Re: The Official KISS Thread!
I don't even know where to start in this thread. I was going to post in it a couple of days ago when I first joined, but wound up getting lost in the (all too many) KISS videos that so many of you have posted. There are only so many hours in the day, people!
KISS was first band that I ever saw live. I was an impressionable 12 (almost 13) years of age and I was fortunate enough to have seen them on their Destroyer tour in the hallowed halls of Detroit's Cobo Arena. Why hallowed? Because it's where KISS recorded much of ALIVE! It's also where Bob Seger's Live Bullet LP (what the hell is an LP?!?!) was recorded. Any KISS fan will recognize
this image of Cobo from the back cover of KISS ALIVE!
Seger even opened up for KISS on that particular tour, as did Ted Nugent, two Motor City sons/faves. By the time I saw them in October of that year, however, the opening act was Uriah Heap. And that's
certainly not a lament. For cryin' out loud have you ever heard Uriah Heep's Stealin'? Perfection.
KISS was my favorite band during my adolescent years. And while they weren't always popular with many of the other kids (KISS wasn't necessarily cool), I stuck to my guns (Love Guns?). Yes, I caught flack, but as a member of the KISS Army, I dug in and held my ground. They had captured the imagination of this then 12 year old.
My bedroom walls were COVERED with KISS posters including the "Spirit of '76" poster. I even remember waiting all too anxiously for the
Paul Lynde Halloween Special. I couldn't get enough of them in those days and they didn't release an album that I didn't scoop up on the first day of release.
I've seen KISS 5 times throughout the past 3 and a half decades and being a fierce loyalist to the original lineup, I've only ever seen them when Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley were the lineup. I won't see them otherwise. It's not that the music doesn't hold up, it's just that, as I stated, I'm loyal to the original lineup. That's the KISS I grew up with.
Like them or not, they've withstood the test of time. They're one of the all time great party bands and, Gene's money lust aside, they KICK ASS!!! I'll Rock and Roll Over in my grave.
