I'm A Legend Tonight Just chiming in to give it a thumbs up. No problems at all with this song, but I like all four of the songs on "Killers," mainly because it was "new" material and it took me quite awhile to find the album on CD--I didn't get it until '93-'94.
When you threw down the gauntlet, I decided, "I'm gonna rise to it, you know I really can do it." Oh wait, that album is still 7 1/2 years away in our discussion.
While the song is admittedly somewhat derivative, it appears to me "Legend" is exactly the type of song needed to show the fans KISS were hopping back on the hard rock horse (especially after the last song they left the fans with was "I," a song I believe is utterly useless and clearly pandering). That being said, I really enjoy the track despite there being anything notable to say about it. Yeah ... that's about it.
Damn, your generous as F**K!! LOL I, after listening to all of these songs again through this thread, realize one thing. They still suck, this is not the KISS I loved up to this and I'll never listen to these tunes again for the rest of my life.
I hope we aren't doing all of "KILLERS". If so, Why? "I'M A LEGEND TONIGHT"......You may be Paul, but this tune suxs gigantic balls!
"I'm A Legend Tonight", seems to take little steps towards back to the familiar Kiss sound and features little metallic pop influences. It kinda has it's moments, both good and bad. Clearly they had heard feedback and of course "The Elder" proved to be failure and so they were told to get the direction towards the familiar side of the sounds. And now listening to these songs, they just seem a bit rushed recording and production-wise. I didn't own this album back in the day when I was getting to the band, so I got this on vinyl maybe 10 ago or so..I really don't know how and what to think of this little middle-period compilation. A lesser album for real, compilation released after weak failure of the "The Elder" unfornately eventhough it featured 4 unreleased new songs then. I think my friend got this one on tape and we listened to it wondering what was goin on.. And to be honest, thinking of how the bands output changed from the 70's highlights to the lowest of the low late 80's, I kinda understand how some felt really that "Ace Is The Kiss". They would have needed some tips and vision from Ace.. Next actual full-length album "Creatures Of The Night" contains much more interesting material..
Loud, I laugh out loud Got tears in my eyes (I laugh out) Loud, I laugh out loud Can't stop if I tried
I'm a Legend Tonight The song reminds me of the type of rockers Paul did on Unmasked, just with much better production. The guitar tones are still a little thin and sound more 80's pop/rock than heavy metal. I mean, the guitars sounded more meaty on Elder tracks. The chorus is pretty bad, lazy rhyming. I hate that we're back once again to singing about how great Paul is in bed. I guess when your concept album fails miserably, you head back in the other direction. That's unfortunate. I don't think this is a good lead off track for the compilation. Yeah, it's rock-y and they're back to singing about sex, but it's just not enough of a BAM! to really kick off the album. For me, it's a lower-tier Paul song.
One comment of Paul on The Elder, I like how he sings even if he is uncomfortable like when Roger Daltery sings higher on later Who stuff (Helpless Dancer, Love Is Coming Down, One Life's Enough). I didn't think about it until now but the song I, for me, brings it back to standard Kiss and I kind of wish they hadn't done a song like that but I completely understand it being there. Call Paul the weak link on The Elder but his singing is different on each song. I figure his resume for Phantom Of The Opera was Just A Boy and Odyssey. I love how he sings those and The Oath mixes both of those and his regular voice. For me, I is Kiss Paul Stanley. Not a challenge but very comfortable and it's my least favorite vocal of his on the album because it's so easy. You take the 'cock rock' out of Paul and Gene's mouths, and the voices they have are really nice to listen to. They just rarely used them.
Nope, @GodShifter said just the new ones. I'm glad we are and assume we'll hit all the KISS songs that are not on "real" albums...but we missed "Rip and Destroy!", didn't we?
How dare everyone speak unkind of my songs on Killers! I cast a spell on you all that your only interest is talking about old rock stars like myself on what everyone knows to be a Beatles message board!
DOWN ON YOUR KNEES 1982 (Stanley, Japp, Adams) (3:31) Written by Paul Stanley, Mikel Japp (who had written three songs with Paul on his solo album from 1978) and Bryan Adams (yes, that Bryan Adams) “Down On Your Knees” originated from a jam session with Japp and KISS at SIR Studios in Los Angeles. Adams, who was in the studio adjacent to KISS, came over and listened to the song and gave the band some ideas on it. Adams, of course, would later work with KISS again on Creatures of the Night on the song “War Machine” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Hell”. While both those songs are thought of as quality KISS tunes by most fans, "Down On Your Knees", unfortunately, would not get the same recognition (at least not from me). “Down On Your Knees” with Gene’s semi-farty bass sound, to me, sounds as much like a Bryan Adams song as it does KISS. To me, it’s a throw away tune with a dopey chorus and lots of cowbell. It just seems like a throwaway tune and I cannot see how this tune of “I’m a Legend Tonight” was supposed to in anyway retore KISS’s credibility after The Elder. It’s juts a very stock, hard rock tune with dated production and trite verses and choruses. I find it to be really bad.
Down on Your Knees Paul sounds like he's taking cues from Roth, but he sounds horrible doing it. "Love in the first degree"? Come on, Paul. His vocals sound awful here. This song is completely generic and has a horribly boring guitar solo. This doesn't even sound like a KISS song. Fail fail fail. Jeez guys, what were you thinking?
Down Your Knees Doesn't even sound like Paul. Taking cues from Roth is a good point @Cheevyjames made and unfortunately Paul comes out the worse for wear. Seems like he took the limited singing cues from Roth and didn't get the nudge-nudge-wink-wink humor that Roth exuded. Wonder if this song would sound any better if they lowered the key by a step or so. If you think about all the jumps Paul made singing-wise starting with Dynasty thru Unmasked thru the Elder to this, he is really all over the god damn place: disco, power pop, straight up AM radio pop, proggy-operatic mewling and this cat strangling on a rusty fence business.
Down On Your Knees: Some 80s beat starts off, and then we get some stock 80s song that sounds like a filler tune on a Billy Squier, also I noticed a line from Dance the Night Away in the chorus. Not great, but listenable.
@GodShifter, @Cheevyjames and @Sandanista. Well fooking said. I mean what more is there to say? At this point all I can say to our boys is " In Your Throat!" Think I'll listen to some Sinatra , get groovy again. Pax
"Down On Your Knees", this sounds so generic with that 80's production, it doesn't sound Kiss at all and could be any really generic bands from those times. Paul is indeed trying to capture some kind of coolness of Roth but unfornately fails and he sounds so limited when thinking how Roth could do this more justice. Great that Bryan Adams helped them and the few songs on "Creatures Of The Night" were much better. All in all, just barely average rocker and nothing really stands out. Not really too much to add for what has already been said here.
I'M A LEGEND TONIGHT Listening to this in 1982, and comparing it to how it sounds now, is really fascinating (and humorous). Amazingly, to this KISS fan's ears this sounded positively heavy, and a welcome return to form, when I first heard this, not long after the album came out. In retrospect, I agree that this almost sounds like it could have been on UNMASKED. Why did this seem so cool and heavy back then? I have no idea, really, but it did. In reality, the guitars are way more ballsy on THE ELDER than they are here. But I guess the simple fact that this was a no-frills rock n roll song, about a subject KISS knew best, was enough to convince me that KISS was back on the right track at that time. Now, it's mediocre at best. It's mind-blowing to think of the difference in production on these tracks, compared to CREATURES, recorded soon after with the same producer! Oh, and a funny "misheard lyrics" anecdote for this song: before I got my own copy of the LP, I had a cassette copy that my friend had dubbed for me. It didn't even contain a track listing, and I hadn't seen the cover of the album yet when I heard it for the first time. Initially, I thought he was saying "I'm allergic to night"! 7/10 DOWN ON YOUR KNEES I suppose this is one of those songs that I should be embarrassed to admit that I like. Especially since some of the 80's stuff coming up I'm not a particularly big fan of! But this has always been an irresistible slice of pop/rock that's pretty damn infectious. Obviously, Mr. Adams was soon to have hits in this vein, although I like this better than most of those. Bob's guitar solo is short but sweet. I have a funny story about this song. Towards the end of my senior year in high school, someone came up with the idea of doing a "Battle Of The Bands" air-guitar style, out in the quad in front of the whole school. I believe we had 4 groups, one each for the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Somehow, I ended up as the "manager" of the senior air guitar band, and we got together to figure out the two songs we were going to do. I no longer even remember what our other song was, but the first of the two songs our band did was none other than this little-known tune, "Down On Your Knees". Understand, KISS was so unpopular at this time, and this was an unknown song, on top of it. But the song was catchy enough, and the guys knew that virtually no one in the crowd would know it was a KISS tune (and they were right), and it was so catchy, and lent itself to our leader's hammy style, so we went with it. Sure enough, the song goes over extremely well, and everyone's clapping along to it! It was classic! I pushed for the song against the wishes of a few of the guys in the "air band", and my instincts were right. Anyway, it's kind of a dumb story, but it's probably one of the few public airings this song ever had at a high school back in the spring of '83! And besides, what could possibly be dumber than being a "manager" of an air-guitar band, anyway? All I know is, I was recruited; it definitely wasn't something I volunteered for! I was one of the DJ's at our school's radio station, so maybe that was why they recruited me? I no longer can even remember how that all went down! I just know that "Down On Your Knees" went over well that day, but I'm sure if more people had known it was KISS it wouldn't have gotten as good of a reaction! 8/10
"Down On Your Knees" kinda sounds like a bad AC/DC song. Still kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I like this track, despite the fact that it's extremely cheesy.
I don't know the answers to your questions for certain, but my best guess is that the label wanted some new material, probably without a ton of advance notice, and these songs were deemed the most "ready for prime time" at that point. I don't think there was anything deliberate in having 4 Paul tunes and zero Gene tunes. I believe "Nowhere To Run" was at one point going to be included on THE ELDER, so obviously that one was ready to go. Based on what went down on the next two records (where I think the co-writers really did the "heavy lifting" on the songs that bore his name), I think Gene was just hitting a dry spell after apparently giving his all on THE ELDER. As to your last question, yes, I would think Paul would have wanted at least one new Gene tune on there, especially with the lack of an Ace song. I just think the well had run dry for Gene at that particular point in time, exacerbated by the rushed/haphazard element of this album's release.
The fact that Gene was literally re-writing Blue Oyster Cult and Bryan Adams songs for the next album, and needed Vinnie to be brought in as co-writer, tells me that the Gene Simmons well was beyond dry. Gene's songwriting, on the whole, becomes pretty iffy after the first couple of albums, barring a few isolated home runs along the way. In 1982, he's just a couple years removed from writing "X-Ray Eyes" and "Charisma" as his only contributions to an album, both of which sound like they were written in his sleep -- and just a couple of years away from writing "Burn Bitch Burn" and "Murder In High Heels", which are far worse. Once you hit Dynasty, you start to see Gene reeeeally phoning it in. I think we're seeing the first instance of Paul being left holding the bag while his partner could not be bothered.
I'M A LEGEND TONIGHT This song is a guilty pleasure song for me. I feel like it's the last "Starchild" image song he wrote until the reunion. It's a straight forward KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) hard rock song by which was badly needed due to long absence. This was actually my favorite of the 4 new songs until I realized how awesome Nowhere To Run was. I like the trance-y background vocals, the call and response guitar solo with the "Look at me!" Paul intro. How many frontmen can get away with that as well as a song titled "I'm A Legend Tonight"? Not many. Anyways I get the mixed reviews on this song. It's the bridge of the makeup era to the unmasked era and I don't mind it. Kiss is in their awkward teenage phase and not sure what is going to work for them in the new hard rock/metal landscape which is changing and growing very fast. However this is a big breath of fresh air from the bombastic and stuffy Elder era. DOWN ON YOUR KNEES This song is super generic but non abrasive. Paul and especially Gene would do much worse in the 80's. The solo in unmemorable and Paul is singing a little weird on this one. He doesn't know whether to go street tough or be a Starchild here. Eric must have been half asleep during the drumming of these songs. I could see Paul and Gene telling him to keep it basic as they wanted to get "back to basics" on this project. Luckily Eric would have creative freedom on the drums on the next album.
I agree I was thinking the same thing the other day. He was probably already writing and mapping out the plot for Elder II: Electric Boogaloo and spent all his creative energy on that rather than moving onto something else.
