KISS – KISS (1974)

As they have been for the last 44 years, I do not like this band. I think Gene Simmons is a prat, I think the band became more a marketing exercise than an actual group, and for the most part I hate their hits. BUT let me explain.

Having not been born until 1984, KISS were not a big factor in my childhood like they were with Gen Xers. My mom preferred Alice Cooper for her gimmicky cartoon fix, and my dad hated all of it. Seeing their records just brought to mind all the bad merchandise, from coffins to action figures to really terrible movie-of-the-week schlock. But before all that, KISS was good. Great, even. 

Like so many overhyped and oversaturated bands, they lost the plot and committed the sin of believing their own press, but for a brief moment in the mid 70’s, they were a rock n’ roll band in the purest sense, maybe even out-rootsing Punk in certain respects for real outrageousness and ability to shock with just 3 chords. 

Their first two studio albums are excellent and for good reason; I’m going to focus on their debut. It took me thirty years to come around but that’s been a theme with my listening lately. Anyway, the first big boon is Richie Wise of Dust along with Kenny Kerner (also producer of Dust) at the helm, along with engineer Warren Dewey at Bell Sound Studios.

The record is polished but still reeks of hard Glam rock energy. The band is about as competent as the Dolls, though maybe not quite as dangerous. They find a hard rock boogie formula early and stick with it, rarely deviating from the power chords and anthemic choruses. It’s simplistic, but effective as hell, and Paul Stanley especially is very underrated as a songwriter; “Firehouse” is a classic example. “Strutter” is about as good an opening statement for the band as any other, encapsulating their sound in 3:10. “100,000 Years” is Heavy Metal perfection, and it’s easy to see why so many bands later copped their riffs. 

It’s songs like that and “Black Diamond” (among others) that never became hits which shows off where KISS really works. It’s moments like those I forget them as just a merchandising machine and truly appreciate their brand of boogiein’.

by Blake Thomas