So there we were at J.C. Penney at the mall back in thoase days they sold records. Yep, downstairs right next to the escalator was a section of albums which eventually grew to include some TV’s and the new Pong Video Game. My goal used to be to get the pong ball stuck between the paddle and the wall so it would bounce forever. Now, I was scouring the album racks for more KISS music.
KISS Alive! was a double live album that came out before Destroyer. Peculiar thing, even though I still enjoy KISS and appreciate what it meant to me then and along they way. It all feels different. When I say “Destroyer” in my head, it doesn’t feel so much like a rock and roll milestone but more like a Godzilla movie. Of course, KISS was larger than life.
This experience with KISS would be a pattern that I’d repeat throughout my life. When I discover a band that I like, I begin to acquire the back catalog. KISS Alive! came with a booklet full of photos of the band which would spawn a huge collection of images taken from magazines and such. In Fact, I still have most of that collection on a book shelf about 5 feet away from where I’m sitting right now. does that reveal something about me. I mean think about it carefully for just a moment. I still have a collection of KISS magazine clippings that I compiled from age 11 to probably 13. It was created in Indiana and travelled to Vermont and back with me. I’ve had 7 addresses since it began and it has lived at each one with me. It has been a very long time since I removed it from its oversized protective manilla envelope. Looking over my shoulder I can see it is right next to the Wacky Packages scrapbook that I started at about the same time. I’m not a hoarder. I’m a curator.
Since KISS Alive! was pre destroyer, all the songs were pretty much new to me. I had heard Rock And Roll All Nite on the radio but it still was new to me. Just a couple years ago, I listened to the entire Alive! CD start to finish and I remember thinking it was a great album. Even though I rarely go out of my way to listen to KISS anymore, I still can’t help but get caught up in these old anthems that meant so much to me in grade school.
KISS – Deuce
KISS – Strutter
KISS – Firehouse
KISS – Rock And Roll All Nite