Wow, that is fast. Adrenaline and probably some other substances fueling Peter here. I'm not sure I understand that tin can snare sound he had in 77! It's one of the reasons Alive 2 doesn't leave the shelf too often. Come to think of it, many of the tempos are cranked up on Alive 2. (Makin Love, Detroit, god of thunder). I recall an interview with Gene or Paul saying how they deliberately sped up to compensate for the lack of makeup in the early 80's... I wonder if this might have been a deliberate approach in the late 70's too? Just speculation on my part. For my money, Peter's playing from Destroyer through Love Gun is world class, and the fact that he didn't stick to two or three *exact* patterns within a song it what allows for repeated listening.
Well, first, I've seen them at least once every tour since the beginning--well, or 1974 after the first album's release, at least (and there are actually a couple handfuls of artists that I'm a huge fan of where this is the case). On quite a few tours I've seen them 2 times, and a bit less often I saw them 3 times on a tour, often in, but not limited to Cleveland, South Florida and Los Angeles. I was born in Cleveland and partially grew up there. Then we moved to South Florida, where I lived from my teens into my early 30s. I also had family I was close to in LA. I used to spend parts of my summers in LA often, and after we moved to Florida, I often spent parts of my summers in both Cleveland (I have a ton of extended family still there and elsewhere in Ohio) and LA. Then during both the initial reunion tour and on the Psycho Circus tour, by which time I was living here in New York City, I was able to follow them around for all of their dates in the northeast/mid-Atlantic, 10 to 15 shows each time, so I saw them multiple times in the New York/New Jersey area on those tours, plus Philadelphia, Connecticut, Boston, D.C., etc. For a top 5, maybe: * The first time I saw them, which was in Cleveland, in 1974--just about a month after I'd discovered them more or less by happenstance, opening up for Rory Gallagher * The Destroyer tour, 1976, in Miami * The Creatures of the Night tour, 1983, in West Palm Beach (although part of my fondness for that show has to do with memories of the person I was with, someone who is unfortunately no longer with us) * The "Konvention" tour, 1995, in New York (which was just a month after I moved here) * The first of the many Psycho Circus shows I saw, 1998, in Boston (in my opinion the reunion band was strongest on the Psycho Circus tour, and that was the best reunion tour in terms of the show, too) As I mentioned I've seen a couple handfuls of other artists tens of times--Todd Rundgren/Utopia, Yes, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Rush, Aerosmith are some I've seen the most, but there's only one other artist I've seen at least as many times as KISS: Frank Zappa.
I don't see that as a problem with keeping time, though. Plenty of times folks do songs quite a bit faster or slower live at times. He definitely pushes up the tempo once he comes in, but aside from the possibility that it was played that way on purpose, I don't see how this wouldn't be just a case of Peter wanting the tempo at the bpm he plays it at rather than the tempo that Paul and Gene start at. If it wasn't intentionally that way, he probably felt that Paul and Gene were starting it sluggishly rather than how they'd been rehearsing it or tending to play it on previous dates.
Man, I love that sound. I'm also one of the weird people who really like the drum sound on St. Anger. Yeah, I'm a big Rush fan, too, and I certainly like Neil's playing in general, but the one thing that sometimes frustrates me with him is that especially as time went on, he tended to approach his parts as if there were part of a classical score that he wasn't allowed to deviate from. I'm a bigger Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead fan than I am a Rush fan (or KISS fan for that matter). I like people to change things up live.
Please...lets not. Peter live was all over the place. You can pretty much tell what nights he was coked out of his mind by the frantic pace he set.
100,000 YEARS (1974) (Stanley/Simmons) 3:22 Sung by Paul Stanley, 100,000 Years begins with the monstrous bass riff (which hesitates twice before getting going) by Gene Simmons and the song immediately gets going. Gene’s bass riff punctuates the verses with the octave run being the central part of the riff. There is a stop/start aspect of the song that makes it groove. Meanwhile, the guitars, chording wise, are doing almost kind of a jerky, shuffle vibe. At 1:52 we get dual leads from both channels and then Ace takes over solos until the drums come in at 2:17 and solo with Stanley singing over them with little bits of Ace playing. The song ends with Ace soloing until the song comes to a fairly abrupt end with Gene doing a bass run. As most KISS fans are aware, at around the 2:17 point on Alive is where Peter Criss takes his longer than the Nile solo while Paul talks to the crowd. Though I like “100,000 Years” this was never my favorite part of the album. It just seemed to drone on and on and I’d get bored. Yet, props must be given to Peter for at least doing some interesting rhythms during the whole thing. You can hear his Krupa influence on this song especially; great job by Peter. There is apparently a demo version which can be heard on the 2001 release of the KISS box set. There was a lost verse towards the end of the song which apparently never made the end cut (per Wikipedia). Overall, I definitely prefer the studio version of this song and I think Ace does some very interesting lead work. Gene’s opening bass line is ominous and sets the tone for a song that is fairly dark and, dare I say, a tad funky. I've never really paid attention to the lyrics much other than the "sorry, to taken so long ...". I have no idea what this song is about other than "it must have been a bitch while I was gone". Some have said the riff for “10,000 Years” was lifted from Budgie’s “Rocking Man”, I can guess I can kind of hear that, but “10,000 Years” is sped up quite a bit. The bass line is pretty similar, though; might be something to that one..
Time travel? Really? Kiss – 100,000 years Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Nice description, godshifter. Not for nothing, I like Peter's solo on Alive better than Alive II (albeit a drum solo). Again, I like the driving / deliberate pace throughout the song as well as the pace changes. Agree with studio/Ace's contribution. I'd be interested in others' opinions on this: was anyone really doing bass like Gene during this time? It always surprises me to hear how different his approach was when I re-listen to these early songs.
When you say, "bass like Gene was doing at this time"? What do you mean? Busy? Melodic? If that's your question, I'd say, yeah, a bunch of players. Gene's main inspiration as a player was McCartney has he is a huge Beatles fan. That said, in the 70's players were expanding the role of the bass and making it more of a focal point. A lot of this had to do with advent of the trio which made the bass become more of a prominent instrument. Guys like Jack Bruce, Tim Bogert, Geddy Lee, and Burke Shelley were all doing very melodic and adventurous things with the bass because the music necessitated it. As the boundaries and vision of rock music expanded, so did the role of the bass guitar in the music.
Another one of my all-time favorite Kiss songs. It just has a dark/heavy feel that I wish they would have continued with instead of the onslaught of sexual innuendo songs. This is also one if my favorite vocal performances by Paul Stanley...he really nails this IMO. And I agree with @GodShifter that the live version, while amusing the first time through, really drags on repeated listenings....btw....this is called "10,000 years" in the description, instead of "100,000 years"....maybe still time to fix it?
Good question. I'm not very good at describing what I hear. I think Bogert is a good compare like in Superstition. But Gene is not as busy as, say, Geddy. And Gene's not as noodle-y melodic as other bass players - I mean, it's a floor. I think his playing (on many songs) represents a precursor to approaches like, for example, Tool/The Pot. Maybe Paul Goddard A.R.S./Champagne Jam is another reference (but later than 100,000 Years).
Love, love, love 100,000 years... especially the live version. Like many, the drum solo section can get kind of long if I'm not in the mood, but I am a huge fan of the Paul and Peter interplay along with the crowd raps in the live version. I can remember being a kid and I felt like I was there in the audience. My absolute favorite part is at the end of the 'preach' section when Paul sings "Do you feel rock..." and that huge down beat comes in with the bass guitar. I still get goosebumps when I listen now. And that was BEFORE I knew that visually they brought up the flash pots and lights with those notes. And when the band comes back in, it's devastatingly heavy. Big theatrics in both sight and sound. "Do you believe in rock and roll?" F*** yeah, Paul, I do! I'm too young to probably fully realize what that kind of concert experience must have been like for a 15 year old kid in the audience. I grew up in the Gen X/Grunge era/ironic and post ironic culture, and that type of anthemic/revival sort of relationship between the band and the audience was not the norm in the early 90's. Bands and audiences were too cool and jaded for that, save for a few exceptions (Pearl Jam? Maybe others...) If any of you guys/gals saw this live, give us some truth about the concert experiences! I'll always envy those who were there to actually witness these classic bands in their prime. But, yeah, 100,000 years, for me, is the 'stand up for what you believe in/rock and roll is a force' kind of song. I like both the studio and live versions, especially the way Ace feels the pocket in his solo attack. His sense of rhythm is a huge part of his power as a player and this is a good tune to demonstrate that. On the studio cut, I think you can hear Ace's voice bleeding into a mic at the top of the song saying 'yeah' or 'ok'...something like that. Epic, awesome, classic KISS.
Again, I was 4 years old when I got this record. So I didn't know the word Bitch. so i thought it was Witch...
100,000 Years is a Kiss Klassic obviously but I am over it hearing it live. They have played it to death since they put the makeup back on. Play Ladies Room or something else instead!!! I know Paul interacts with the crowd a lot on this one and it becomes a showpiece but still I am over it live. Aside from that, yes it's a great song. The 70's had the best live airings of it with those huge flashpots going off. What a spectacle!
This one of their greatest songs. The studio version is cool but but I prefer the live version. In fact the KISS Alive! version of 100, 000 Years is probably my very favorite KISS track ever, I really love the whole drum solo/Paul rap thing, never get sick of any of it. I don't know how to put it into words exactly but that track just has everything I love about them. Ultimate KISS for me. I do like the studio version but it's another one that sounds much better on the demo. I don't what exactly happened with Kerner and Wise but they wimpified some of the songs and that's one of them. I like it but it's just missing something, although I do think they again made the right call in shortening it. The demo version is too long and the last verse is more like a mini version of the stage rap than a verse. Doesn't really work. I love that. Not sure what he says but it sounds like "Yeah". It's about ten seconds in right before the band fully kicks in.
Didnt even notice, I was too focused on reading the summaries, of which you're doing a stupendous job! I haven't had much to add yet but I'm enjoying everybody's comments thus far. I'm learning a lot and glad you were willing to continue on with this thread.
I think post #141 above by Haggis Wampovich says it better than I can, but yeah, "100,000 Years" is epic KISS and one of the many reasons their debut is my favorite KISS album. The only part I'd disagree with is liking the live version better. What Peter plays during Paul's rap on ALIVE! is cool, but that's definitely one you have to be in the mood for. I much prefer the studio version. Gene's playing is really sublime, and as was stated earlier in the thread, I wish he had cared more about his playing as the years wore on. He definitely has something to say on the instrument, but later was sometimes MIA in the studio (leaving Paul, Ace, Eric Carr, Bruce Kulick or whomever to play the bass parts). The chemistry and interplay between the band members is so palpable here, and is something you often miss on later KISS albums. CLASSIC!
I love the lyrics because he's been gone 100,000 years but he doesn't say I missed you, he says you missed me. "it must have been a bitch while I was gone" and "reacquaint yourself with my style", in other words, here's your chance to remember how cool I am.
Oh yeah. Is it self confidence in its purest form or just runaway egoism? That will always be the dilemma with KISS. Either way works for me. Rock it out, Paul!
