The KISS reviews that were posted earlier on this blog were the result of a back and forth between myself and a few old college buddies. Most of us maintained that KISS is a band that is given far too much credit by the fans and really have little business being in the hall of fame. One of my pals insisted that I give their 70s catalog a listen and see if my opinion changes. So I took him up on the offer, listening to every KISS studio album released in the 1970s in less than 12 hours.
Two conclusions can be drawn from this:
1. I should as an adult have more pressing things to do with my time, but sadly I don't.
2. KISS wrote some terribly atrocious music that never should've seen the light of day. The fact that some of the songs on those 70s albums made it out onto store shelves is intriguing in that they had to get approved by the guys in the band, then the producer, the label execs, and so on and so forth. The number of people involved makes it astonishing that these things got through. These songs also explain why it took so long for KISS to break big....they needed the time to come up with enough good songs to play live and re-release as greatest hits/live albums.
Please don't look to the reviews below for any intrinsic linguistic worth...you will find none. This was a project full of sincerity and an intense focus on listening. The responses were mostly composed on my notepad contained on my Iphone while walking and working out. They were nothing more than evidence that I truly listened to each song on each release before drawing conclusions.
Ultimately I would have to say, in spite of Eddie Trunk's frequent insistence on his radio show and That Metal Show, that KISS don't belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They did some cool stuff but the excellence is only a fraction of what they've created. They were ripoff artists who stole from Alice Cooper and The NY Dolls. The only reason they had so much influence was because they were more media savvy and television friendly than those other acts. But as I type and try to build the case about the Hall of Fame I realize that the Rock N' Roll HOF has much lower standards than the original HOF. To make the Baseball Hall of Fame you have to show that you have longevity in your excellence and your excellence must exceed that of your peers in the time you were competing. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems far less exacting in their criteria and seem to go on popular opinion and even a single good album can get you in (ie. Guns N' Roses). A single good season does not get a player into the Baseball HOF.
The bottom line is that KISS is not as good as you remember them. Most people think of the hits...listen to the deep cuts and you will find a band that is very, very suspect and isn't worthy of very much respect.
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