It’s not worth finding out what song your favourite band holds dear, because there often seems to be a disparity between what eventually becomes a hit and the song they liked most in the recording sessions. When we realise they don’t love one of their songs quite as much as we do, it can feel like a bit of a betrayal. So Kiss megafans, maybe now is the time to look away.
It takes a brave sort of person to get on stage, clad in pancake make-up, and wearing all leather outfits. Luckily for Kiss, they had four people who were all willing to do that, and to their credit, it worked. For a while there they built up a well earned reputation of live show raucousness that meant rock and roll could still be delivered by a man painted his face like a cat.
But it landed because of their innate sense of confidence. They were unashamedly themselves – or some derivative of themselves – and so they believed in every chord they played. At least that was the case until their success weighed heavily, causing intra-band fractures and creative differences, ultimately culminating in their steady demise.
While Paul Stanley took on most vocal duties, they were a band lucky enough to have more than one vocalist at their disposal. Obviously, this gave the band plenty of opportunities to explore harmonies but eventually, as the limelight grew warmer and the crowds louder, it became a little bit more about who would have the leading voice.
A subtle conflict that came to a head on ‘God Of Thunder’, a song written by Paul Stanley, but snatched from his clutches and given to Gene Simmons. “I was broken,” he explained, continuing, “I brought the song in and I thought it was this signature song for me. We brought in a producer for many reasons, and one of them was to be the tiebreaker between Gene and I, because there certainly were times where Gene and I were at odds. So I played ‘God of Thunder’ and Bob goes, ‘That’s great, Gene is singing it,’ and we go on to something else. And I’m just there shattered.”
It’s a song that now lives sourly in the memory of Stanley, serving as nothing more than a sonic reminder of his creative betrayal. But it wasn’t just Stanley who had grievances with the Kiss discography. Ace Frehley also looks back on an entire Kiss album with contempt, remarking it as the piece of work that made him realise his days in the band were over.
Music From The Elder was a lofty concept record about a young protagonist training to beat higher evil forces. From the very outset, Frehley knew the idea wasn’t for him and already had one eye on a solo career. But he limped on, playing his leads from his home studio and sending them the tapes through FedEx. But when he heard the final mix, he quickly realised it would be his last work with the band.
He said, “That was like the icing on the cake when I quit the group. I got the record, I listened to it, and I threw it against the wall”.
