Part 6/11

“To be completely honest with you, I may cry.”

I had recently received an email from one of the many music news websites I follow (I can’t remember which one) that announced KISS was going on their “final” farewell tour. Now, I’m not an idiot – bands go on farewell tours all the time and it’s almost always not their final tour. But for some reason this one hit me. I haven’t seen KISS in concert before and honestly never had much of a chance to. When I read they were going on their “final” tour, I decided right then and there that I was going to see that concert at the closest venue they were playing, no matter how far away I needed to travel.

And then it happened – a mere 30 minutes after the announcement was made about the tour, Knoxville’s Thompson-Boling Arena announced KISS would be playing the Scruffy City on their End of the Road Tour. Not only was there a chance to see the Hottest Band in the Land, but they were coming to MY town!? The following Friday, I bought tickets faster than you can say “Hot, hot, hotter than hell!”

I can’t believe I’m finally getting to see KISS and all I have to do is drive downtown.

I’ve documented time and time again how I was officially introduced to the concept of KISS – about how I would tell my friend Brian he wasn’t allowed to close his bedroom door with me inside because I was mortified by his Gene Simmons poster. At that point, I’d never even heard KISS’ music, I just saw their hideous faces covered in paint, their bodies cloaked in skin-tight leather and studs. If they looked that scary, I didn’t even want to know how they would sound.

Luckily at the time I never saw KISS on MTV and if I heard their music on the radio, I wasn’t aware of it (though I’m sure I did). I knew, however, that my grandparents had a single KISS record at their house. I used to love digging through that stack of old records – some belonging to them, the others formerly belonging to my mom or my uncles. This record stash made a huge impact on my life as it was the way I was introduced to the music of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Styx, Journey, Billy Squire, Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees (through Saturday Night Fever).

That one KISS album, though, I stayed away from. Their grotesque depictions graced the cover art, Gene Simmons held his bass aloft whilst donning platform boots, Ace Frehley held his guitar upside down (because he’s obviously CRAZY), Paul Stanley’s face was half red (a sign of the devil, of course) and Peter Criss … Well, Peter Criss didn’t seem too threatening, honestly. Smoke engulfed the stage and candles flanked the band. It was intriguing, but it was too much.

After much contemplation and self-depreciating inner monologue, I finally decided to toughen up and find out why people liked this abomination. I slowly pulled the record out of the sleeve, dropped it on the turntable and carefully guided the needle down. The crowd roared, the announcer introduced the act and what I heard wasn’t demonic or evil … It was catchy! It was sexy! It was smooth! It was rock and roll! It was “Deuce” and the album was KISS Alive!

6) KISS – Alive!

Released September 10, 1975; Produced by Eddie Kramer

Having sold 100-million records, played over 3,000 concerts and boasting a net worth of over $300-million after 50 years as a band, it’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when KISS were considered duds. Truth is, however, that by 1975 the band had released three records that were commercial flops – KISS (1974), Hotter Than Hell (1974) and Dressed to Kill (1975) each had songs that would eventually become staples for the band but neither surpassed Gold status, peaking at 87, 100 and 32 on the US Billboard charts respectively. The band’s label at the time, Casablanca Records, was suffering financially as well, had only given KISS $15,000 in advances for their first three records and had thus far failed to pay out any royalties. The band was upset and on the verge of filing a lawsuit; Meanwhile, the label was floundering.

Frontman Paul Stanley lamented that the band’s first three records failed to capture what made the band so special – their live energy – and Casablanca CEO Neil Bogart agreed. In a Hail Mary attempt to save his ass from bankruptcy and an impending lawsuit, Bogart floated the idea of producing a live record with the band. The guys liked the idea, their manager was on board and the project was fully approved, though it was KISS’ manager who had to foot the $300,000 production bill as Casablanca didn’t have the funds to hand over.

Recordings would be taken from the band’s Hotter Than Hell tour stops in Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and New Jersey. And while it was definitely true that the band’s energy in concert was way more raucous than anything they could produce on record, the sad reality was even a live recording couldn’t do the band justice. The set’s flame-happy stage show simply couldn’t come through as audio and what audio did come through was riddled with errors including the guys playing the wrong chords, knocking equipment over or simply not singing directly into the microphone. They maybe had a lot of recordings to press for their new album, but they were atrocious.

In order to make the album listenable, the band’s producer Eddie Kramer brought the guys in to dub over the errors – and there were many. Both the producer and the band have admitted to varying degrees that vocal parts, guitar solos and audience participation were added in post but the true extent of the edits has been a topic of debate for nearly 50 years. At the end of the day, the songs are great, the energy is present and it sounds believable so it doesn’t really matter … Yet when I learned about this auditory illusion, I was aghast. So many bands have so many great live albums and they’re all not truly, you know … live. Or I guess in the case of KISS, Alive!

Strong Points

Deuce

This is the song that started it all. When I held my breath and dropped the needle on the record the first time, I heard the announcer introduce the band, You wanted the best and you got it! The hottest band in the land – KISS! followed by the intro riff to “Deuce.” That iconic guitar riffage (I’d later learn was a bastardized take on “Go All the Way” by The Raspberries) was my first KISS experience and I’ll never forget it. 

Strutter

As an aspiring drummer at the time, the introductory drum fill made “Strutter” an instant win with me. It’s hard to explain, but the song’s attitude with its heavy riffs and confident bassline underlying everything just add character to the song’s subject – the confident, sexy woman who is every bit aware of just how good she’s looking.

Let Me Go Rock ‘N Roll

Used as the encore finale for years, “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll” is a finisher for the ages with simple, fun-loving lyrics and solos everywhere. At 5:45, EVERYBODY gets a solo! There’s multiple guitar solos, a bass solo, drum fills … Hard to believe such a banger was left off their debut album (was later released on Hotter Than Hell) even though it’s more-or-less the perfect way to end your encore set.

Favorite Songs

She

“She” doesn’t sound like your average KISS song and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it was co-written by Stephen Coronel, a bandmate of Gene Simmons when the two were in a band called Bullfrog Bheer (and later of the band Wicked Lester). It has a Southern Rock vibe to it that KISS doesn’t normally have but I think they pull it off well. Add to that the rad bass solo that gets dropped about halfway in and the multiple, shredding guitar riffs that you can hear the inspiration of on Pearl Jam’s “Alive.”

100,000 Years

This song kicks off with “Love Gun” vibes and “Love Gun” may be my favorite KISS song of all time. This is the longest track on the entire record at 12:00 and boasts a rumbling bass intro, a number of guitar solos and a gut-busting drum solo by the great Peter Criss. This live version is great for getting you hyped up because during said drum solo (that lasts several minutes), Paul leads the audience in a variety of chants and cheers. Though now that I think about it, it’s possible that Paul’s interaction with the audience very well could have been performed in the studio after the fact. That would be weird. I’m going to choose to live in a world where this actually took place.

Rock and Roll All Nite

I often hate it when a band’s biggest, most well-known song is one of my top favorites. And honestly, “Rock and Roll All Nite” is probably not even in my top 10 favorite KISS songs from their entire catalog … But the reality is, this was the first KISS song that I heard on the radio (recognized because I knew it from this album). Another reality: songs get this big for a reason. KISS has a knack for writing songs that aren’t terribly philosophical in nature, rarely ever encouraging the listener to dig for a deeper meaning. And sometimes that’s just fine! “Rock and Roll All Nite” is a quintessential rock anthem that will always get the audience cheering and I can’t wait to sing along with them to it in November.

Regardless of the band’s rocky start on a major label, Alive! went to number 9 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the charts for 110 weeks despite mixed reviews at the time of its release. And while its Gold certification in the United States doesn’t put it above any of their previous releases, pressing Alive! changed the band’s fate forever. Days after the album’s release, the band announced they were leaving Casablanca, prodding Bogart to sign a $2-million check to keep the band on their roster. 

With some cash in their pocket, the support of a label that suddenly wasn’t going bankrupt anymore and a relationship with a new producer, KISS would spend the next few years releasing powerhouse record after powerhouse record with Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), Love Gun (1977) and an unprecedented FOUR solo albums in 1978.

Nobody thought that the little hard rock band from New York would go on to conquer the world with their music and build an obscenely successful marketing scheme in the way that KISS did, but the history speaks for itself. And nobody thought the little boy from Tennessee would go from being scared to death of Gene Simmons to calling KISS one of his favorite bands and even having a KISS reference tattooed on his left bicep.

I know I certainly didn’t.