And at that pre-punk point in time, I was a pretty big KISS fan. I first saw them at the Bangor (Maine) Auditorium in 1976, part of their Alive double album tour I spent some pretty snappy Q/A time with Gene and Paul (sans makeup) after the gig. (Certainly, the original lineup with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss is the best-known and most fondly remembered.) Quite frankly, KISS never surpassed those first three LPS – KISS, Hotter Than Hell and Dressed to Kill – and, much like The Ramones, songs from that early batch were what the faithful really wanted to hear. “Obviously,” Stanley said, “subtlety is not in our vocabulary.”Īlthough they were eligible in 1994, KISS didn’t make it past the guard keepers and naysayers of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until a 2014 induction.Īrenas are where KISS lived and breathed (fire) for four-plus decades, which is not to say there weren’t some down years with smaller venues, different players in the band – look KISS is Paul and Gene + two others, plain and simple – and lesser albums to tour behind. After 25 years and 70 million albums, in the dictionary I would expect to see my picture next to `rock ‘n’ roll.’ ” (The Recording Industry Association of America put that figure at 75 million in 2017.) I think I walk the walk besides talking the talk. “What other watered-down, contrived agenda others may have, has no bearing on what I consider rock ‘n’ roll. “I can only define rock ‘n’ roll in my terms,” Stanley said. Me, playing devil’s advocate, asked, “Isn’t rock ‘n’ roll sometimes in a very sorry state?” 20 – and their song “I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock ‘n’ Roll” came up. Six years later, I was talking with Stanley – who turns 70 on Jan. Remember the big issue in KISSworld in 1979? Would the militant KISS Army accept KISS’s “disco” entry, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”? The answer was Yes! There were some grumbles – I mean, disco still sucked and all – but KISS doing it? OK! Enjoying KISS, I wrote then – as a 36-year-old man – requires a certain leap of taste – an appreciation of Spinal Tap and an embrace of hoary old rock cliches. KISS: the wicked, nasty-minded Peter Pans – or Dorian Grays – of rock of hard rock. KISS sheds maturing fans, and picks up young ones who haven’t yet seen the circus, and, for whom, KISS reigns as shock rock godfathers. And they’ve had to have marketed and sold more merch than any band in history, save The Beatles – from coffee mugs to coffins. They’ve re-worked one decade’s pop/hard rock staples and resold them to the next generation. Some bands, such as The Who and The Kinks, grew up with their audiences KISS has maintained the exact same image (despite this no-makeup phase) and song-writing perspective: Life’s a party - partake. In my review for the Boston Globe, I noted, of that song and intro, “Isn’t it nice that in this ever-changing world in which we live in, some basic values remain?” (This was slightly tongue-in-cheek. “This song is about titty bars,” is how singer-guitarist Paul Stanley introduced it, in case anyone might miss the thrust of what was about to come at them. Sample verse: “T ake it off, give it to me/Take it off, like you’d do me/I wanna see what’s inside / ‘Cause, you got nothin’ to hide.” I have no doubt it was marketed as the former.Īt any rate, KISS had roared through “Love Gun,” “Parasite,” “Strutter” and “100,000 Years” and now it was time for “Take It Off.” It’s not a complex song. Arena bands did this sometimes – David Bowie would do same four years later – but I can’t tell you if this was a special-up-close-treat-for-the-fans or an I-don’t-think-we-can-sell-out-an-arena-right-now situation. Their usual workplace in my part of the woods was the Boston Garden, but this gig was at the 1500-capacity Avalon Ballroom. It was 1992, and KISS was in the midst of a no-makeup, large club tour. Paul Stanley poster from his 1978 solo debut (Image: Casablanca Records)
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