Is KISS music worth looking into or is it all a gimmick?

is KISS music worth looking into or is it all a gimmick?

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name 1 (one) music that isnt a gimmick

Most music is worthless anyway. We identify with music usually because of external reasons. e.g. look at the faggot daily shilling Grimes in this forum, he obviously does it either because he is paid to do it, or because he likes the visual.

Dressed to Kill [Casablanca, 1975]

I feel schizy about this record. On the one hand, it rocks with a brutal, uncompromising force reminiscent of a slicked-back, heavied-up Dave Clark Five or MC5, and the songwriting is very much improved over albums one and two. On the other hand, the lyrics dimly recall the liberal fantasy of rock concert as Nuremberg rally, with sexism at its cruelest hinted at in songs such as "Room Service" and "Ladies in Waiting", a situation made all the more ominous by the band's refusal to bare the grinning faces beneath the clown makeup. That may be just the effect they intend, although for the worst of reasons. You damn well know that if they didn't have their eye set on maximum commerciality, they'd call themselves Blowjob. B-

Alive! [Casablanca, 1975]

This live album rescues from the sludge such unacknowledged hard rock classics as "Deuce" and "Strutter". There are others who feel that it is the sludge. I fall into neither category, applaud the drum solo on "Black Diamond", and take in the whole thing with bemused curiosity. The several million kids who are buying don't fall into either category either. B

Destroyer [Casablanca, 1976]

Like most hard (not heavy) bands wildly favored by young teenagers (cf. Alice Cooper, BTO), these guys have always rocked harder than adults are willing to give them credit for. Pro producer Bob Ezrin however only adds bombast and melodrama. Their least interesting record. C

Rock and Roll Over [Casablanca, 1976]

Those who dismiss them as unlistenable miss the point--they write tough, catchy songs, and if they had a sly, Jagger-like singer up front, they'd be a menace. But they aren't a menace--as my sister and nieces/nephews assure me, the kids get off on the burlesque. When the cartoon superhero commands the audience to pull out their loaded gun, don't they know that this is a caricature of sex, and macho sex at that? Maybe so, but I'm not getting down on my knees to find out. C+

Meltdown [1980s]

Everything Rocks and Nothing Ever Dies [1990s]

I Kiss, formati nel 1973 da Gene Simmons (basso) e Paul Stanley (chitarra ritmica), con Ace Frehley alla prima chitarra, furono il piu` celebre dei primi complessi glam-metal. Nacquero e crebbero, infatti, nei club di New York in cui dilagava il rock decadente, e nell'era di Alice Cooper. Con loro l'heavy metal smise del tutto i panni di messaggero del demonio e divenne la moda prediletta dei giovani borghesi pervertiti. Inneggiando al sesso e al rock come elementi basilari del fun adolescenziale, i Kiss coniarono un heavy metal privo di connotati sociali o esistenziali.
Brutali e monocordi, i loro pezzi possono sfiorare la furia selvaggia degli MC5 come ripetere all'infinito i riff piu` stucchevoli. L'assoluta inettitudine tecnica ne limitava gli orrizzonti stilistici e li costringeva a investire nell'aspetto scenografico. Ma l'esibizionismo macabro-osceno finiva per ricordare piu` il grandguignol del burlesque che i classici dell'horror. La loro truce grandeur metallica era indubbiamente orecchiabile, ma nel senso in cui lo erano stati l'easy-listening e il bubblegum, i generi che i Kiss trapiantarono sul fusto dell'heavy-metal.

L'intera coreografia, ispirata tanto al kabuki quanto ai bordelli, venne inventata dal loro manager, Bill Aucoin, un ex regista televisivo.

Kiss (Casablanca, feb 1974) e` la quintessenza di tutto cio` che verra` dopo: riff scontati e ritornelli infantili, auto-esaltazione, lascivia, e apologia del divertimento selvaggio (Deuce, Strutter, Black Diamond). Hotter Than Hell (nov 1974) contiene Hotter Than Hell, ma e` molto inferiore (probabilmente gli scarti del precedente). Dressed to Kill (apr 1975) ha il loro anthem corale piu` celebre, Rock And Roll All Nite. Ma furono resi celebri soprattutto dal loro show, un concentrato di trucco pesante, pose maschiliste ed effetti truculenti. L'apice "artistico" lo toccarono con Destroyer (1976), su cui troneggiano God Of Thunder, Shout It Loud, Do You Love Me (un tipico bubblegum in cui si conqu

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Only white trash guys in their 40s and 50s are into KISS, mostly because it reminds them of being 13.

I mean, really. Their fanbase are hella white trash. They make Guns'N'Roses fans look sophisticated.

U2's business model. Money first; music second.

I'm sorry to break your hymen but music business is a business. That is related to the fact that people making the music generally need a roof over their head and food to eat at the very least. When it comes to the production they'll need gear as well, it's an investment and the point is to make the investment grow and pay itself back, along with the expenses for the food, roof and clothing you need while it does that.

Oh, you want to live somewhere else than your mums basement eating spagetti and become a musician? Better get a job first to afford a place and gear, if you need a practice place too, that'll be another rent split between you and the amount of people you managed to trap to your band with your personality and social skills.
Oh, you actually want to devote time to making your music instead of working at a office 9 to 5? Better start playing more gigs.
Oh you want more people than your locals to hear your music? Pay for the van to tour on.
Oh, you want people to actually come to your show and know your stuff? Pay for the studio time and printing.
Oh, are you getting scammed on gig pays? Better get a manager.
Don't forget to pay the rent!

You can argue that some point, for some artists, it's just about those big arena checks and at that point they've probably have really lost part or all of their artistic integrity, no matter how much they claim to do it for the fans on their 8th reunion/farewell tour.
Or maybe they just do it because they love the thrill of playing live to a cheering audience of thousands who don't even care about their talents fading abilities?

But you can't be a sandy cunt and claim that the only true artists are the one starving, recording their music on a tape recorder they found in dumpster and only releasing it to the hobo living in the cardboard box across the street. Because that's where that unreleased unheard of shit belongs, in the back alley dumpsters along with your worthless opinions.

None of them were exceptional musicians. Paul Stanley was a chord guy; he rarely played riffs. Gene Simmons was not a bad bassist, at least in the 70s, although he phoned it in afterwards. Peter Criss was a very mediocre drummer and Ace Frehley was ok as a guitarist. Both Criss and Frehley were surpassed by their 80s replacements.

I agree. The 80s version of KISS had better musicianship aside from Gene Simmons; he regressed as a player. Bruce Kulick was the best guitarist they ever had. That tight chemistry and groove they had in the 70s was missing though.

Beth is alright.
some other songs are genuinely good rock arena anthems, but it all depends on what you mean by "gimmick"

They were a pretty big pop culture phenomenon in the 70s and a big influence on the hard rock/metal scene. Most of what happened in the 80s was made possible by Aerosmith and KISS, the two mid-70s rock giants.

You should read about the early days when they were starving and had to live off their manager's credit card. They also borrowed his suits for the Dressed To Kill cover since only Peter Criss actually owned a suit.

Paul Stanley would go to the city dump, buy piles of old, destroyed amps and put them on stage with no lights around them so you couldn't see that they were nonfunctional; this created the illusion that they had giant Spinal Tap stacks of amps.

>Gene Simmons helped kick-start Van Halen's career; he paid for their initial demo recordings in 1977, and also proposed that they call themselves "Daddy Longlegs". He even sketched a logo for the band featuring a spider in a top hat.

>In 1982, in the midst of creative disputes with his bandmates, Eddie Van Halen threatened to leave Van Halen and join KISS. He was talked out of this by Alex Van Halen as well as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley

unpopular opinion: bob ezrin ruined KISS

Yeah that would never have worked. Simmons and Stanley always had a policy of recruiting unknowns to the band, and EVH had too much of an ego and strong personality to get along with them. They didn't want anyone who could challenge their creative control of the band.

>The 80s version of KISS had better musicianship aside from Gene Simmons; he regressed as a player

Gene got so fucking lazy and tuned out after about 1983. He only played the root note instead of the melodic bass he did in the 70s, and also he only played on his own songs, leaving everything else to Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick, or whatever session musician happened to be available that day.

80s KISS was more of a Paul Stanley solo act than anything; Gene was too busy acting in movies and managing/producing other artists and cabaret singers.

oh great, the kiss spammer is back. i can only hope you're going to sperg out again about how peter criss supposedly isn't the worst drummer of all time

youtube.com/watch?v=Pfb3iE92_Oo

It's a gimmick worth looking into.
They're not the best band out there but their music is fun if you're in the right mood and I had a lot of fun at the only Kiss concert I ever attended. I'd see them again but the original line up is really the only Kiss worth listening to. Once Ace Frehley and Peter Criss left they were still good but rather predictable.

Well I'm in my 50s but I'm far from white trash and listening to Kiss is NOT any sort of nostalgia trip for me.

That being said your comparison of Kiss fans to Guns n Roses fans made me laugh. (I HATE G&R btw and the ONLY competent talented member of that pos band was/is Slash!)

The reunion tour in the late 90s undoubtedly was pretty magical to see the original four guys on stage again; Gene Simmons admitted that "a lot of our younger fans who got into us in the '80s don't even know who Ace and Peter are."

But that belies the fact that from a musical standpoint, those shows were fucking terrible. Ace and Peter were fried; they couldn't play anymore at all. Ace literally needed a guy from a KISS cover band to help him relearn his own solos.

What is the Kiss spammer?

He sits in a trailer eating spam and listening to KISS

>1998 performance

Nope.

Peter Criss got in a car accident in 1978 while driving drunk and he broke his wrists. You can imagine the good things this does for one's drumming skills. He was never the same again after that. Granted he was never John Bonham to begin with, but even so...

There's about 3-4 guys on Sup Forums who are the resident Kiss experts.

One of them has samefag conversations with himself and likes to rant about the Kiss spammer (ie. himself).

This is him.

What if I told you that KISS has been around for almost 50 years?
How can you not accept that some fans have accumulated?

counterpoint is a gimmick

You're a gimmick.

Carnival of Souls was pretty weird.

>Kiss hires Alice in Chains's producer and tries to go grunge

Mercury wouldn't release it because "it wasn't a typical Kiss record".

GET
OUT

The first KISS album is actually okay glam rock.

Just remember to go by their best songs, and not by albums. Because for them, it's all product, not art.

I recommend Strutter, Detroit Rock City, and Rip It Out

Ace Frehley is a cool guitarist.

desu, New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, and Twisted Sister did that whole shtick better

Kiss isn't a bad band by any means, they're just completely uninspired and cookie-cutter. Everything they ever did has been done before and better. IMO, just listen to Alice Cooper.

They're ok OP. But yeah, the gimmick is big part of the fun.

the ace frehley solo album is the only thing really worth listening to

I'm not a gimmick but your mom is

>You damn well know that if they didn't have their eye set on maximum commerciality, they'd call themselves Blowjob.
That's a lot of cock-rock bands really.

According to the rest of the band, he never was a good drummer. Based on excerpts of their autobiographies, I don't know how much kayfabe those are.

That should be taken with a grain of salt because Paul and Gene both have it in for Ace and Peter in a big way and have gone out of their way to disparage them at every turn. I agree that he was never an amazing drummer in his prime, but even so...

I never listened to kiss but i love these covers the melvins and dino jr made of going blind, a kiss song

youtube.com/watch?v=x6-iBz7vvbI

youtube.com/watch?v=gCJJ0r-Dh8Q

didn't read lol

In fact Criss didn't even play on Dynasty, which was recorded a few months after the car accident, except for his own song Dirty Livin'. All the other tracks on the album have Anton Fig at the skins.

Criss remained with the band through the '79 tour, then dropped out afterwards, and Anton Fig played all the drums on Unmasked. They recruited Eric Carr as their new drummer and he took over for the '80 tour.

>Ace Frehley is a cool guitarist
Judging by the stories of guys who who grew up in the 70s, Ace was considered the most cool/popular member of the band. He did inspire a lot of kids to pick up a guitar, for example Dimebag Darrell said he was one of his heroes.

Or for that matter the reunion album they made (Psycho Circus). Fucking terrible. Paul Stanley's songs were okay I guess, Gene Simmons's songs were pretty lame. Nobody in the 70s would have imagined the Demon singing something as corny as "I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock and Roll". Frehley and Criss's songs...what the fuck is this?

Supposedly this album had no sex songs on it because Gene said it would look silly for a bunch of almost 50 year old guys to do that. Of course also Ace and Peter didn't play at all except on their own sorry songs, session musicians did the rest.

ITAfag, lemme translate that for you:

Kiss, founded in 1973 by Gene Simmons(bass) and Paul Stanley(rhythmic guitar), with Ace Frehley as lead guitar, were the most famous of the first wave of glam-metal bands.
They were founded and gained popularity in the clubs of New York where decadent rock was spreading, and in the Alice Cooper era. With them heavy metal laid off completely the garb of messenger of satan, and became the favorite new trend among a young, perverted middle-class. Glorifying sex and rock as essential elements of [teenage amusement], Kiss created a heavy metal free of social or existential undertones.
Brutal and repetitive, their tracks could come close to the aggressiveness and fury of MC5, as well as repeat the most annoying riffs to no end. Their absolute technical ineptitude limited their musical perspectives, and forced them to invest in their presentation. But their morbid, obscene exhibitionism ended up resembling a Grand Guignol piece from a burlesque rather than the classics of horror. Their grim, pompous metal was certainly catchy, but in the way easy-listening music and bubblegum pop had been, genres that kiss [transplanted] on the foundation of heavy metal.

Their entire choreography, inspired by kabuki as much as by brothels, was created by their manager, Bill Aucoin, a television director.