"You wanted the best, and you got it"

[AnotherUTFan 9954]

the hottest band in the land!

KISS appreciation thread.

Ya, we all hate what they became, but that was an unbelievable run of Rock and Roll records in the '70's a with a few more gems trickling out through the 80's.

There are a handful of records that put a AUTF on the Rocker road at a very young age and KISS Alive! is right there among them. This shit still pumps me up today as much as it did when I was 7.

 

"Get up, and get your grandma outta here!"

 

Peter Chris sings an all time classic. "Out on the streets for a livin''"

 

 

  From the Wicked Lester Days - "I'm 93, you're 16"

 

Me too

 

"My parents think I'm crazy and they hate the things I do
I'm stupid and I'm lazy, man, if they only knew"

 

"And even though I'm full of sin
In the end you'll let me in"

 

Ace gets one! I fucking love Ace Frehley.

 

New drummer, end of an era.

 

[jimmyjazz 46979]

I was WAY into KISS as a kid.  I started to outgrow them in high school, but there is no denying the hooks in a bunch of those songs.  

Not great players, but Paul Stanley has a major league rock voice. 

Gene Simmons is a choad's choad.

A friend of mine plays drums for Ace and it's like his dream gig.  Every once in awhile Gene or Paul shows up.

[Cheeseweasel 26439]

I remember buying "Love Gun" in 1977 and it had a paper "pop" gun with it. If you were a male in the mid/late 70's you liked Kiss. 

[AnotherUTFan 9954]

Ya, Ace is a limited player as far as most guitar gods go, but people over look that his bends a always spot on and he has a awesome vibrato, two things that are hard to learn.

How many other Rock Bands do all the members sing and write?

 

Agreed, Gene Simmons is probably the biggest choad in Rock and Roll. Maybe him and John Mayer.

[AnotherUTFan 9954]

4 minutes ago, Cheeseweasel said:

I remember buying "Love Gun" in 1977 and it had a paper "pop" gun with it. If you were a male in the mid/late 70's you liked Kiss. 

I have a reissue of that album and it sucks because the gun is inside and the instructions tell you how to fold it and where lo lick the gummed side so it will stick, but they didn't put the gum stuff on the cutout so you cant make it.

[bamachine 1231]

Did not get to see them until about 15 years ago, on their neverending farewell tour. It was Saliva opening for Aerosmith and KISS(co-headlining, switching who went last at each venue). After Saliva and KISS, sounded like Aerosmith was playing through a little 50 watt amp. It was in Atlanta at Lakewood Amphitheatre and it rained like a monsoon during the whole event. Never been so soaked in my life.  Still, I finally got to see KISS in concert, so I still left happy. Criss was with them but not Frehley. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by bamachine

[Hunchback 51]

College roommate was/is the biggest KISS fan you've ever met, so I have a good appreciation for them. Checking into this thread now so I can follow going forward.

Cool story, my buddy and his wife were the first couple to get married at the KISS chapel in Vegas and we went to the wedding where Paul gave away the bride and Gene was the best man. Shit's on YouTube if anyone wants to watch.

[bamachine 1231]

4 minutes ago, Hunchback said:

College roommate was/is the biggest KISS fan you've ever met, so I have a good appreciation for them. Checking into this thread now so I can follow going forward.

Cool story, my buddy and his wife were the first couple to get married at the KISS chapel in Vegas and we went to the wedding where Paul gave away the bride and Gene was the best man. Shit's on YouTube if anyone wants to watch.

My college roommate is a huge KISS fan, in fact he went to the concert I mentioned above. I would not say he is the biggest but he does have every single album they released, even all 4 solo albums. Even he realizes that most of the solo stuff is garbage, except Ace's is decent. He also realizes that the Elder album is yeesh.

[BoomMF 1401]

I spent my formative years with the understanding that I would never get to see KISS live and then, out of nowhere, they announced they were getting back together for the reunion tour in 96.  Praise be!  Took my now-wife on our third date to see them at the Summit (Compaq Center by this point?).  When Gene's platform went out over the crowd, dude stopped damn near right over us.  It was epic.  (Also, Pushmonkey was the opening act, which was a real bonus as I would have seen them solo too.)

In my music room I have a framed copy of the Gibson ad featuring Ace and his custom guitar.

In my comic collection I still have the Kiss issue "printed with real KISS blood!"

Once, in high school, I went to Millennium in north Houston and saw Ace and Peter doing a show.  Peter was meh af, but Ace fucking brought it.  I was probably the youngest dude there,  There was a part of the show where Ace said something like, "Do any of you remember my solo album?  I think I'll do a song off of it now. You know the one!"  Half the crowd screamed New York Groove and half screamed Rip It out. As loud as I could I screamed the one I wanted to hear, Ozone.  Ace looked at me for a quick second with a subtle look of surprise on his face.  I like to think he was taken aback by such a young kid pulling out one of his deep cuts. Could have been that he was surprised he had a song named Ozone and wondered what it must have sounded like.  Who knows.

Later in that show I made my way to the front of the crowd.  Now, mind you, I made it to the front for Peter's show, too, and got to high five the man.  Was a highlight of my young life.  So I tried to do the same for Ace.  I got to the front and everyone had their hand out to touch the dude.  He looks me square in the fucking eyes and smirks.  He didn't meet my high five, left me hanging, and smirked at me like an asshole.  Don't care, still love the man.

I also still have KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park on Laserdisc because it wasn't available back in the day on DVD.  Also have a bootleg DVD of it, but I think it's just a transfer of the VHS.  This gem needs a remaster on blu-ray.

Just got done reading Paul Stanley's autobiography, Face the Music, and it was very good.  Best of all the members' tell-alls.  It's on Audible, too.

 

EDITED TO ADD: Psycho Circus is the greatest comeback/return-from-a-long-hiatus album in history.  Prove me wrong!

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by BoomMF

[BurntOrangeCrush 1028]

I was in elementary school in the 70's, and I listened to whatever was on the radio. I used to but albums with my allowance money, usually ones that had a lot of different artists. Off that album, I loved the song "Brandy" and "Smokin in the Boys Room". My parents liked the Doobie Brothers and my first favorite song was Black Water. My dad bought me a radio and i used to play it at night when I went to bed. One night, I heard the song "Rock and Roll All Night" and I thought it was the best thing I had ever heard. I saved my money to go buy Kiss Alive. I played that more times than any other album/cd in my life. I took the album to "show and tell" at my school. My teacher was horrified but I played the song to my class.

Since that time, I have been all hard rock and heavy metal. I bought every Kiss album and was in the Kiss Army, all of that good stuff. I saw them in concert in the 8th grade, and it was just awesome. At that time, I thought Ace was the best guitarist that had ever lived.

Like a lot of Kiss fans, I never liked them as much after Ace left. I moved on to AC/DC, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, etc...but Kiss definitely changed the way I thought of music and will always be a favorite band of mine.

[AnotherUTFan 9954]

I spent my formative years with the understanding that I would never get to see KISS live and then, out of nowhere, they announced they were getting back together for the reunion tour in 96.  Praise be!  Took my now-wife on our third date to see them at the Summit (Compaq Center by this point?).  When Gene's platform went out over the crowd, dude stopped damn near right over us.  It was epic.  (Also, Pushmonkey was the opening act, which was a real bonus as I would have seen them solo too.)
In my music room I have a framed copy of the Gibson ad featuring Ace and his custom guitar.
In my comic collection I still have the Kiss issue "printed with real KISS blood!"
Once, in high school, I went to Millennium in north Houston and saw Ace and Peter doing a show.  Peter was meh af, but Ace fucking brought it.  I was probably the youngest dude there,  There was a part of the show where Ace said something like, "Do any of you remember my solo album?  I think I'll do a song off of it now. You know the one!"  Half the crowd screamed New York Groove and half screamed Rip It out. As loud as I could I screamed the one I wanted to hear, Ozone.  Ace looked at me for a quick second with a subtle look of surprise on his face.  I like to think he was taken aback by such a young kid pulling out one of his deep cuts. Could have been that he was surprised he had a song named Ozone and wondered what it must have sounded like.  Who knows.
Later in that show I made my way to the front of the crowd.  Now, mind you, I made it to the front for Peter's show, too, and got to high five the man.  Was a highlight of my young life.  So I tried to do the same for Ace.  I got to the front and everyone had their hand out to touch the dude.  He looks me square in the fucking eyes and smirks.  He didn't meet my high five, left me hanging, and smirked at me like an asshole.  Don't care, still love the man.
I also still have KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park on Laserdisc because it wasn't available back in the day on DVD.  Also have a bootleg DVD of it, but I think it's just a transfer of the VHS.  This gem needs a remaster on blu-ray.
Just got done reading Paul Stanley's autobiography, Face the Music, and it was very good.  Best of all the members' tell-alls.  It's on Audible, too.
 
EDITED TO ADD: Psycho Circus is the greatest comeback/return-from-a-long-hiatus album in history.  Prove me wrong!
 

I was in elementary school in the 70's, and I listened to whatever was on the radio. I used to but albums with my allowance money, usually ones that had a lot of different artists. Off that album, I loved the song "Brandy" and "Smokin in the Boys Room". My parents liked the Doobie Brothers and my first favorite song was Black Water. My dad bought me a radio and i used to play it at night when I went to bed. One night, I heard the song "Rock and Roll All Night" and I thought it was the best thing I had ever heard. I saved my money to go buy Kiss Alive. I played that more times than any other album/cd in my life. I took the album to "show and tell" at my school. My teacher was horrified but I played the song to my class.
Since that time, I have been all hard rock and heavy metal. I bought every Kiss album and was in the Kiss Army, all of that good stuff. I saw them in concert in the 8th grade, and it was just awesome. At that time, I thought Ace was the best guitarist that had ever lived.
Like a lot of Kiss fans, I never liked them as much after Ace left. I moved on to AC/DC, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, etc...but Kiss definitely changed the way I thought of music and will always be a favorite band of mine.

The rare back 2 back Cool Story Bros.

Really, cool stories. I don't have any KISS cool story's other than I like their music. I saw them twice both times on the reunion tours with original members in the 90s.

If you can find the newer KISS pinball machine in a room quiet enough to hear the soundtrack, it's a Rock and Roll blast. Aside from loving you, KISS was made for pinball.

[Grandioso 2592]

Always loved this little homage to KISS. 

 

[Equinox 95]

I was the president of the local chapter of the KISS Army in junior high lol. Had a thick scrapbook with clippings from Cream, Circus, Rolling Stone, etc. My next door neighbor had the idea to go as KISS for halloween, so we made (crudely) our own platform boots. And so on and so on......

 

My 14th birthday present was their concert in Abilene's Taylor County Coliseum circa 1977, the Love Gun tour. We went to watch Permian kick the crap out of Denton in Shotwell Stadium, then that night we went to the show. Me, next door neighbor, older brother and his fiance, and my mom. My mom got tired of the loud music and decided to go sit behind the speaker line by herself, stage right. She said Gene Simmons waved at her after he went back to (she thinks) drink the blood that he spit out. Good times.

 

 

[bamachine 1231]

^Gene fucked your mom.

[BoomMF 1401]

Witness one of my favorite guitar ads in all its glory.  (Something about the way the sunburst just pops amid all the blue and black. It's like a star in space, knowwhatImean?)

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by BoomMF

[BoomMF 1401]

Check out this interview.  Gene and Paul seems ready to strangle some fools.  The whole thing is awkward.  Criss will leave the band in about 5 months, but things are already tense.  Also, as a bonus, you get to see Tom Snyder completely out of his element.

 

No, Tom, they didn't play the violins themselves.

Edited April 17, 2018 by BoomMF

[AnotherUTFan 9954]

Great interview. The story Ace tells about grabbing a poorly grounded stair rail side stage and getting electricuted, I've read some where that that experience is what inspired the song "Shock Me".

[Nole-4-Life 814]

7 hours ago, AnotherUTFan said:

Great interview. The story Ace tells about grabbing a poorly grounded stair rail side stage and getting electricuted, I've read some where that that experience is what inspired the song "Shock Me".

I was at that show in Lakeland FL. Nobody in the crowd knew what the hell happened. They were playing Detroit Rock City and it fell apart instrument by instrument as they realized he was down. Roadies came and took him off stage and they made the announcement he had been shocked. They came back out and finished the show, but you could tell he was tentative as hell.

Kiss didn't get a lot of critical respect, but Deuce is a seriously great rock tune. 

Also listening to some of these videos I'm reminded how things weren't absolutely perfect back in those days like they are now. That intro to Black Diamond, Paul's guitar is definitely out of tune. Never happen these days.

[mulletpelini 5220]

[BoomMF 1401]

These could go here (did I already spam these somewhere?). I recently went and saw a Dallas-based KISS tribute band, Rock N Roll Over, while I was in San Bernadino. Played everything all the way to the criminally underrated Psycho Circus album.

(Don't tell anyone, but they rocked better than the OG lineup when I saw them during the first reunion tour - though I would go see the OG lineup again in a heartbeat.)

Drummer plays in a Pantera tribute band, too, so Beth was apparently out of the question.

[tbone_ 14412]

Who the fuck plays guitar in that Pantera tribute band is what I want to know.

[Napoleon 8802]

18 hours ago, mulletpelini said:

 

[mulletpelini 5220]

Didn't realize Patton Oswalt was that talented

[Rip76 5009]

Man I was a pretty big Kiss fan as a kid.  I would imagine most boys my age in '77 were.

Like JimmyJazz said above, you can't deny the hooks.

Some of my faves.  **Also, I still think their first album is their best.

 

 

 

Man I love how they left the bass off of the first few verses and left just that open guitar and drums.

 

 

Probably my fave.  Just that groove... greasy.

 

 

[jimmyjazz 46979]

It's weird, my parents and the parents of my buddies were REALLY good about driving us 100 miles and back to St. Louis to go see big rock shows when we were ~ HS freshmen.  They didn't let me go see KISS, though.  We were just a bit young (probably 8th grade) and no level of maturity had sunk in.  Within a year, we had a crew of about 6-8 guys whose parents would trade off hauling us up to see Boston, Van Halen (first headlining tour, hell yes), "SuperJams" at Busch Stadium (Styx, Blue Oyster Cult, etc.).  But KISS eluded me in my youth, despite my fanaticism.

Until the reunion tour.  The original reunion tour.  They didn't play Austin, but they played San Antonio, and my starter wife (whom I would divorce just a year or two later) pulled the coolest wife stunt imaginable outside of tix to see UT-USC at the Rose Bowl:  she got us tickets for KISS, and I had no fucking clue.  She couched it in some sort of "let's go down and hang out on the River Walk and go to the market and blah blah blah" and I was too beat down to argue.  A few hours later . . . BAM . . . my childhood heroes, right in front of my face.  I laughed deliriously for 2 hours.  I mean, it was an extraordinary surprise.

Later I saw them in Austin, and they sucked ass, but not as bad as Ted Nugent, who opened, and who sucked probably as bad as any major act I've ever seen, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

[jimmyjazz 46979]

 

[BoomMF 1401]

New addition to the music room. loooo