It's a reasonable question: did he wear the guitar-necklace in the studio or did he actually finger some barre chords?
I would guess that the heart of KISS's base is apt to be mostly male. I think that has been the case since the beginning. But you raise some interesting points about them hitting the listener/viewer over the head with sex. It's not that the other bands didn't push it, but, especially in the case of Def Leppard and Bon Jovi, the bulk of the videos focused on band performances or it was a subtle afterthought and not the raison d'etre. Plus, going back to our examination of why they were failing, they weren't exactly the prettiest guys. To a lot of teenage girls, they were probably having "gag me with a spoon" reactions to KISS in the Eighties. I had to LOL at the line in bold. I think I likened him in this period to an air traffic controller on speed.
I agree here. But Sugar appealed to the masses. Personally I cannot stand it nor "Hysteria". To me, that may be the single most overrated record of the 80s. But millions disagree with me so what do I know?
Who Wants to be Lonely is a good 80s glam metal song with an awful, and I mean awful video. Paul and Gene have faces made for radio.
Listening to Asylum is making me nostalgic for Ace all over again. It's not just the lead guitar either. Ace was also a great rhythm player. Ballsy, groovy, and great tone. His rhythm guitar was all over the early Kiss records and IMO this is another thing missing from 80's Kiss.
it didn't stop a lot of ugly/uglier bands from becoming MTV darlings, bottom line the songs weren't good enough in the eyes of the general public, also KISS still had an image problem that wasn't helped by the way Gene/Paul conducted themselves in interviews at the time
Scorpions were super ugly and somehow they got Heavy Rotation on MTV. At this point in the thread Kiss had yet to achieve Heavy Rotation status for any of the videos through Asylum.
Scorpions weren't going for a glam look though. I'd say Scorpions and Quiet Riot succeeded despite being ugly, partly because they were so ugly that you couldn't look away. Paul and Gene weren't THAT level of ugly, but they still had faces for radio.
I agree with you. Can not stand DL. Hate Poison, Bon Jon Bovi it's a long list I won't bore you with it. Liked Ratt, but for the most part the bubble gum/hair metal BS bands of the eighties were crafted for mass appeal. KISS was never that b4. I give them a pass because of who and what they were in the 70's. And for Revenge & COS. Sure nostalgia plays a huge part, but I can't forget the band they were in 74,75 & 76. Those shows make them the Gods of Rock that they are. I remember those days and say to myself all Gods fade in time. Even Pan
I know we'll get there but the Crazy Nights videos are not ridiculously sexualized like WWTBL, etc. - neither are the videos for "Tears Are Falling" or "Thrills In The Night" for that matter. And the Lick It Up videos are hardly as sexualized as WWTBL and U!AL. Then, of course, comes "Let's Put The X in Sex" and "(You Make Me) Rock Hard" and were back in adolescent sex land....
The MTV equivalent back then was Much Music and I do remember KISS videos getting a fair bit of airplay starting with Lick it Up, they also played I Love it Loud and I Was Made for Loving You when they wanted to show the makeup version of KISS. They were a regular feature on the Power Hour and the half hour artist spotlight show. I could argue that their popularity didn't collapse as badly as it did in the U.S. given that all of their Creatures tour stops were very well attended so they had some good forward momentum going into the non-makeup era, at least in Canada.
Random thought: some of you may know I'm a big Nazareth fan. Primarily because I love Dan McCafferty but I also think they had plenty of great moments, great songs etc - in the grand scheme of all things considered, I do know they are not a top tier band a la Zep, Stones, Who etc etc but I love them. Anyway, decided yesterday to take a KISS break and have been listening to a Naz playlist and I was leaving work today, I found myself dying to hear KISS again and then it hit me: KISS was/is a better band in almost every way.
Who Wants To Be Lonely - Yet another Zep-influenced track. The problem here is that it tries too hard... and the chorus is annoying. Overblown and over-produced. Bruce's leads do nothing for me in general, and this one's not an exception. Zero soul or drive, just there. Where's Ace? I do think the verses are okay. This is a 5/10.
I would love if a nice, clean, stripped down demo of this exists and popped up some day - I really prefer the earlier days in terms of the production - lots of separation and space. I dig this song but it's so cluttered sounding.
First time I seen them on one of those concert shows back in the early 70's I was stunned. These guys are nuts I thought. But it grows on ya. Just don't try singing it or you may get locked away. Seen The Sensational Alex Harvey Band around the same time. Definitely not geared towards mass appeal, but dam they were good. Still wonder if Zal had any influence on Ace. I guess all old farts think their music was the best..... But in this case it was, still is, always will be.....kids what do they know mumble grumble dumb music grumble.....
I ALWAYS end up coming back to KISS. Flawed? You bet. But Alive! Is part of my DNA and the magic of that album is always there for me.
WHO WANTS TO BE LONELY Since I listened while watching the video (as opposed to just clicking on the original, music-only post), it's hard for me to separate the visuals from the music, but from a musical standpoint...I kind of liked it! Or at least, wasn't ready for it to end by the 3:00 mark. Paul is in good voice except for some of the "yodelling" in the middle. (Likewise, I liked Bruce's solo until he did the "slow tapping" part. For some reason, I only like tapping when it's fast a la Eruption, because slow tapping always makes it sound like someone is just learning to do it. Go figure). I can't really figure out what other songs this one resembles, other than "Immigrant Song" in the beginning. I never thought I would say this, but so far, I like Asylum! As far as the video...yes, it's ridiculous and doesn't really fit the lyrics. But I can see why MTV rarely aired it. As far as the girls...dayum! There's no hot quite like '80s hot. Especially the blonde who unraveled from the towel and had those little locks on her shoes. The band themselves looked and acted much worse than the video for "Tears Are Falling." I bet Gene's kids give him so much crap for his '80s looks.
I would agree that KISS is, overall, a better band than Nazareth. I like Nazareth well enough (I only own Hair of the Dog) but they're kind of a quintessential "second-tier" '70s band (like Foghat, Argent, Black Oak Arkansas, maybe Uriah Heep, etc.) Love 'em or hate 'em, KISS has been first-tier since Alive! Even in the "lean years" of the '80s, they still always headlined and still sold at least some tickets based on loyalty/nostalgia/name alone.
