KISS: What's the facination?

Merchandising.

What other band markets a coffin in their likeness?

You had to be there.

I think that nails it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there, so I don't have a membership to the army. But I do have their song "God Gave Rock and Roll" on the Bill and Ted Bogus Journey soundtrack that I solely purchased for the Faith No More song.

bah they stole the gimmick from icp


lol


just bought detroit rock city the other day. hilarious. simply hilarious.

nothing beats joe flaherty on mushrooms!

I lived through it. Nick's right.

I never got it, though. I mean, I got *it*, but never understood why. My guess is Gene Simmons' passion for filthy lucre made it so I didn't have to understand. I just had to nod and smile and let it wash over me like everyone else.

Insufficient data at the moment, Star Child!

Same reason you see some people obsessing over stuff like The Goonies or the Transformers cartoons--nostalgia. I got into KISS when I was 8 years old. They were the first rock music I ever heard. To this day, I'm sure a lot of my opinions about what makes good rock music are based on being into KISS. And I think it's the same for a lot of people my age. Nobody in 4th grade had ever even heard of Led Zeppelin or the Stones. All we knew was KISS.

But I will say this: I won that KISS DVD off of CHUD, and I've been watching some of the concerts, and man...when you went to a KISS concert, you got your fucking money's worth!

KISS is like STAR WARS.
It ruled when you were a kid and it's an embarrassment now.

I actually used to have a copy of "Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park". Awesome in its badness.

I think the thing about Kiss is that there is zero pretension to their music. No angst, no deep meaning, just fun songs. Also the fact that the band seems to like being famous and doing the rock star thing was also cool.

And there's a thing about the songs not totally sucking.

"Rock n Roll All Night", "Detroit Rock City", "Shout it Out Loud", "Beth"...all great songs. The magic ended when they took off the makeup. It was like cutting off Samson's hair.

Fixed

The pyro. And the boots.


I never saw Kiss live, but I will say what I saw from videos, they put on a hell of a show.

Some dude dressed up like ACE FREHLEY playing in "KISS" at a casino rules?
That's even worse than ATTACK OF THE CLONES.

It's so much more disappointing when your mom won't let you hear them until you're like fourteen, and you've been building anticipation all that time, seeing Gene Simmons and their axe-shaped guitars and hearing about "The Demon" and how they worship Satan, and then you hear "Rock and Roll All Night." Bon Jovi sounds like he worships more Satan than Rock and Roll All Night, man.

I think KISS's success in the 70's was based on taking the ideas from Alice Cooper and David Bowie and just reducing them to the most simplistic form. Alice's stuff is pretty conceptual compared to the KISS show, and their songs are mostly bubblegum (I mean, I realize Alice's songs aren't exactly complex, but he does have some progy, theatrical stuff on all his albums).

That sounds about right.

Isn't Andrew W.K. a motivational speaker these days?

nick I think a big part of what it is.....you had to be there.

I was the perfect age for KISS. They blew my fucking mind away when I first came across them as a child.

They were playing live on some saturday morning t.v. show and that was it....the pyro, the make up, the mystique.

they were simply, at that time, an awesome sight and I have loved them ever since.

I have never been embarrassed to be a kiss fan. I genuinely enjoy their music from the 70's. They have written some amazing songs and I think the make up and the show all that extra stuff has actually hurt their rep in the song writing department as they truly have some great songs which to me stand up as some the best american rock of all time.

Their live show is the biggie though. I challenge anyone to see KISS in concert and not walk out witha big grin on their face.

Their on stage banter at times is so hilariously insincere but their love of performing is not. They do get criticised a lot for being money hungry which they obviously are especially mr simmons but it is not only about money.

The energy in their shows never dwindles. if it was just about money I do not believe their show would still be as much fun as it is today. They still enjoy performing to thousands of fans and they do not need the money so it isn't just about that...the coffins, condoms and coffee? thats money only....
sorry I mean koffins, kondoms and koffee

the live show....not at all. The money helps but they are one of the very best live bands in the world. You might not like the music but the show is great.

I love all the shit that goes along with it...I went to kiss convention and the history (i mean kisstory) that they have is great as weel. They are such a visual band that their past is full with awesome imagery and their story is a great one.

I am a KISS geek by the way in case you haven't noticed.....

I fucking love them.

Does that mean Gene Simmons has raped my childhood?

Nick summed it up best.....You had to be there.....In the 70's most bands looked like your next door neighbor....And there was little if any stage show.

KISS came along and BOOM....They really changed the way Music was presented.....For the best or the worst can still be debated.

I remember my first concert was KISS when I was 9.....It was incredible....Just like how Star Wars had blown me away 2 years earlier....And while they still put on a wild show....But they will never be confused musically with the Beatles.

KISS is the musical equivelant of Pro Wrestling.

because KISS gave us this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mycEpfqtzqE

...and this
Give it 30 seconds...PLEASE.


My take on Kiss?

Honestly - I like a ton of their music and find them and their career interesting.

I know they are ridiculous and stupid, that's part of the charm. Like a bad B Movie.
It's that simple - and I didn't even care about them when I was a kid.

I have a fairly recent fascination with their bizarre early-middle period where they went from neutered rock stars for kids with Love Gun and then pooped out 4 totally strange and diverse solo records on the same day before releasing a disco and then a pop album. Then they were beginning to fail and implode big-time so they decided to tackle fantasy-prog for an album before hitting Heavy Metal on their way to being a pink tassled hair band for the remainder of the 80's. Just a catchy and silly and Stanley-sounding trainwreck of a band.

It's the eyebrows.


Kiss is one of those bands that you either think is great because they write fun catchy rock tunes, and put on a bombastic show where they blow shit up and spit green blood and light their guitars on fire, or you think they're ridiculous for all of the reasons I listed above.

But mainly, it's the eyebrows.

My KISS/STAR WARS analogy was simply that Gene Simmons, like Lucas, has run his product into the ground.

Both ignited my childhood and I'll rock out to just about any Ace Frehley fueled KISS record even to this day (and always be up for a viewing of Star Wars.)

But just like I'd rather the prequels had never happened, I wish "KISS" wasn't playing corporate events with 2 dudes dressed up like Peter Criss and Ace.

It's Gene Simmons' tongue. If I had a tongue that long, I'd become very, very creative...and passionate.

You got something against "Tommy the Cat" and "Go to Hell"?

I'm kind of split on the new "KISS".

On the one hand there is no question that the current lineup(With Eric Singer on drums and Tommy Thayer on guitar) is the strongest lineup KISS has had since the early days(Back when Ace was solid on guitar).

On the other hand I can't stand the idea of someone else in Ace and Peter's makeup....I've heard that Gene and Paul have both said that they could envision the band going on without either of them....But something tells me that they'll never let that happen.

They haven't put out any new music in a decade....and they have no intentions of recording again....Of course unlike most bands....Music has always been secondary to them....They flat out admit that the music is nothing more than a soundtrack to the show....And that is why they never have and never will be taken seriously.

Nobody holds that against the Stones.

I haven't heard it and can't attest to its quality, but the Stones put a new studio album out just two years ago, and, even more surprisingly, it got pretty decent reviews. The last time KISS got any kind of critical acclaim... well, KISS never got any critical acclaim, I suppose, but even most of their fans don't seem to be too keen on very much of their post-makeup music.

The thing with Gene Simmons is he's full of revisionist history.
His spiel now is all about the money. He only cares about making money and KISS has always been an instrument to make money.
That's BS. He wanted to rock and get laid and be a rock star. Did he want to make money? Sure. But he likes to lay it out there that he had it planned that way all along.
Same thing with it never being about the music. It was always about the music, too. Without the tunes he'd have nothing to breathe fire to. The spectacle has to have a soundtrack. In fact, when they unmasked, the spin was that the spectacle had overshadowed the music. They wanted the focus on the music. (Whatever, it was just a new gimmick to replace the old gimmick.)

I think most hardcore KISS fans like the non-make up years. I tuned out at that point. It was a combination of my musical tastes evolving, the departure of Ace Frehley, and the fact the tunes sucked. KISS became a generic hair metal band.

More SImmons BS. When KISS reunited with the original line-up and had the huge tour in 1996 he said he's learned his lesson, all the marketing from before had cheapened the band and taken the focus off of the music.

That stance didn't last long.

To DJ Hippie, the "strength" of the line-up is irrelevant. They have the guitar tech dressed up like Ace Frehely and call him the "Space Man'. I wouldn't watch him play Gold Gin the most perfectly it's ever been played if you gave me free tickets and paid for my beer.

***side note*** The Last STONES cd was pretty decent. But it falls into the same cd-era trap of too much. If it was pared down to eight tracks it would definitely fill the obligatory post of the "best Stones lp since Tattoo You."

I can attest to this. A BIGGER BANG wouldn't been a near-classic with some editing. As it is, it's still worth a purchase if you're a true-blue Stones fan and listen to them often enough.

Oh, boo. W.K.'s mock musicianship leads to songs that come across as mock-rock showtunes. Bombastic, but also enthralling stuff. Kiss just likes to rock, and rock, and rock, and maybe have some theatricality to their live performances, but for W.K., it's all in the music. I can actually listen to W.K. and it brightens up my day and actually, gasp, motivates me. Kiss just makes me wanna maybe have a beer, but mostly reach for the off dial.

I can't defend Andrew W.K. and hate on Kiss without sounding like a loser. But there you are.

Even KISS has greater musical variety than Andrew WK (though I like him too).

Oh i'm the same way....I've seen video of this lineup and while they are tight....I have no desire to pay money to watch.

It's the same with the new Van Halen....I don't care if wolfgang fucking rules it on bass....No Michael Anthony....No way i'm seeing it.

Something tells me that Gene Simmons never sent poopoodle that shirt.

I will give GENE credit for that - he always delivers when paid.