Yeah, this is the sort of thing our cultural watchdogs fretted about before Rap was invented:
[KISS – Land Of Hype And Glory (NBC News) – 1977] (Viewer #74,570)
Yeah, this is the sort of thing our cultural watchdogs fretted about before Rap was invented:
[KISS – Land Of Hype And Glory (NBC News) – 1977] (Viewer #74,570)
Funny story: Kiss’ album Destroyer sold poorly – its first singles sputtered out including the song they had banked on being a hit Detroit Rock City”. The B-side of that single was a slow ballad entirely out of character for Kiss and the rest of the album. The band put it on the B-side intending to force radio stations to play the planned hit on the A-side.
But DJs like “Beth” better and so did everyone else. Once it started to get radio play it became Kiss’ first top-ten hit and it made Destroyer their first platinum album.
So not only did Kiss make generally crummy music, when they did accidentally make something decent they didn’t even have the musical taste to recognize it.
I never saw them growing up. It wasn’t until last year’s tour with Def Leppard that I saw them for the first time. It was because I wanted to show my kids a rock concert and what better show than that? They didn’t even have to care about the music to enjoy it.
I loved seeing Def Leppard because I always liked them. I loved the Kiss show because I knew my kids would never forget it.
I could never afford to see them as a kid, I had more important things to do with my meager resources. As an adult, I have to greatly appreciate for their business genius, even if the music was “below-average”. I have friends that are die hard Kiss fans, and have been for life.
Their music does belong in the cutout bin, but they worked hard to give you your money’s worth at a show and they did market themselves very well.
@4 – Definitely A+ for showmanship. I still find their music a little boring, though. I like my melodies a little more intricate.