One of the allures of KISS is that, even for all of their success and longevity, they are still a band for the outsiders. You don't hear KISS on classic rock radio, except maybe every now and then. And, for the most part, you didn't hear them on Top 40 radio -- back when there was such a thing, where you could actually hear popular songs in a variety of genres all on the same station. They didn't have a ton of chart success, considering they've been selling out arenas for 40+ years.
Their anonymity made them seem like untouchable gods in the '70s. They rocked hard, and then succumbed to outside pressure and made some interesting choices in the late '70s and early '80s, before they took off their makeup in 1983 and exposed their hideous skin to the world just in time for the MTV era. In doing so, they embraced the hair band sound of the day, and some of the results were better than others. Then they attempted to turn grunge, post-grunge, and then the original lineup reunited and put the makeup back on for a huge tour and a pretty decent hard rock album. They've kept the makeup on since (though not with the original lineup), and been rocking and rolling.
KISS has gone through some personnel changes over the years. Here's a breakdown:
The Original Make-Up Years
First lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Ace Frehley: guitar, vocals
Peter Criss: drums, vocals
Albums: KISS (1974), Hotter Than Hell (1975), Dressed to Kill (1975), Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), Love Gun (1977), Dynasty (1979) (although Anton Fig played drums on most of the studio tracks), Unmasked (1980) (Peter Criss was credited, but Anton Fig played the drums on all of the tracks)
Second lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Ace Frehley: guitar, vocals
Eric Carr: drums
Albums: Music From "The Elder" (1981), Creatures of the Night (1982) (Ace Frehley was credited, but Vinnie Vincent played guitar on most of the tracks)
Ironically, the band released an album called Unmasked in 1980, two years before they literally unmasked.
Third lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Vinnie Vincent: guitar
Eric Carr: drums
Albums: Lick It Up (1983)
Fourth lineup
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Mark St. John: guitar
Eric Carr: drums
Albums: Animalize (1984)
Fifth lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Bruce Kulick: guitar
Eric Carr: drums, vocals
Albums: Asylum (1985), Crazy Nights (1987), Hot in the Shade (1989)
Sixth lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Bruce Kulick: guitar
Eric Singer: drums
Albums: Revenge (1992) (Eric Carr played drums on one track), Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)
Seventh (First) lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Ace Frehley: guitar, vocals
Peter Criss: drums, vocals
Albums: Psycho Circus (1998)
Eighth lineup
Gene Simmons: bass, vocals
Paul Stanley: guitar, vocals
Tommy Thayer: guitar, vocals
Eric Singer: drums, vocals
Albums: Sonic Boom (2009), Monster (2012)
The band has had 26 songs that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 -- although two songs charted both as studio version and live versions ("Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Shout It Out Loud"), so I included both the studio and live versions as the same song for purposes of the list. I also included the charting songs from the "solo" albums each band member released in 1978.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and blow smoke up your ass and pretend that every KISS song that charted was gold. For the list, I ranked the songs using the following factors: (1) untimeliness (i.e., how the song has stood the test of time); (2) their classicism in the KISS pantheon (i.e., how the songs are viewed by KISS fans); (3) popularity; (4) loveability; and (5) my own personal preference.
With that, here's my ranking of the KISS songs that charted:
26. "Shandi" (#47) (Unmasked, 1980)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia
This is probably the cheesiest KISS song of all-time. Paul Stanley sings what could very well be the theme song to an early '80s sitcom about a stripper with a heart of gold who's just trying to make ends meet. Thanks to her prudish roommate, her randy seventy-something female landlord, and Pavel, the vaguely Eastern European DJ at The Cheeky Beaver, the hijinx just never stop for young Shandi. It's no coincidence that since this song was released, not a single parent has named his or her child Shandi.
25. "Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We're Apart)" (#46) (Paul Stanley, 1978)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley
This was the only charting song from Paul's 1978 "solo" album, and it's pretty bad. Maybe you didn't know Paul Stanley had a yacht rock phase. Now you do.
24. "A World Without Heroes" (#56) (Music From "The Elder," 1981)
Singer: Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin, Lou Reed
This album -- Music From "The Elder" -- is pretty much conspicuously forgotten about by most KISS fans. It was an ill-conceived concept album that performed so poorly that the band didn't even tour to support it. Even though Lou Reed is credited as a co-writer, "A World Without Heroes" is a slow, trippy song that belongs nowhere on a KISS record. No wonder Ace Frehley quit.
23. "Sure Know Something" (#47) (Dynasty, 1979)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia
This is another cheesy song -- one of the disco-fied songs on Dynasty. To the extent there could be something called a disco power ballad, I guess this would be it. The verses are loungey, and the chorus is the only thing that saves the song.
22. "Radioactive" (#47) (Gene Simmons, 1978)Singer: Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons
This is a pretty catchy song off of Gene's 1978 "solo" album. Not particularly hard-hitting, but at least it's not disco or yacht rock.
21. "Reason to Live" (#64) (Crazy Nights, 1987)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Desmond Child
Co-written by wunderkind songwriter Desmond Child, "Reason to Live" sounds like it was made in 1987, but it should be on a Heart album, not a KISS album. And that's not a knock on Heart -- I love Heart -- but if you listen to this song, it doesn't sound like a KISS song.
20. "Rise to It" (#81) (Hot in the Shade, 1989)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Bob Halligan, Jr.
This is another decent '80s era hard rock song. Nothing special, but not aurally offensive.
19. "Hide Your Heart" (#66) (Hot in the Shade, 1989)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Desmond Child, Holly Knight
Another Desmond Child collaboration -- not to mention Holly Knight, another great songwriter -- this one has a little more oomph to it. It sounds like a solid hair band song.
18. "Tears Are Falling" (#51) (Asylum, 1985)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley
This wasn't a bad song. It's a decent mid-'80s hard rock effort. It's just not as good as what's ahead of it on this list.
17. "Kissin' Time" (#83) (KISS, 1974)
Singers: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss
Songwriter(s): Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe
After the band's debut album kind of stalled on the charts and didn't have what the record company thought was a hit single, so the record execs essentially forced the band to record their cover of '50s teen idol Bobby Rydell's 1959 hit "Kissin' Time." They changed some of the lyrics to better fit with the band's image, and the song was then added to pressings of their debut album. It ended up being their first charting single. It's catchy, but it's just not really a KISS song, even if it has a variation of "kiss" in the title.
16. "Let's Put the X in Sex" (#97) (Smashes, Thrashes & Hits, 1988)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Desmond Child
This was one of two new songs included on the 1988 compilation Smashes, Thrashes & Hits. There is already an "x" in "sex," so the title has always confused me. Had it been "Let's Put the Ex in Sex," I'd get it -- like, "hey, just because we're broken up doesn't mean we can't shag."
15. "Rocket Ride" (#39) (Alive II, 1977)
Singer: Ace Frehley
Songwriter(s): Ace Frehley, Sean Delaney
Sexual innuendo smacks you in the face on this Ace contribution that was one of the five original songs on the otherwise live album Alive II. Peter played the drums on the track, but Ace played everything else and sung. I like the song, and I think it probably would have been better suited to have been on Love Gun (released four months before Alive II) than "Then She Kissed Me" had it been recorded a few months earlier.
14. "Heaven's On Fire" (#49) (Animalize, 1984)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Desmond Child
This was another Stanley-Child collaboration, and it's a pretty good mid-'80s rock song. It was definitely a better choice as an album single than, oh say, Gene's contribution called "Burn Bitch Burn." As an added bonus, the "Heaven's On Fire" video is the only one to feature guitarist Mark St. John.
13. "Crazy Crazy Nights" (#65) (Crazy Nights, 1987)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell
This is Daughter's favorite KISS song, and it's actually a pretty catchy rock song. I think this holds up better than a lot of the band's hits in the '80s (as you can see from this list).
12. "Flaming Youth" (#74) (Destroyer, 1976)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin
"Flaming Youth" was a one of three charting songs off of Destroyer. As with "King of the Night Time World" and "Shout It Out Loud" (also both on Destroyer), I think KISS did a good job here of capturing the trials and tribulations of teenagers in 1970s America.
11. "I Was Made For Lovin' You" (#11) (Dynasty, 1979)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia, Desmond Child
I couldn't, in good conscience, include a disco song in the top ten of this list. This was Child's first collaboration with the group, and you can't argue with success. But it's still disco rock.
10. "New York Groove" (#13) (Ace Frehley, 1978)
Singer: Ace Frehley
Songwriter(s): Russ Ballard
This was far and away the most successful song off of the group's four "solo" albums in 1978, and with good reason, as you heard the other two offerings above. Ace Frehley took a song by UK glam band Hello and made it his own. He was, after all, from New York City. Whenever I'm in New York, this song is in my head pretty much the entire time. I've always thought this would be a great song for a movie about a serial killer from New York. Like he winks at the camera at the end of the movie as this song starts playing, as he walks down a busy NYC street to talk to a woman who has no idea she's about to fall prey to a serial sexual sadist. If that doesn't make a hell of a rom com, I don't know what does.
9. "Forever" (#8) (Hot in the Shade, 1989)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Michael Bolton
Yes, KISS's biggest hit since 1976 was co-written by Michael Bolton -- and not the Michael Bolton who worked at Initech. This is a great hair band power ballad, and it was a good example of the band showing that they could keep up with all the bands that they influenced.
8. "Hard Luck Woman" (#15) (Rock and Roll Over, 1976)
Singer: Peter Criss
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley
"Hard Luck Woman" is a great acoustic pop song sung by Peter Criss and his soulful and slightly gravely voice. It was "unplugged" more than a decade before Unplugged. All in all, it's a catchy song the crosses genres. It was also covered by another of my favorite bands, The Hold Steady, who put it on their 2014 covers EP, Rags -- a title inspired by the chorus of the song.
7. "Love Gun" (#61) (Love Gun, 1977)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley
The title track off of one of the band's best studio albums has been a live staple for the band for 40+ years. It's a fast-paced hard rock song that hits you with those machine-gun drums and guitars right off the bat, and then Paul sings about some strange device called a "love gun," which is kind of an oxymoron. Maybe it's like a modern-day Cupid's arrow -- like a ray gun that makes otherwise uninterested women fall in love with men who wear kabuki-style makeup and seven-inch, knee-high boots.
6. "Lick It Up" (#66) (Lick It Up, 1983)
Singer: Paul Stanley
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent
Vinnie Vincent's stay in the band was short-lived, but I think he did a lot for the longevity of the band, breathing in some hard rock vibes that were more up with the times.
5. "Christine Sixteen" (#25) (Love Gun, 1977)
Singer: Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons
Last week during my discussion of "All The Way," I discussed another song off of Hotter Than Hell, "Goin' Blind" -- a song sung from the point of view of a 93-year-old man to the object of his lust, who is a 16-year-old girl. It was written by Gene Simmons. Not wanting to let a good theme go to waste, several years later, he wrote "Christine Sixteen," which I suppose is slightly less creepy because we don't know whether the narrator in the song is a nonagenarian. The little spoken-word part a little more than a minute into the song is a sexually predatory monologue that only a man who vomits blood on stage could get away with. Seriously, he says, "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw you coming out of school that day. That day, I knew -- I knew -- I've got to have you. I've got to have you." So, for good reason, it was banned by some radio stations and limited to being played after 7 p.m. by others, but that didn't stop it from being a hit. Glammy piano, catchy riffs, and lines that rhyme with "Christine" like "she's been around, but she's not that clean" can apparently overcome potential statutory rape, depending on which state you're in. Anyway, it is a KISS classic and a solid rock song.
4. "Beth" (#7) (Destroyer, 1976)
Singer: Peter Criss
Songwriter(s): Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, Bob Ezrin
If you ever -- and I mean ever -- meet someone named Beth, it is imperative that you sing this to her. I've never met a Beth who didn't like that. But seriously, this is KISS's highest-charting song. It's a ballad (not a power ballad, however, as there is no power -- there aren't even guitars) about a guy in a band who is calling his wife (Beth) to let her know that he's gonna be rehearsing for a few more hours. He's torn, but he knows he has to stay with the guys until they get the song right. Sung beautifully by co-writer Peter Criss, the song is undoubtedly a departure for the band. Even so, I think it stands the test of time, and it's subject matter is timeless for any guy in a relationship -- the pull between your lady and your friends and/or your job. This one also has a special place in my heart because it's featured in a poignant scene in the very underrated '90s film Beautiful Girls.
3. "Calling Dr. Love" (#16) (Rock and Roll Over, 1976)
Singer: Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons
Eight months after the band released Destroyer, they put out Rock and Roll Over -- a formidable follow-up that turned out to be the only KISS album with two Top 20 songs. We already discussed "Hard Luck Woman" above, and the other one is a true KISS classic: "Calling Dr. Love." Gene hit the ball out of the rock park with this one. It's a gritty rock song with a chorus that lends itself to singing along with 20,000 of your closest friends. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I did not know about this song when I was in high school where, I kid you not, one of the deans had a PhD in Education, and his last name was Love. Why this wasn't played on repeat whenever he was paged is a failing by all of us. All of us.
2. "Shout It Out Loud" (#31/#54 (live)) (Destroyer, 1976/Alive II, 1977)
Singers: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin
As I mentioned above, "Shout It Out Loud" is one of two KISS songs that charted both as studio track and a live track. It's a fist pumper -- for me, anyway -- that basically became an instant KISS classic. It captures what makes KISS so great to so many people. It's simple, it's fun, it's rock and roll. It makes you want want to sing along, or shout it out loud, if you will. It's a nearly perfect rock and roll song.
1. "Rock and Roll All Nite" (#68/#12 (live)) (Dressed to Kill, 1975/Alive!, 1975)
Singer: Gene Simmons
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley
Simply put, this is one of the most iconic rock and roll songs off all-time. Truer words have never been spoken than "I wanna rock and roll all night / And party every day." Presumably, this will be the last song of the encore when I see them on Saturday. I might get emotional.
Songwriter(s): Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley
Simply put, this is one of the most iconic rock and roll songs off all-time. Truer words have never been spoken than "I wanna rock and roll all night / And party every day." Presumably, this will be the last song of the encore when I see them on Saturday. I might get emotional.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment