Lifelong Kiss Fan Gives You His Ten Least Favorite Kiss Tunes - Nick Jezienry

This is day 3 of Kiss Kountdown. Click here for day 4.

You Wanted The Worst and You Got It! -  by Nick Jezienry

I am a lifelong Kiss fan who saved up pennies and loose change to buy Kiss Alive! at the local department store. It was a double 8-track and I didn’t have enough change, so I got the first release instead.
        That’s what started it off. I was hooked.
        My first concert was Kiss in 1978 with The Rockets opening at the now-leveled New Haven (Conn.) Coliseum. My parents were reluctant to let me go as I was in third grade, and the only way they would let me attend was if I got straight As. That was the only time in my life I got straight As, by the way.
        I stayed a Kiss fan but I admit that I lost interest for a few years (Unmasked, The Elder and Creatures weren’t on my radar at all as Kiss wasn’t “big” in junior high). In high school, I got reacquainted when “Lick It Up” came out and I revisited the old stuff and caught up on what I missed through some kids who had these albums. I saw Kiss for the second time on the Asylum tour — paid $35 for a third row seat and saw Black N Blue open. (Tommy Thayer rocked! Who knew he’d become Ace!!)
        I went away to college at Ohio University and stayed true to Kiss. I was fortunate that the Crazy Nights tour rolled through New Haven when I was home on break and got to see that tour, too. When CDs became popular, I traded in all my cassettes at SchoolKids during my junior year at Ohio U. The first CD I purchased with the trade was “Music From The Elder.” I had owned all of the band’s work on 8-track, cassette and now CD. And then I got all of the remastered versions. You can say I am a Kiss completist.
        I've seen Kiss a handful of other times — twice on the very stellar “Hot In The Shade” tour, once on the first reunion tour, the Psycho Circus opening tour date at Dodger Stadium and again on the first farewell tour in Las Cruces, N.M., that was one of the last shows the original lineup did.
        The point of all this is I really like Kiss and don’t truly dislike anything they’ve done. Some discs were weaker than others (hello Asylum), but Kiss has a formula that resonates with me. I did a quick, very unofficial count of 224 songs and I’m picking my LEAST favorite 10 to celebrate the band’s long overdue induction into the Rock Hall. I’m picking the least favorites because everyone makes “best of” lists, right?
         I chose not to include any covers (Kissin’ Time, Then She Kissed Me, Anyway You Want It). The newer material also got a hall pass as I’ve listened to “Sonic Boom” and “Monster” less than any of the other records. I like both of those offerings, but I just don’t listen to them as much as I did other material. Anyway, you wanted the worst and you’ve got it …..

1. Nothing Can Keep Me From You: This was the new track on the Detroit Rock City soundtrack. I remember thinking “Oh god, I hope this isn’t the last song Kiss ever writes.” Just an awful ballad. Who knew they’d put out about five more records after this came out. I’m still not sure if I like the movie or not.

2. Love’s A Deadly Weapon: Kicked off Side 2 of Asylum (cassette reference), which is my least favorite Kiss release from start to finish. Gene Simmons’ material on Animalize, Asylum and Crazy Nights wasn’t much to brag about. I can say that now, but back in high school, I’d have defended Gene and probably argued he was a better bass player than Geddy Lee!

3. My Way: This ends Side 1 of Crazy Nights, and along with I’ll Fight Hell to Hold You, are the low points of Kiss’ commercial success in the 80s (Paul Stanley version, as Gene’s worst songs are way worse than Paul’s duds).

4. It Never Goes Away: Carnival of Souls. Just a weird song for Kiss on a very different Kiss CD that has some strong moments. This song, clocking in at over 5 minutes, wasn’t one of those strong moments.

5. Tomorrow and Tonight: Love Gun. Even as a third grader, I knew this was a ripoff of “Rock and Roll All Night.” The live version on Alive II is even worse than the studio version. Kiss was really trolling for a hit with this one. Why not release “I Stole Your Love?"

6. Saint and Sinner: Creatures of the Night. The only weak spot on a very cool sounding record. Eric Carr’s drums on this disc were amazing. This too-long, too-boring song probably prevents this from being my favorite Kiss CD. And it’s the second song — usually a spot on the record for the hit single!

7. Boomerang: Hot In The Shade. The closer on what I feel is a very under appreciated Kiss record. I thought a lot of the material was good, but this song just didn’t seem to fit. Seems like it would have more of a “Revenge” era song.

8. Partners In Crime: Killers. This was among the material Kiss reportedly scrapped to make “Music From The Elder.” The other three songs were stellar, but this one definitely qualifies as filler.

9. We Are One: Psycho Circus. Had this been a Paul Stanley song, it might have worked. But it doesn’t fit The Demon’s persona at all and comes across rather cheesy.

10. Any Way You Slice It: Asylum. Another second song sleeper from Gene Simmons. Any Way You Slice It, this isn’t a good song.


Nick Jezierny is a former journalist who worked at The Columbus Dispatch, El Paso Times, Idaho Statesman, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. He graduated from Ohio University and lived in Columbus from Labor Day 1991 to Memorial Day 1998. He never saw Watershed perform during that time, but he spent about $2,500 to travel from his current home in Boise, Idaho, to see four Watershed shows in 2013.

I Was Gonna Be The Only Rocker On The West Side of Columbus, Ohio, To Never Smoke Pot, And Then Kiss Came To Town by Ricki C.

This is Day 4 of Kiss Kountdown to Rock Hall.  Click here for Day 5 - "Reason To Live"

 

It’s a little hard to explain the type of rocker I was in early 1977.  I had started playing in bands when I was 16 in 1968, but immediately previous to that, I had been an INCREDIBLY shy, backward, book-loving mass of neuroses.  I never trusted drugs.  From a very early age I could see that drugs were gonna have a very deleterious effect on my beloved rock & roll.  By the time I was a freshman in college in 1971 we had lost Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix & Janis Joplin (within THREE FUCKING WEEKS of each other) and Jim Morrison to drugs, in one way or another.  I had seen the latter three of them – Hendrix in the Experience, Morrison in The Doors and Joplin with The Full-Tilt Boogie Band at Vet’s Memorial in 1968 and ’69, while I was still in high school.

Meanwhile, all around me, my friends – former hell-bent-for-leather West Side rocker boys & girls – were now either laid-back, patched-jeans Crosby, Stills & Nash and singer/songwriter devotees or nodding out to heavy metal with Seconal juice & red wine running down their chins.  At that juncture my viewpoint was that, from everything I could see, drug use led to listening to and actually enjoying the music of Santana, something I just could not abide.  At any rate, as the 1960’s became the 1970’s, I made a very conscious decision to be the only rocker on the West Side of Columbus, Ohio, to never smoke pot.  (In that respect, Jonathan Richman – the leader of Boston band The Modern Lovers – was my hero, and Richman’s 1971 tune “I’m Straight” was my anthem.)    

(editor’s note: Kiss, Ricki, the subject of today’s blog is KISS.  Okay, okay, okay, I’m GETTING THERE.) 

I hated Kiss from the first time I saw them back in March 1974 when they debuted on In Concert, ABC’s totally lame rip-off of Midnight Special and EVERY-FUCKING-BODY on the West Side of Columbus stayed home from the bars that Friday night to see them.  In the rock & roll community – and that was a thriving entity in those days – that show was hyped every bit as heavily as the Beatles had been on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964.  (See video below.)

From the first moment I laid eyes on Kiss I knew my rock & roll future was in desperate, desperate trouble.  It was painfully obvious that Simmons, Stanley & Company (and I mean Company in the strictest Corporate Sense) had absorbed everything they could from my beloved New York Dolls, dumbed it down with hopelessly generic Foghat/Deep Purple/Uriah Heep riffs, and threw in every extra-musical element – monster make-up, sirens, smoke machines, breathing fire, bullshit “overdubbed” fireworks ‘cuz Kiss wasn’t allowed to use pyrotechnics on TV – they could possibly think of.  Those guys KNEW what was gonna play in The Great Midwest.  My West Side brethren might not have been able to stomach queer-boys in rouge, boas & platforms like The Dolls, but they dearly loved ‘em some Godzilla movies, comic books & quaaludes.

Jump-cut to 1977: a mid-70’s band I loved beyond comprehension was The Dictators – the pride of the Bronx, the link band between The New York Dolls and The Ramones in New York City rock & roll lore.  I had my own punk fanzine – Teenage Rampage – going at that time, inspired partly by Dictators’ lead singer & songwriter Adny Shernoff’s early-70’s Teenage Wasteland Gazette.  Adny and I corresponded back in the day (see postcard below) and he would let me know when The Dictators were gonna play Columbus.

The problem was, the first two times The Dictators were supposed to play (opening first for Styx and later for somebody else TOTALLY lame that I can’t remember, possibly Marillion) they didn’t show, because they had been kicked off the tours for behavior unbecoming an opening act.  (i.e. Rocking harder than the headliners, being sarcastic & hilarious in the DEADLY SERIOUS age of overblown prog-rock, fucking with the headliner’s gear, etc.)

March 6th, 1977, Kiss was scheduled to play St. John Arena on campus, with The Dictators opening (see ad below).  And if you don’t think it fucking KILLED me to plonk down my hard-earned $7.50 (see ticket below) to pay to see Kiss, you better think again, mojumbo.  So three of my rock & roll compadres and I arrived at St. John's just after 7:30 pm so we wouldn’t miss The Dictators’ 8 pm opening set, except there was already a band PLAYING while we were getting the de rigeur 70’s pre-concert booze & fireworks patdown, and I was yelling at the cop that he was making us miss The Dictators.

Only we weren’t missing The Dictators, we were missing some jag-off L.A. band called Legs Diamond, who had taken Adny & the gang’s place on the Kiss tour, bringing to THREE the amount of times I paid good money to NOT see The Dictators, and to have to sit through a band I despised.  Except I didn’t even get to SIT through Kiss, I had to stand ON MY RICKETY FUCKING FOLDING CHAIR the entire concert, because those dumbfuck Kiss Army idiots STOOD ON THEIR CHAIRS through every lamer-than-the-last Kiss opus, and ladies & gentlemen, I gotta tell ya, Kiss sucked BAD that night.  

First - and most problematically to somebody who had seen and been deafened by The Who when I was 17 - Kiss wasn't NEARLY loud enough for St. John Arena.  It was absolutely THE MOST ANEMIC sound system I have ever experienced in a venue that size.  (And I saw a LOT of other shows at St. John: from The J. Geils Band to The Faces to Joni Mitchell to Aerosmith .  It’s quite possible the Joni Mitchell show was louder than Kiss.  Unforgivable.)  And Peter Criss’ drumming?  Jeez, it was an embarrassment to behold.  There were times in the show that guy couldn’t have found the beat if it fucked him in a closet.  At some point, the lunkhead stoners next to us, oblivious to the fact that we weren’t friends of theirs, passed over the joint they’d been puffing, something I normally would have disdained with the “No thanks, maaaaaan,” response I’d been employing years before Johnny Rotten snarled it in “God Save The Queen.”  That March evening, however, I was so depressed over the fact that I was at a Kiss show that I took the joint and availed myself of a good, hefty hit.

I was no longer the only rocker on the West Side of Columbus, Ohio, to never smoke pot.  And it was all Kiss’ fault.

It was lucky that I was high for the rest of the show, though, because by The Big Finish – when Paul Stanley swapped the Gibson Flying-V guitar he’d been playing the entire set for an obviously plywood, not-remotely-plugged-into-anything facsimile of a guitar to smash – I’d have probably been moved to enact some kind of violence against those clowns onstage.  As it was, I just stood there on my chair in Row 17 of St. John Arena, hitting the joint that I had refused to give back to my aisle-mates, and thinking, “Jesus, these guys are the biggest band in America, they’re making millions of dollars and they can’t even be bothered to smash a REAL guitar to close the show.  Rock & roll as I know it, and love it, is OVER.”  

I realized in that moment that there was to be no more power & passion in arena rock & roll, just plywood & play-acting.

In March of 1977 Colin Gawel was 7 years old.  I was 24.  Generational differences abound. - Ricki C. / March 29th, 2014. 

Laying The Groundwork For Kiss: The New York Dolls, 1973

Kiss' First T.V. Appearance, 1974

I Fully Realize It's Comparing Apples To Oranges to Plug In Dictators Footage From

2004 After Kiss In 1974, But There's Not A Lot Of Dictators Videos From the 70's

Available On The InterWideWeb, So Bear With Me, Folks

(writer's note: I was AT this show.  I'm the brown-haired guy with the cowlick right in 

front of the white-haired guy in the white ball-cap from the 7:21 mark on.)

"Reason to Live" by KISS Gave Me a Reason to Live. - by Jeff Hassler

This is Day 5 of Kiss Kountdown. Click here for day 4 or  Click here for Day 6 "Kiss Rocks vs Kiss Sucks"

 

Reason to Live Was My Reason to Live  by Jeff Hassler

Thanks to Colin for letting me contribute to the Kiss Kountdown! I like to think I bring a different sensibility to the conversation. On one hand, I agree with Wal and Ricki C. that Kiss while wearing make-up were just a circus act. As a fan of quality music myself, I too had zero interest in the original line-up. Kids stuff. 

But once the group "unmasked" (ha), got rid of all the special effects and replaced Ace Frehley with the completely superior musician Bruce Kulick, KISS finally started making records for grown-ups. While all the non-make up albums are superior to the previous (except for maybe The Elder) I think they hit their high-water mark when the band teamed up with master producer Ron Nevison for the blockbuster CD Crazy Nights. In fact, I would even go so far as to say it's even better than Bon Jovi's classic Slippery When Wet, which came out around the same time. Both went on to be HUGE sellers and influenced millions of people the world over.

What makes Crazy Nights so much better than the early Kiss stuff? Well, in addition to Bruce being a technically superior guitar player to Ace, Nevison finally brought the band into the modern world by adding all kinds of cool synthesizer parts. Kiss records like Rock n Roll Over and Love Gun just sounded so dated by the year 1987. So boring. Nevison was able to bring a modern rock quality to the record, allowing it to be on the cutting edge of the new metal scene that was happening. Digital recording got rid of all that noisy tape hiss, and sampled drums allowed Eric Carr's drumming to finally sound as thunderous as it did live. 

For example, Reason to Live was the #1 video on MTV's daily countdown and it featured keyboards for the first time in a Kiss song since Beth. And the lead single, Crazy Crazy Nights, while not a smash in the States, went on to become one of the biggest hits of the decade in the UK. You know, England: home of The Beatles, Stones, The Who, Ozzy, Oasis, Def Leppard, Arcade Fire, Deep Purple.....do I have to go on? My point being that Great Britain knows a thing or two about good rock n roll, if you know what I mean. Let's face it, the USA can be a little off in our taste. I mean can anybody explain why Guns and Roses became huge and Faster Pussycat didn't? Exactly.

Desmond Child. Heavy Metal Personified.

Do you know what else Crazy Nights and Slippery When Wet had in common? Desmond Fucking Child! One of rock's greatest songwriters. Ricki claims he has never heard of him and Colin says "Desmond Child is where bad songs go to become even worse," but you cannot argue with his results. The guy is a lyrical genius and he has co-written more hits than any "Hitless Wonder" I know. Sorry, Colin, but you know it's true. Just sayin'.

I have my own story about how the songs of Desmond Child have touched my life. In 1987, I was a senior in high school and I had just met my later ex-wife Kim in French Club. (Looks good for a college resume: French Club that is, not Kim!) I went stag to the Valentine's Day dance and Kim got into a fight with her boyfriend Chase on the way there and ended up coming alone, too. When the DJ played "I'll Die For You" we danced and that became "our song." It was co-written by Desmond Child.

I'd die for you, I'd cry for you, I'd do anything, I'd lie for you, you know its true, baby I'd die for you, I'd cry for you. If it came right down to me and you, you know it's true, I'd die for you.

Hard to top that. Anyway, fast forward a couple of months and Kim and I were still going strong until.... One day she stopped by my parents house with some leftover cookies she had made as part of the dance squad for the lacrosse players. I don't know how to say this exactly, except she surprised me in my bedroom while I was doing a private act adolescent boys are known to engage in. I was listening to the song "Bang, Bang You" on Crazy Nights (also co-written by D. Child.) and didn't hear her knock. To make matters even worse, the school yearbook just happened to be open on the bed next to me turned to the page of the girls tennis team. I SWEAR it was just a coincidence, but when Kim saw the picture of Linda Assario stroking that backhand in her tennis skirt she just went CRAZY, screamed "Chase was right!" then threw the cookies in my face and stormed out of the room in tears.

I was beyond heartbroken. Frankly, I was borderline suicidal. I'm not sure I would have made it if not for this Kiss classic. Ricki C likes to say rock n roll saved his life, well the song "Reason to Live" saved mine. "Reason to Live" was literally was my reason to live.  I played it first thing in the morning and the last thing at night for six straight months. I found strength in the words and in the sampled drum sounds. Desmond Child, I am forever in your debt. 

 "Reason To Live" (Stanley, Child)
 

Out of love, there's nobody around,

all I hear is the sound of a broken heart
Out of time, no more waitin' for you
Now the hurtin's through, and a new day starts
And I feel a change in my life,
I sailed into dark and endless nights
And made it alive

[Chorus:]
Everybody's got a reason to live, baby
Everybody's got a dream and a hunger inside
Everybody's got a reason to live, but it can't be your love

Out of touch, with myself for so long,
now a feelin' so strong comin' over me
Down the line, there's a lesson I've learned
You can love and get burned, if it has to be
And I see a change in my life,
and I'm not alone when I'm strong inside
And I realize

Anyway, Kim and I eventually met up again in college and got married and then recently divorced. Thanks for reading my blog. Hassler is out.

You can learn more about Jeff Hassler and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here

Below: 1) The video for the song that saved my life. 2) The best KISS lineup rocking Bang Bang You. LIVE!! It really takes off around 2:40. Trust me, it's worth the wait. 3) Kim and my song. 4) KISS live in a rare daytime concert from Germany on the Crazy Nights Tour. They are so much better without Ace, Peter or any lights or effects. Great set list too! Paul is playing the coolest guitar.

Music video by Kiss performing Reason To Live. (C) 1987 The Island Def Jam Music Group

Kiss playing Bang Bang You Live

I wonder if Kim still plays this once and a while. 

I love that rendition of this song so much!!!

Deuce Love gun Fits like a glove Heaven's on fire Cold gin Black diamond No no no Crazy crazy nights Tears are falling I love it loud Shout it out loud Rock and roll all nite Detroit rock city Schweinfurt, Germany 1988

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KISS Rocks vs KISS Sucks by Colin Gawel

   Click here for previous story Kiss Unmasked

KISS Rocks vs KISS Sucks   by Colin Gawel

KISS is one of my all-time favorite bands. They are the reason I wanted to learn to play the guitar. I can still remember the moment of putting "KISS Alive" on my little turntable and hearing - "You wanted the best, you got it, the hottest band in the world....KISS!" - as the band launched into "Deuce." It gave me chills. I would sit on the floor of my bedroom and just stare at the album cover for hours. It was without question the coolest thing I had ever seen or heard up to that point in my life. And when you are just SIX years old, that makes quite an impression. I remember thinking how odd it was that other bands (BTO,ELO,RUSH) didn't wear make-up. I mean, why wouldn't you? It is so cool. In second grade, I used my first communion money to buy The Originals. "KISS," "Hotter Than Hell" and "Dressed to Kill" were my unholy trinity. By third grade my teacher noticed that though I was having trouble writing cursive, I had zero trouble tracing the cover of "Rock and Roll Over" and turning that in as my homework.

I was thrilled when I finally became on official member of the KISS Army. I proudly wore that shirt to school and, soon after, had my books tossed all over the bus by a gang of "Pyromania" loving jocks. I didn't know it then, but when I enlisted in the KISS Army, I had signed on to fight a losing battle for the rest of my life. The field of battle eventually moved from Def Leppard kids on school buses to Bon Iver hipsters on bar stools and I was always stuck on the wrong side of the argument which went something like this.....

KISS....?       

KISS SUCKS.

And you have to admit, Kiss really does suck. Bad. For every one decent track there are five unlistenable tunes waiting in line behind it. I would be embarrassed to play 75% of their catalog for anybody but my closest friends. The worst rock show I ever saw was Kiss on the Crazy Nights Tour in Dayton, Ohio on New Year's Eve and they totally phoned it in. Check out the set list here. They were offstage by 10:30 pm and surely set to have their own "Crazy Night" somewhere far away from the Knight's Inn on I-70 where I was left to ring in the New Year. Bastards. If there was a rock bill of rights KISS would be war criminals: Paul's X-rated raps, Gene's smug assumption that KISS is not a rock band but a rock "brand," reunion tours, farewell tours, more reunion tours.

I could go on and on and on and on but I think the video for "Let's Put The X in Sex" says it better than I could ever write it. KISS Sucks.

But here is where it gets tricky. They don't always suck. They have influenced millions upon millions of people and when taken in their proper context - to blow the shit out of Eagle's styled flannel rock and impress grade school kids - they fucking nailed it. As long as KISS doesn't try to impress anybody older than 8 years old, they are pretty damn good. My son Owen is now 10 years old and currently Aerosmith is his favorite band. But when he was 8, nobody could touch KISS. I think it is safe to say he is outgrowing KISS like he did Dinosaurs, Star Wars  and Club Penguin. Still, how many bands can say they were your favorite band for a year? Even if it was when you were just eight years old? Pretty cool.  - Colin Gawel 

Learn more about Colin Gawel and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here

KISS Rocks! Below: Live from the Winterland in 1975 as a support act. With all due respect to Ricki C., the New York Dolls can shove this up their ass. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/275031995937837/ Deuce Strutter Got to choose Hotter than hell Firehouse Watchin' you Nothin' to lose Parasite 100,000 years Black diamond Cold gin Let me go, rock 'n' roll

KISS sucking. This is the Cat's last appearance with the band before leaving and then coming back and then leaving.... By the early eighties KISS had so thoroughly conquered rock n roll they  apparently decided it was time to take down Olivia Newton John. While it is sorta catchy, this sort of song will cause Def Leppard loving jocks to toss your KISS stickered notebooks all over the school bus. and rightfully so.

This is the official video for the song SHANDI from the album KISS - UNMASKED. Produced by Vini Poncia. Gene Simmons - Bass & Vocals Paul Stanley - Guitar & Vocals Ace Frehley - Lead Guitar & Vocals Anton Fig - Drums

I know what you are thinking, "Colin, that video was pretty cool, but I wish there was a live version with KISS backed by a symphony orchestra.."

Uploaded by KISSARMYBOOTS on 2011-06-26.

I Love KISS Unmasked and You Should Too. - by Scott Carr

This is Day 7 of Kiss Kountdown to Rock Hall. Click here to see other stories.
 

I Love Kiss Unmasked

1980 was a banner year for hard rock/heavy metal records...it was the year that brought us British Steel, Back In Black, Heaven and Hell, Women and Children First, All Shook Up, Blizzard of Ozz, Ace of Spades and yes, KISS Unmasked.

Unmasked was released in May of 1980 and it was the follow-up to 1979's Dynasty....which many consider the KISS "goes disco" album but is a pretty solid record in it's own right. If Dynasty was KISS "goes disco"......Unmasked is KISS "goes pop" and it is loaded with great tracks. 

By 1980 KISS-teria was really taking a dive in the US.....and Unmasked was pretty much a flop and one of their weakest-selling records. At this time I was still a card-carrying member of the KISS Army and pretty much defended anything the band was doing at the time....but I really did love Unmasked and still do. Unmasked was a tough sell to my fellow metalhead youth and former KISS Army members....but I fought the good fight for this record.....but I don't think I changed many minds. 

Sound-wise Unmasked is a very slick production.....which was handled by producer Vini Poncia....who had previously produced Dynasty and the Peter Criss 1978 solo album. I think if the album had a different production style Unmasked would rank higher in many fans "best of" lists, but to me the production really compliments the poppy side of KISS. 

Standout tracks for me are... Is That You?, Tomorrow, Easy As It Seems, You're All That I Want, She's So European.....plus we get three great tracks from Ace on this record....the best of them being Talk To Me. Speaking of Ace.....I feel he was really on a roll....songwriting and playing wise.....starting with 1977's Shock Me through to the songs on this record. Ace was really delivering the goods......and it really speaks volumes when he is getting equal amount of tracks on an album as Gene. My least favorite track on the record is Shandi.....it's a little too wimpy for my taste but it was a big hit for the band in other countries....especially Australia....where KISS-teria was still in full bloom. 

A couple interesting notes about Unmasked....even though it was called "Unmasked"....KISS would not officially unmask for another three years. Also of interest....Peter Criss is featured on the cover artwork but he didn't play one drum beat on this album.....that was handled by Anton Fig (now the drummer in the David Letterman Show band)....who also did most of the drumming on Dynasty and was the drummer on Ace's '78 solo album. Anton was the uncredited fifth member of KISS during this time....why is Anton not going into the R&RHOF?.....he deserves it. Eric Carr would be brought in as Peter's permanent replacement just after Unmasked was released.

Bottom line....Unmasked is loaded with some pop gems and great performances by Paul, Ace and Gene.....and even with it's poppy sheen....Unmasked rocks, or at least I think it does. It's not what most fans would expect or want from their fire-breathing, blood-spitting, guitar-smoking comic book heroes but it's an album that has stood the test of time for me and it sets firmly in my all-time "Top Five" KISS albums.

As time has gone on I've given up defending KISS like I did in my preteen years because frankly they haven't done much worth defending .....but I stand by my love for Unmasked as one of the underrated gems in their discography.

Now...excuse me while I go collect my notebooks from the floor of the school bus.........

My KISS Top Five.....(excluding live albums):

Dressed to Kill / Rock and Roll Over / Unmasked / Dynasty / The Elder

Scott Carr is a guest submission and I asked him to write this because he is the only KISS fan I know who loves Unmasked and also has The Elder in his top five favorite records. - Colin G. 

Vídeo da Música ''Tomorrow'' do album Umasked - 1980

How much blow was the publicity department at Casablanca doing to come up with this campaign?

Uploaded by None on 2012-02-26.

KISS Ruined Rock N Roll Forever by Wal Ozello

This is day 8 of Kiss Kountdown to Rock Hall. Click here for day 9.

Kiss Ruined Rock n Roll Forever by Wal Ozello

Several decades ago I was with my band, Armada, trying to break into the Cleveland/Akron market. A friend of a friend got us our first gig at the Akron Agora. We were third on the bill – playing from 9:30-10:30 and had to basically open for the opening band. That’s a hard kick in the chest for any lead singer, especially when we had been headlining weekends at the Alrosa Villa for two years or so.

After we rocked the house, we were followed by the #2 band on the bill. They were all dressed completely in black. Each guy had dyed their hair pure black, put on white powder make up, and black eyeliner. Except for the lead singer who had dyed his hair platinum blond. Just before going on stage they all glued on black Lee press-on fingernails.

I don’t remember what they played or how they sounded. But I do remember sitting there thinking how much time and effort my band had put into perfecting covers like Spirit Of The Radio, Freewill, Magic Power, and Modern Day Cowboy and then had to follow a circus act.  That’s what the sound guy called them, “A Circus Act.”

It was that moment in time that I despised the fire-breathing, blood-spitting Gene Simmons from KISS. I knew my band’s unique blend of pop and prog would never see the light of a major recording studio because we didn’t have that “marketing thing.”

To me, KISS was an average rock n roll band from New York City. They were nowhere near the level of acts like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Lou Reed and others that came from the same era.  So KISS did what any marketing guru would do and came up with another reason to come see them play: make-up, performance tricks, crazy costumes.  Basically a circus act.

They were a hit.  Everyone everywhere began to worship them as rock gods. In fact, check out all the other pencilstorm blogs this week that sing their praise.

But this circus act called KISS had a huge adverse effect on modern popular music.  No longer was songwriting or musicianship important. A straight-up rock n roll show wasn’t good enough for the likes of Warner, RCA, and PolyGram anymore – they wanted a circus act instead.

So I didn’t grow up with Bruce Springsteen passion-filled rock anthems, Pink Floyd concept albums, or The Rolling Stones rhythmic rock riffs.

Instead I had Bon Jovi bungee-jumping from the rafters. Twisted Sister dressing up as women. The Prince of Darkness biting the heads off of bats.

In the pop scene, Michael Jackson needed a glove. Prince needed a purple jacket. ZZ Top needed beards, a 1930s Ford Coupe, and spinning guitars. Hell… Milli Vanilli wasn’t even a real band.

And even if the band had talent, they still needed a gimmick. During one of my favorite concerts as a kid, I couldn’t enjoy Steve Vai’s melodic off-phrase solos because David Lee Roth was flying high above the stage on a huge surfboard.

This is was the Rock N Roll I was forced to grow up with all because Gene Simmons wanted to make some money instead of music.

God may have given us Rock N Roll but the guy in charge of purgatory gave us KISS.

Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars and is the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

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