Confessions of a Former KISS Junkie

Last week I picked up the newest DVD set by KISS, Kissology Volume 2, which continues to chronicle their career, picking up right where Volume 1 left off. I've been having a lot of great flashbacks watching through both of these while reading all the notes and such. Oh yeah, I was a card-carrying member of the KISS Army back in my school days, and proud of it.

So I guess the year was 1977. I was a mere 11 years old and had been listening to music pretty heavily for a couple of years. Well, "real" music at least. The Chipmunks were pretty much a staple before that turn was made. (Little known fact... I learned a lot of the Beatles songs from the album The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles. Shhh... don't tell anyone.) So here I am in 1977 with a fancy phonograph record player (with 2 speakers!) that my Mom had gotten me from the Ben Franklin 5 & 10 store. I was discovering a lot of cool stuff like Steve Miller, Eagles, Queen, ELO and Peter Frampton. We're in the store in a nearby town we went to a lot for shopping (Newberrys I believe), since we had no shopping in my small town, and that's where I saw it; the album cover for KISS' Rock N Roll Over. Comic book style characters with one guy shooting lasers out of his eyes and another guy with a snake-like tongue looking all devilish... what's not to like? Of course, before my mouth even caught up to my thoughts, my Mom said "NO! I'll not have that devil garbage in my house!" So of course that was the end of it.

Ah, who am I kidding! You know that just made me want it more (ask Adam and Eve). I vowed on the spot to have that KISS album, and many more somehow. Well, the next weekend I went back to the same store with my buddy and his parents, my allowance in hand, and bought it. Before checking out of course I was quizzed by my friend's Mom as to whether or not my Mom would approve of it, which was met with "Of course!" What was she gonna do? Call her on her cell phone? Text her? This is 1977 people. So I sneak the album back home, take it in my room, and begin to digest it all... from liner notes to songs. And I digested it over-and-over until I knew every note, every word and every symbol hit.

This was the coolest band of all-time! They weren't just rockers, they were super heroes come to life who sang of women and rock n rolling all night! At the time of course, I could care less about either of these things but hey Gene breathed fire and puked blood so that was good enough to keep me on the bandwagon. I learned what I could from the magazines like Hit Parader and Circus and started to cover the walls with pin-ups.

Before long I'd picked up their Destroyer album and later that year Love Gun was released so that was added to my budding collection. Each album was memorized by me and my buddy in the same manner... non-stop listening and air guitar in the mirror. By this point Mom was on to my game and had given in to Kissmania.

In 1978 they became the first band to have each member release a solo album, all under the KISS moniker of course. Unfortunately for us, our allowances made us be a bit choosier about which ones to get. Immediately I picked up Ace's solo album, being as the Spaceman was my favorite guy. Over the next 6 months I eventually got the other 3, but to this day that Ace solo album still blows me away. I remember blasting that one in our "clubhouse" we had by that point. Good times.

1978 was also the fateful year they did the dreaded made-for-TV movie KISS Meets The Phantom. It came on TV right before Halloween that year and is still perhaps one of the stupidest most campy movies of all-time, but we loved it. I remember us KISS fans defending it to the non-KISS fans the next day at school, claiming they just didn't get it. It could have guest-starred The Brady Bunch (and maybe should have) and we'd have still defended it.



KISS lunch box? Had it. KISS comic book (made with real blood!)? Had it. KISS poseable action figures? Had 'em. KISS Halloween costume? Did that (I was Ace 2 years in a row). KISS Pez dispenser? Who didn't have that!

I remember one of my cousins had a denim KISS jacket, which he wore to a concert and was close enough that he claims Gene got "blood" on it. He even showed me the stain. I remember thinking at the time if I had something that awesome, I'd feel my life was complete. I'd never want for anything again.

Sadly, when 1979 rolled around, KISS pretty much jumped the shark with the release of the album Dynasty. Disco was hot and they abandoned their rock roots and made a cheesy album to sell more, with hints of disco all over it and especially the hit "I Was Made For Loving You". Total cheese, so much that even we couldn't defend it... but we played it anyway. The big news of 1979 though was that my buddy's folks got us tickets to see them in Memphis and offered to take us.

It was just before my school year in 1979 and it was my first rock concert I'd been to see. The opening band was New England (who?!?) and I remember just wanting those boneheads to get the hell off the stage so KISS could come out. Finally, the lights went down and smoke started rolling off the stage as KISS emerged from underneath the stage with capes on and fists held high in the air and launched into King of the Nighttime World. I remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck and looking at my friends and yelling at the top of my lungs, which of course they all did, yet none of us could hear what the others were yelling but I'm sure it was along the lines of something deep like "KISS rules!" We went nuts and continued going nuts for the next 2 hours or so, in what was probably the coolest 2 hours of my life up to that point. Wearing the concert jersey to school that year ranks pretty high as well, bragging about being an expert concert goer by that point of course. What's that you say? Oh well, whatever dude... I've seen KISS.

The next few years sadly brought about crap releases like Unmasked and Music From the Elder as members started to fall out of the band. I still listened to the old stuff, but was having a harder and harder time being a proud full-time KISS Army member, even when the excellent Creatures of the Night album came out. It was too late by then for a lot of people. The next decade or so were the non make-up years, with the occasional decent song. I saw them a couple of times in Memphis without make-up and with Vinnie, Bruce and Eric, but it wasn't the same. I'd moved on to the much more "chick-friendly" bands with bigger hair and songs that were actually played on the radio.

When they returned with original members in the late 90s for a tour I caught them twice, once in Memphis and once in Little Rock and since then on their various reunion/farewell tours have seen them a few times as well. Now they're obviously much more of a merchandising machine than a rock band. They tried to release an album of new material in 1998, but it sucked like a tarpit. Before that they jumped on the grunge wagon even for 1 CD, Carnival of Souls, which I actually like quite a bit.

But I'll always remember them though for being the first band I completely idolized. Way too many memories from growing up blasting the music of these guys to forget anytime before the retirement home. I hope to put a KISS pin-up on the wall of my room when I do finally check-in.