All through 6th grade, KISS was a large part of the conversation. We would even figure out ways to insert KISS into our assignments in class. KISS make up was being drawn on everything from blackboards to notebooks. At that time, I never knew when a new album was going to be in stores. I’d just go to the “K” section every time I was in a place that sold records. Most of the time it would be the same 5 that I already had. One day as I flipped through the KISS albums at the store, there was a new one.
Rock and Roll Over was released and that started everything over again as we devoured the new music and publicity shots in Creem and Circus Magazines. KISS was releasing a new album every 6 months it seemed. If we were ever in a shop that sold records, I’d comb through them looking for KISS. I found a lot of album art very interesting and years later I would own many of the iconic covers that I flipped past on my way to the KISS section.
In this age where the internet as been commonplace for over a decade, it is hard to remember what things were like back then. I wonder how different the KISS experience would have been if we had Bing and YouTube back then. One of the angles that KISS played up was the mystery of their true identities. Magazine articles would run a headline of Paul Stanley Unmasked and inside would be a photo of Paul without makeup but 89% obscured by a magazine cover. I’m sure that YouTube would have had hundreds of videos of Gene Simmons unmasked at the movies or in the produce aisle. On the other hand, KISS were marketing geniuses and probably could have vaulted themselves even higher faster with by bending the world wide web to their will.
KISS – I Want You
KISS – Ladies Room
KISS – Calling Dr. Love
KISS – Makin’ Love
KISS – Take Me
KISS – Hard Luck Woman you probably have heard Hard Luck Woman. It was one of their chart toppers back in the 1970’s. What you may not know is this song was originally written for Rod Stewart. With that in mind, take a listen.
Totally sounds like a Rod Stewart song doesn’t it? The vocal quality and musical sensibility make it easy to imagine Rod Stewart in the 1970’s.