Kiss arrived and presented such a startling proposition that people immediately started accusing Gene Simmons of having a cow’s tongue.
This bizarre bovine belief was rooted in the rampant Satanic panic that the band dredged up. People were so stunned by the sudden subversion of conventions in culture that they were willing to believe anything might be possible, even the patently impossible.
However, the band somewhat weaponised this. They knew the mania had its own appeal and were happy to play into it. If ‘shock’ was on-trend, then Kiss were happy to supply it just to see the look on their faces. Love them or loathe them, there certainly aren’t many like them, and that originality has made them one of the most successful American bands ever.
The power of originality is something that Simmons felt the full force of at an early age. The song of Hungarian refugees, the first time he saw a TV was in the States, and Little Richard just so happened to be playing on it. The visceral thrill of the energetic frontman helped to kickstart the bassist’s lifelong love of rock ‘n’ roll.
Soon after, he began to study the songs that inspired him, and in one Ray Charles classic, he uncovered the very art of defying convention in full grooving swing. “You can’t get any better than ‘Hit the Road Jack’,” he said of the classic. The 1960 track almost instantly became a staple upon release, yet its strange structure didn’t always promise that.
As Simmons explains, “It doesn’t have a bridge; it doesn’t have a chorus. It only has that riff that keeps going back over and over again, and on top of that is a haunting melody with a give-and-take in the background. It’s just classic.” Indeed, it is.
The fact it avoids typical pop norms is not immediately apparent simply because of how potent the swagger of the song proves. The groove has so much gobsmacking attitude that you simply sway along with it. The performance is so cool that you just try to let some of its edge rub off on you.
But, along the way, it begins to dawn on you how the vocals really operate as a repeating riff. The syncopated drums offer so much bounce that it’s tantamount to an aural trampoline, and the screaming yelps punch through the mix with a tremendous dynamic appeal. It’s practically proto-looping with kinship to be found in house music, rap, and more.
That’s not bad for a track that is pretty much just a two-minute groove. And so, Simmons became certain that a little bit of swagger and a unique attitude can travel a long way, far longer than a bovine tongue even.
