I almost forgot that KISS entered the scene again during The Roach Days. If you recall back in Part 84 The KISS Age was officially coming
to a close. Aric bought Lick It Up and Animalize so I got to sample KISS again. Since Aric was a big KISS fan back in the 70’s too, we had plenty to talk about regarding KISS. While I was all about Ace Frehley, Aric was into Gene Simmons. He had the Gene Simmons solo LP and while I didn’t listen to it much the opening of the album provided excellent background for more than one answering machine message.
I remember seeing the MTV segment where KISS in unveiled to the audience for the first time. I remember in that segment and the first few videos and even on stage that Gene Simmons seemed the most uncomfortable without the makeup. Sure the music was still good KISS stuff but something was missing without the makeup.
I saw KISS live two or three times during this era and while it was a good show, it did not compare to KISS back in 1977. I’d have to wait until 1996 to get back to that level again. I wonder if that was the plan all along. Gene Simmons is a crafty business man. I would not be at all surprised if he said, “Let’s take of the makeup. It will generate som buzz, people will be interested and we’ll make a few millions dollars. Then after 10 years, the buzz will dire down and we’ll put the makeup back on. People will go crazy to see that again and we’ll generate even more buzz for doing the same thing we did in 1977 and we’ll nake a few billion dollars.”
Radioactive – From the Gene Simmons Solo
Lick It Up – We played this song for a while. It is a good song and I played most of it with just one hand. It was just endless thumping on the open A string for most of it.
All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose
Heaven’s On Fire
Tears Are Fallin’ – These last two were from Asylum
Uh! All Night
I still liked KISS but never enough to pick these albums up. I would eventually get a few KISS Compact Discs, mostly compilations and of course replacing almost all of my old vinyls. I’d even eventually name our dog Domino after a KISS song. Listening to them today, I still like them and feel fortunate to have access to so much fun music.