They rule.

The run from KISS to Dynasty is fantastic.

Paul and Ace's 1978 solo albs are flat-out great, and the former has a few songs that would be considered power-pop classics if Paul Stanley's face and name weren't on the album cover. Gene's solo alb is mostly horrible, but "See You Tonite" is top shelf. Peter Criss was lucky to have been in that band. Weak, wussy drummer even at his peak. Except for "Easy Thing," his solo album is garbage filled with lite-rock ballads and sock-hop malt-shop bullshit that sounds like outtakes from the Grease soundtrack. I wish Eric Carr had been there from the beginning.

Unmasked has its moments, particularly when they're leaning into the power-pop thing.

(Music from) "The Elder" has one good song on it but there's way too much Dungeons-and-Dragons nonsense and not enough rock music.

Creatures of the Night is their best album. Lick It Up, also great, but would be miles better without the song where Paul Stanley tries to rap.

Animalize, Asylum, and Crazy Nights are fun hair-metal albums. Hot in the Shade is mostly garbage. Revenge is fine.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park is fun, and made more enjoyable by how much the band members hate it.

Paul Stanley's stage banter is the greatest.

The four original dudes seem like uniquely reprehensible people.

NOT CRAP.

I saw them in Detroit on NYE/NYD 1998-1999 during the Psycho Circus tour. The live show was fantastic. They each did like 10 minute solo bits, with Ace being the highlight. They played Detroit Rock City at midnight. They gave out 3D glasses and had shitty late 90s CGI projected on a giant screen behind them.

I would never want to interact with any of them on a personal level.

NC

Pretty much all the bad parts of rock music in one package. CRAP.

I've never been much of a fan, the only album I've listened to is Alive!, and there are some fun, fist-pumping rock songs on there. So yeah, they're ok with me.

NC

I think you had to be… there. I only know one song. The You Were Made for Loving Me. And that the bass player kept a pet scorpion in a box in his belt.

As I have often said...they probably have a killer-to-shit ratio of 20% killer and 80% garbage, but that 20% is fucking legendary.

Gene Simmons is a garbage human, but he was out there vocally and kindly asking his fans (KISS fans!) to mask up during Covid. He actually moved up a notch or two in my estimation with that.

Paul Stanley is a goof but seems pretty harmless overall? He accidentally said something really profound when being interviewed for Decline 2, while surrounded with lingerie models: "Money is nice but all money makes possible is for you to stop worrying about money." I think about that quote a lot.

Eric Carr's drum solo on the Hot in the Shade tour damaged my ear and certain high frequencies have hurt ever since! Sure, I was 16 and too dumb to wear earplugs, but c'mon, guy! Why ya gotta play bass drums that are that long? Still, RIP, fuck cancer.

"King of the Nighttime World," "I Love it Loud," "Detroit Rock City," "God of Thunder," "Strutter..." awesome, all of them. "Let's Put the X in Sex," "(You Make Me) Rock Hard..." Jesus of Christ, those songs warrant the death penalty.

My wife hates them more than I hate Weezer. That's a lot, by the way.

KISS Koffins.

I voted NOT CRAP.

But let's be real... CRAP.

Not crap for Kiss through Love Gun. Creatures of the Night and Lick It Up are alright, but Paul was trying to sing well outside his range by then.

penningtron wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2024 12:03 pm Pretty much all the bad parts of rock music in one package. CRAP.

+1

We opened for a KISS tribute band earlier in the year. Or maybe it was last year, who can say these days.

Anyway, everybody - I mean the audience - was not expecting much, everybody was saying "I'm not really a KISS fan, but we'll see..."

Well, those guys absolutely tore the place up. What a great show. They looked about eight feet tall in their big KISS boots. And KISS' material is shit. For those who can only name two or three KISS songs, that's because it's all weak bar-rock filler, because KISS sucks ass. But those guys gave it 120% and somehow made it work. The drummer was killing it.

People who had seen KISS live said they were better than the real thing. People who had never seen KISS live said they were surely better than the real thing.

Maybe it's just that expectations were low, because KISS are CRAP. Or, maybe it's because KISS are silly and the overall vibe was good, in contrast to the time some of the same guys came through town as an AC/DC tribute act and the vibe was fucking aggro and the audience was full of drunken thugs.

I think I could put together a 70's makeup best of and (a substantially weaker) 80's hair metal best of at this point.

It *just* comes together on *just* enough tunes to stop me from totally writing them off. But they didn't make one good album. (Maybe Revenge comes close.)

Not a 'good' band. Musically they were stodge. I think (much like Crüe or Poison) they were lucky to have the career they had.

I know I wouldn't care if I never heard any of it ever again.

I say crap.