What Kiss Album Represents the Start of Their Musical Decline?

The guy who did "Peanuts"? I thought he died...

 

They lost me when they sounded and looked like any other hard rock/heavy metal band of the time, and from when Ace left, so from Lick It Up (which isn't bad in comparison to what followed) on. And when I hear about Gene bailing and pretty much not contributing much to the 1980s albums, I like them even less. But Revenge (from the 1990s) is very good.

 

In reality, Dynasty is not as good as Love Gun. There is nothing as good as "Shock Me" on Dynasty. "2000 Man" is decent, but it's a cover.

 

Sure Know Something and I was Made are better than Shock Me......surely or did Disco Suck?

 

Kiss -ST

 

Shock Me is Ace's signature tune. The disco tune and SKS are footnotes now.

 

We can't really gauge the quality of one album by one outstanding tune (or at least I don't). I'd say, overall, Dynasty is better than Love Gun in terms of overall songs. Close, yes, but better.

 

Shock Me kicks major tush.
Its Ace at his best. I like live versions better than the studio version.

 

Dynasty has a better cover tune.
Love Gun has a better album cover.
Love Gun has Shock Me.
Dynasty does NOT have Hooligan.

Dynasty wins.

 

I pretty much agree.

On "Love Gun" the only songs I think are outstanding are the title track, "Shock Me" (perhaps my favorite KISS track of all with apologies to "Strange Ways") and "I Stole Your Love". The rest is average to terrible filler.

Dynasty has filler, too, but I like it better plus it features three Ace songs (though, yes, one is a cover). I like "Dirty Livin'", too. "Magic Touch" is really good, too. I even like "Charisma".

 

Charisma is underrated.

 

I have no idea when their decline started but all I can say is I stopped buying at Destroyer.

 

The closest KISS ever came to a near perfect album imo was Hotter than Hell, recorded at a proper studio with a great producer it could've been magical. Their downfall started with mgmt. working them too damn hard and recording too much music, looking back at the albums I think Love Gun was really half baked and the beginning of the end of the original era. The rot was really starting to set in with Dynasty (where's Gene??) if it wasn't for the big hit single Dynasty would've died a very quick death a la Unmasked.

 

I hated Unmasked when it came out, except for Ace's songs on it..but the decline for me started after Hot in The Shade or Smashes. Thrashes
In time I have learned to love Unmasked and The Elder..those 2 lp's get more listens nowadays then anything else by Kiss

 

The problem is Ace's tunes are mediocre compared to Rocket Ride, Shock Me, or his solo album. I'd rather listen to Christine Sixteen than Charisma.

Dynasty is the "underdog" album and we all love the underdog, myself included. But it has a more generic sound, unfortunately. Anton Fig is Andy White and Peter Criss is Ringo, in my analogy here.

 

At the time I thought Love Gun
Because it included a paper gun so I thought I was getting too old for their music.
Now I like Love Gun especially the title track....it rocks !

 

All due respect, I think Destroyer was the absolute peak. So I vote for R&RO as the beginning of the end. Not that it was bad, but it was a step down from Destroyer.

 

Well not in my world........

 

Actually I prefer Love Gun for sentimental reasons over Dynasty. I recognize neither are "great albums" and pointed to LG early in the thread as the album that marked their slow (rapid?) decline.

 

Agreed. Would add that Dynasty had much better production as well. Poncia's style might not be to everyone's taste -- it's arguably not very classic KISS-like -- but I think it created the band's most cohesive-sounding record since Destroyer. Which is ironic, since the band was in such utter chaos during recording.

 

This thread raises a practical question: are the four 1978 albums that were simultaneously released solo records or Kiss records? I submit that they're all Kiss records because the Kiss logo is displayed on the covers of each of the records. If they're part of the Kiss canon, then I think the start of the decline was Gene's record, which was useless. Ace's record, on the other hand, is really good... it's a legitimate rock record that should have launched a full fledged solo career for him.

 

I submit they are but they aren't. That answer your question ?

 

Nobody plays on each other's albums. That's not Kiss. The logo is just a marketing schtick.

 

Rock n Roll Over proved it was over.
Punk and Alternative took over which didn't help this crappy album.
I spun it maybe 5 times.

 

But Dynasty has Dirty Livin'...the worst song in the Katlog, so by default it loses.