Now, maybe it's me - cuz I'm a little effed-up and shit - but - and I've been listening to this CD pretty much non-stop since I bought it - but I was wondering - and I truly love these guys, I mean, truly - but when did KISS stop being relevant as a musical influence? Hell, when did they start?
It's like heavy metal's dirty, little secret and I don't quite get it. I mean, Rob Halford is openly gay (not that there's anything wrong with that - which is the whole point) and Judas Priest is a more respected metal influence than KISS... and KISS would kick the shit out of Judas Priest on a school night and be home in time for supper. What I'm asking is: is it the make-up? The high-heels? The whole glam-rock bit?
Well, then I'd have to bring up Bowie.
Now, we can all agree that David Bowie is and always will be a seminal influence on rock n roll - on every continent, in the mind of every pie-eyed stripper who pines for the guy who can play the guitar - and he was the cat who started the whole glam-rock bit!
Is it that, then? Do people think of KISS as some sort of sell-out band that chased any little trend they could in order to make it "big"? Because that's a crock, too. The way I see it, KISS was basically a heavy metal hair band - the tightest band on record, mind you, they have the live albums to prove it over and over (all respect to James Brown) - and the rest of the world said, "Do a ballad," and they did. KISS was a heavy metal band and society said, "Do a disco tune," and they did.
I guess, looking back, they were totally '70s - the whole glam-rock-cum-disco thing, the acoustic electric guitars - but there's a difference between timely and timeless and that line's pretty thin. At what point do you step away from David Bowie and T Rex and enter the realm of Michael Jackson and Herbie Hancock?
I would say KISS defined a decade.
KISS also truly embodied the all-American rock n roll band. You can't call everything they did "heavy metal," "hair band metal," "hard rock," "rock" - they, much like Madonna (though not as successfully), constantly redefined not only themselves but the very scene and music with which they were associated. You aren't going to find a song that rocks harder than I Stole Your Love. Find one. Name one. Creeping Death? Nah. Close, though. I'll give you Dead Kennedys' A Child and His Lawnmower, but... you know, we're getting out of the genre now.
There is no greater influence in heavy metal. Not from this side of The Pond, anyway.
It's like heavy metal's dirty, little secret and I don't quite get it. I mean, Rob Halford is openly gay (not that there's anything wrong with that - which is the whole point) and Judas Priest is a more respected metal influence than KISS... and KISS would kick the shit out of Judas Priest on a school night and be home in time for supper. What I'm asking is: is it the make-up? The high-heels? The whole glam-rock bit?
Well, then I'd have to bring up Bowie.
Now, we can all agree that David Bowie is and always will be a seminal influence on rock n roll - on every continent, in the mind of every pie-eyed stripper who pines for the guy who can play the guitar - and he was the cat who started the whole glam-rock bit!
Is it that, then? Do people think of KISS as some sort of sell-out band that chased any little trend they could in order to make it "big"? Because that's a crock, too. The way I see it, KISS was basically a heavy metal hair band - the tightest band on record, mind you, they have the live albums to prove it over and over (all respect to James Brown) - and the rest of the world said, "Do a ballad," and they did. KISS was a heavy metal band and society said, "Do a disco tune," and they did.
I guess, looking back, they were totally '70s - the whole glam-rock-cum-disco thing, the acoustic electric guitars - but there's a difference between timely and timeless and that line's pretty thin. At what point do you step away from David Bowie and T Rex and enter the realm of Michael Jackson and Herbie Hancock?
I would say KISS defined a decade.
KISS also truly embodied the all-American rock n roll band. You can't call everything they did "heavy metal," "hair band metal," "hard rock," "rock" - they, much like Madonna (though not as successfully), constantly redefined not only themselves but the very scene and music with which they were associated. You aren't going to find a song that rocks harder than I Stole Your Love. Find one. Name one. Creeping Death? Nah. Close, though. I'll give you Dead Kennedys' A Child and His Lawnmower, but... you know, we're getting out of the genre now.
There is no greater influence in heavy metal. Not from this side of The Pond, anyway.
1 comment:
Ok, I have to add my 2 cents here. I grew up during the whole hair band era and I will be the first to say that KISS was the first real rock and roll group that put a face to the music.
In the 80's, when they decided to go "unmasked", I was pissed. KISS just isn't KISS without the make-up and in my mind, they sold out.
If it wasn't for KISS, there would probably never have been groups like Twisted Sister and/or Poison. Like The Sugar Hill Gang was for Hip-Hop, KISS was the pioneer of an entire generation of hair bands and heavy metal music.
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