Kiss is so awful

#21
I LOVED KISS up until the solo albums .. which were ok (Ace Frehleys being the best BY FAR.) They were the first band I went berserk over ... had the lunch box, belt buckle, etc.

Those first 6 studio albums and 2 double live albums were the shiznit. I still regularly spin Dressed to Kill & Hotter than Hell. And yea, Destroyer was the pinnacle of their bad-a$$ness.
 
#23
So the players in contemporaneous groups like say, Heart or BOC or Skynyrd or Nazareth or insert name here could and did on a regular basis lay down tracks on record that the guys from Kiss were incapable of?
Or does it make more sense to think that unlike other groups, they made themselves a target with the make-up and people who didn't care for this automatically slagged their playing also?
 
  • Like
Reactions: blue4
#25
Killer Canary said:
So the players in contemporaneous groups like say, Heart or BOC or Skynyrd or Nazareth or insert name here could and did on a regular basis lay down tracks on record that the guys from Kiss were incapable of?
Or does it make more sense to think that unlike other groups, they made themselves a target with the make-up and people who didn't care for this automatically slagged their playing also?
Click to expand...
Well, they had the talent for sure, but almost all of the guys I grew up with hated them for the makeup and costumes, they thought it was way over the top....but a funny thing happened, though. I insisted they see them live and their attitudes changed exponentially. All of a sudden it was a great idea and they were 'the best"...they were an entirely different animal on stage, way ahead of anyone else back then, just raw and powerful with theatrics that simply blew you away. For their time, they were awesome :)
 
#27
Killer Canary said:
So the players in contemporaneous groups like say, Heart or BOC or Skynyrd or Nazareth or insert name here could and did on a regular basis lay down tracks on record that the guys from Kiss were incapable of?
Or does it make more sense to think that unlike other groups, they made themselves a target with the make-up and people who didn't care for this automatically slagged their playing also?
Click to expand...


The word is "shtick".

I never got into KISS because that whole makeup and costumes and stage props and tongue flailing didn't interest me. Still, can appreciate the value their fans derive from such theatrics. They are renowned for putting on a live show that is a night to remember and that is worth something.

I know that Rush toured with them (opening act for KISS as headline) and Rush said they learned a lot from the experience. As far as I'm concerned, if Rush is impressed with a band, then who am I to criticize?
 
  • Like
Reactions: blue4, dragon2knight and Killer Canary
#32
I remember when Kiss first came out, it was CRAZY (in a GREAT way) just how overwhelmingly awesome they were. The entire country and various parts of the world were so SO
into Kiss-Mania!!!! There were parades, entire towns, schools, districts, etc. dressing up like Kiss, the band getting the keys to various cities, it was incredible, INCREDIBLE to be a part of and to live it. You wanted desperately to be a part of the Kiss Army! The only thing I can compare it to is Beatle-mania.

Marvel comics came out with a special Kiss vs. Doctor Doom issue, where vials of their blood was mixed in with the ink of the comic (I still have mine somewhere). Don't confuse this with the crappy "Kiss and The Phantom of The Park" junk that came out later in their career.
ALmost EVERYONE wanted to be part of Kiss!

Then, the tide turned, and it became very UN-cool to like Kiss. If you liked Kiss, you were a dork, a loser. It became "silly" to like Kiss.
That's when they changed. Changed their sound, their music, toyed for a long time about removing the make-up, finally DID remove the make-up.
It was definitely a low-point for Kiss. But, they hung on, kept doing their thing, whatever that meant, including line-up changes.

And here we are, so many years later, where Kiss because cool again, and a band people really want to see and experience first hand.

I'm not saying EVERYONE loved them. But, there were DEFINITELY a force to be reckoned with and a game changer in regards to the music industry.
If you didn't live through that time, it would be hard to really get just how big they were as they sped to the top, and also just as big it was for them
to slowly go down to the bottom, to then rise again.

I'm not at all sure how many of their current fans are simply old fans, like me, and how many new fans they have.
 
#35
I saw them in Omaha, Ne during the Destroyer tour. Omaha, being centrally located, had a ton of great concerts. I saw things happen at KISS that never happened for another band.

There was a bigger than usual crowd waiting for the doors to open, and one of the doors got pried open leading to the folks inside to just open them all. The crowd packed in so tight between the doors and the turnstiles that we could pick up our feet and not fall to the floor. One of my buddies looked like he was going to pass out. Dude was beet red. Then, a few of the turnstiles literally gave away and we all fell forward.

As soon as we got to the main hallway, I headed for the can because I had three glass test tubes full of weed in my socks and one shattered. Lesson learned. What a dumb kid I was. Never smuggle weed in a glass test tube in your sock. Plastic cigar tube down the pants is much safer.

Ah, the '70s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dragon2knight and Killed_by_Death
#37
Super_Freak said:
I've never seen KISS in full regalia.
Click to expand...

Shannon Tweed still has a bunch of family in my city so they still come regularly. I have never seen original lineup though, sadly.

I went a few years ago for Sonic Boom. I knew Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer were in the band going into the show. I remember seeing a group of girls dressed up as the band, they were the original lineup, and I thought "do those girls even realize half those guys aren't even in the band?"

You have no idea how shocked I was when I found out the Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer were actually playing Ace Frehley and Peter Criss that night. I was so confused, they did really good jobs of pretending to be the real guys. Tommy even sang Shock Me and shot down a freakin' lighting pot.

I love KISS so I wouldn't complain listening to the whole catalog, including Music from the Elder and the grunge album. In my last band we used to cover KISS and told the crowd if anybody could produce a KISS army membership card we would provide them with a free album.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Killed_by_Death
#38
I saw those chicks too!
There was a really hammered up lady in the row behind me resting her arm on the top of my head.
My wife caught a pick with her hair and we almost got mauled over it.
We got doused with that paper ribbon stuff at the end.
Nothing even remotely like any of this happened at the Seger concert!
Did you pick up one of the concert CDs?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DiabolusInMusic
#40
Killer Canary said:
I saw those chicks too!
There was a really hammered up lady in the row behind me resting her arm on the top of my head.
My wife caught a pick with her hair and we almost got mauled over it.
We got doused with that paper ribbon stuff at the end.
Nothing even remotely like any of this happened at the Seger concert!
Did you pick up one of the concert CDs?
Click to expand...

No, I have given Gene enough money so I didn't even check out the merch table. I'm not a big fan of him as a person, he embodies the old adage "don't meet your heroes."
 
  • Like
Reactions: catcauphonic
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back