I hear a foot in both camps. In terms of structure and nuts and bolts performance (Paul in particular), yes definitely more 70s. In terms of production values and tone, 80s.
Well I don't know if we can really blame it all on them, but he sent in Runaway for some kind of local band contest they were having. And it ended up becoming a regional hit and got him a lot of attention, which most likely helped a lot in getting him signed...so maybe we can. Also it's probably because of that that he was able to sign as a solo artist. Because he did that song with studio players. There was no Bon Jovi at the time. In fact, 'Bon Jovi' was a record company invention. They were all hired after he got a deal. Anyway, that is more than enough about him.
Still Loving You is one of the best songs of this type, and really so much better than this. This song just doesn't even touch it. I don't know. I just don't think this song is very good. It just never seems to get going somehow. And I have to say I don't find Paul's vocal to be all that great either. I know that is a minority opinion to say the least. I mean everyone seems to just love it, and not just here, but everywhere people talk about these things. But to me it just seems overwrought and way out of his range emotionally. Paul is a great rock singer but putting across genuine emotion is not one of his strong points. At least to me. To go back to Still Loving You, if you compare what Klaus Meine does there to what Paul does here...I mean..forget it. And I'm not talking about range or anything. Obviously Klaus is going to win there, but just the feeling he puts across is so much more genuine-sounding and powerful. To me, anyway. And while I'm at it, another thing about that song is that it's actually longer that this one but doesn't drag like this does. I just listened to both songs now and Still Loving You still sounds powerful 100 years later. It's just great. I can easily listen to the whole thing without getting tired of it. But with I Still Love You it gets to the two minute mark and I really don't want any more of it...but there's four minute left. So anyway, I didn't mean to make this a whole Scorpions vs KISS thing, but just to say I don't have anything against songs like this. I can get into one like this if it's done well, but I kind of feel like this one really isn't. btw, I don't really hear this as being like Since I've Been Loving You so much, but since that came up several times let me go on record as saying SIBLY is a work of god-like genius. Everything about it is perfect.
Well, six months isn't a very long time. In actuality, it was four months of touring, with a long break before they did 3 stadium shows in Brazil. I just checked, and they did a total of 55 shows on that tour. Another 6 shows were scheduled, but were cancelled (presumably due to poor ticket sales). After the show I saw in San Francisco, which was the last on the U.S. leg, there was a 2 month gap before they went to Brazil to do 3 stadium shows. Those were the final KISS shows in makeup, until 1996. So, in the context of KISS' entire career, it's only a blip on the radar screen. It was a cool makeup design. It's too bad the whole thing was thrown together rather quickly, with not much of a budget, since the costume he wore didn't have an Egyptian motif, as it should have. They just pieced together a costume with stuff they already had. It wasn't bad, but it could have been a lot better, given adequate time and money.
It's really not like "Since I've Been Loving You" other than it's in that vein. A long, protracted blues workout. Outside of that, the songs aren't that similar.
I never cared for the timbre (the sound quality) of Klaus Meine's voice or his phrasing, and I'm not much of a Scorpions fan . . . although I don't really know their output that well because of this. I don't hate his voice/singing as I do Axl's, but it doesn't really appeal to me. At that, "Still Loving You" is a good tune, but I don't like it as much as "I Still Love You".
I remember reading that a long time ago. Personally, I think it'd be cooler (or have more mystery) if the dude just completely fell off the radar. Like he's living at Slab City in California or something. But no, he's on the internet fighting with dudes on Kiss.faq. Whatever floats yer boat Vin.
HAHA, being from Long Island we didn't get WAPP. Our rock stations were WBAB 102.3 and 103.9 WRCN and they weren't playing Leppard as early as '82 as far as I can recall. Our stations didn't jump on the Leppard bandwagon until Pyromania and then, before you knew it, everyone in school was buying that album and I myself went back and got High N' Dry. I was never a big fan of the song so it is quite possible I just don't remember hearing it. But that is interesting it was popular in the city during that time. In 1982 we were all about Men At Work.
One of the good things about where I was in CT is we got all the stations. The ones in the city, the ones on LI, and the CT ones. So I listened to WAPP, WPLJ, WNEW, WBAB, WPLR, WRKI...and some I'm probably forgetting. So much radio in those days.
I listened to a lot of college radio, but WAPP was great, as was WLIR...I was always into different types of music. WBAB I would fight to get in on Sunday nights to listen to Fingers Metal Shop.
AAahhhhhh, Metal Shop!! Now you're talking! It was my mission to hear that on Sunday night's, to hell with school in the morning. I think it ended somewhere around 2 AM? It was on that show that I first heard Metallica because local stations didn't play them back then during their regular programming, except on Metal Shop. I remember sitting there in awe of For Whom The Bell Tolls. Man, radio used to be so good!
For a long time, I used to actually have that particular Metal Shop broadcast on vinyl - it was from either January or February 1985. It was amazing that they were the main interview segment during that time!
Sorry to throw in one more post about Bon Jovi but that was the first concert I ever attended. My father's friend had given us tickets so I went. Cinderella opened and they were awesome, much better than BJ. In fact I'm sad to say that Slippery When Wet was the first CD I ever owned, followed by Eat 'Em and Smile and The Best of Kansas, which I had purchased in the city. After that, it's all a blur. I no longer own any of those in any format.
Wow, awesome!!! Certain events gets tattooed in your brain and hearing that song was one of them. It definitely caught my attention.
Kiss does indeed pay him well. He's an amazing drummer, but his style and background aren't exactly in vogue these days. Newer/younger rock bands who need new drummers probably want someone who hits harder and plays heavier, along with the age thing. He'd be stupid to leave the Kiss gig, he'd pick up another job within a week, but not one that pays anywhere near as well or plays to the kind of crowds Kiss does. One thing I will say about Eric that I can't figure out, is his super-clangy snare. Both times I saw him with Kiss, it was distractingly...clangy. I like his drum sounds on Revenge and Alive III, but in this century, live, it's awful. I know he plays a cheap snare that is auctioned off for charity after most shows, which partly explains it, but surely it's still a conscious decision by Eric and the band, and one that kind of baffles me.
On the subject of Fingers, something I've wondered about is that Eddie Trunk always claims that his KISSmas special is the original. Not that it really matters but he always makes a point of saying that. And the way I remember it is Fingers was doing it before Trunk, but I'm not sure and I can't find anything to back up that memory.
I saw the Jove three times in 1984-85, without ever intending to see him even once. He opened for Ratt, ZZ Top, and Scorpions.
I grew up in South Florida and spent a lot of time every year (often most of my summers) in Cleveland and Los Angeles to visit relatives. For radio I mostly listened to WSHE (Miami), WMMS (Cleveland) and both KLOS and KROQ (Los Angeles) in the 70s and early 80s.
I STILL LOVE YOU I'm not even sure what a "power ballad" is precisely, by definition. Nor do I care. During the 80's, when MTV was having a major effect on what the mainstream was hearing and buying, I know that I heard tons of so-called "power ballads" by rock and/or metal bands, and I'm not sure I liked a single one of them. Most of them just struck me as incredibly insincere, pandering (yeah, I know, you're sick of me using that word) songs that were written with the sole purpose of having: a) a hit, and b) a song that all the girlfriends who got drug to the concert could enjoy. And I'm sure the people at companies like Bic loved them too, since the advent of them caused people to have to go out and buy a new lighter sooner than they otherwise would have had to. I wouldn't give "I Still Love You" the epithet of "power ballad", if for no other reason than the emotion that Paul is singing this with. As others have stated, you can actually hear some pain and anger in Paul's voice that doesn't sound the least bit affected. Paul absolutely kills it on vocals on this. I think this song belongs on the collection you'd put together featuring Paul's best vocal performances. I love the "baby, babaaaayyy" at 5:15! Besides being a damn fine tune, I think the song also serves a valuable purpose of offering a respite from the otherwise frenetic pace of the rest of CREATURES OF THE NIGHT. Having an ebb and flow is important on an album, and this album benefits from slowing the pace down for just a bit. CREATURES benefits from this "ballad with balls". (I guess we could create a new acronym for this - "BWB") Why didn't Gene play on this? Just not there that day, or was he having a problem getting the right feel? Not that there's anything wrong with Eric's bass track; it's quite good. But I'd have liked to have heard what Gene would have done with this. Nice guitar solo too. I imagine Jackson (and P&G) recorded solos for some of these songs by more than one guitarist, and then chose the best one. It would be cool to hear Vinnie's and Bob Kulick's takes on this solo, assuming they each did one. I bet they did. The beauty of this song is that it is so good, it works in this "heavy" arrangement, with the "Creature-fied" drums, and it would also work as a much softer, quieter arrangement. This is a standout track on an album full of a lot of good songs. 9.5/10
