressed in leather and makeup were devastating crowds in lands as far away as Japan. Some considered them more of garage rock than metal(I did), and because of that, many people underrate their songwriting. I think I enjoy them now more than I did as a kid.

[phlemmy]

The unfortunate thing with KISS is that once the money really started rolling in, they started hiring musicians to record many parts of the albums for them. This started in the late 70s.

[headbanger]

Oh God.....Do I have to own up to liking Kiss?

Alright then.... I loved the sound Gene got but liking Kiss?

Yes I did. I musta been mad.

[admin]

Interesting comment regarding KISS and the studio musicians, Sean. For many groups it has often been the other way round as they couldn't play in the beginning.

[nattiep]

Yeah, KISS gets away with it all the time. Gene hardly ever plays bass on the albums. On his first solo album he played guitar. On a few of the records it's not even Ace playing the solos.

[phlemmy]

Interesting comment regarding KISS and the studio musicians, Sean. For many groups it has often been the other way round as they couldn't play in the beginning.

That process was HUGE in Los Angeles in the 80s. The guitarist I am playing with now made his living on recording for bands under non-disclosure contracts in the 80s and 90s.

[beatlefreak]

I first heard KISS in 1974, after the release of their debut album. Wow! - Whatta record! This album stands as one of my all time Rock and Roll classics. The original album was released without Kissin' Time (never cared for that one). The song was added to the reissued album in 1975 after KISS had their first hit with Rock and Roll all Nite. I continued liking KISS for the first four albums, but turned away from them after they sought a teeny bopper image.

I got to see KISS twice during that time. The first time was December 26th, 1974 at the Grand Rapids Civic Center. A thousand seat auditorium, KISS opened for REO Speedwagon, who'd just had a hit with Ridin' the Storm Out. This was KISS' Hotter Than Hell tour. Everyone was there to see REO, except for my friend and I, who went to see KISS. After they left the stage, my friend Dan and I went around to the side, to see if we could see them when they came out. Paul Stanley was the first out of his makeup, and he cam out and talked with the two of us for about half an hour - great guy. The second time I saw them, they were the headliner on their Dressed to Kill tour. we saw them in Muskegon on August 16, 1975.

Here for the first time, are some of the pictures I took at those concerts. I apologise for the quality of the photos. They were taken with a Kodak 110 Instamatic camera. First, a few from Grand Rapids:

[beatlefreak]

And here are some photos from Muskegon:

[beatlefreak]

and a few more from Muskegon:

[phlemmy]

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.

You need to send those to someone at kissonline.com

Those are total KISStory shots. Thanks for sharing.

[rickenbrother]

Cool pics, Kris! Thanks for sharing.