Connor McGrath
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Released: May 23, 1979
Label: Casablanca Records[/alert][/one_third]At the beginning of 1979, KISS was facing a tremendous backlash. A few years earlier, they were loved by hard rock fans but were now considered persona non gratis for watering down their sound. Once menacing figures who inspired boycotts throughout the South for alleged Satanic imagery, KISS was now a family friendly act shilling lunchboxes, face paint kits, and even dollies for the kiddies. With each passing tour, the audiences for KISS became younger and younger. It had come to the point, that parents were taking their young children to the band’s concerts with the whole family sporting the KISS warpaint. The band’s brand new costumes which made them look less like bad ass rockers and more like the Marvel superheroes they had become certainly wasn’t helping KISS’ street cred…
Internally, things weren’t going much better for KISS. Peter Criss had been seriously injured in a car crash the previous year and was more or less, sitting on the sidelines in a coke fueled haze during this period. The Catman had demanded that his solo album producer Vini Poncia produce KISS’ return album Dynasty, or he’d quit… only to have one of Poncia’s first decisions as producer be refusing to let Criss drum on the album. In his place for the next two albums was Ace Frehley (and future World’s Most Dangerous Band) drummer Anton Fig.
In addition to that, there was even dissension among best friends Gene & Paul. They were no longer songwriting partners with Paul now preferring to write with professional hit-makers like Desmond Child. It was that type of calculation that led to one of the most controversial songs in the band’s history, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”. While KISS had recorded some disco influenced material, this song was a full on embrace of sound. Paul Stanley wanted to prove to the world how easy it was to write a hit disco record. This wasn’t their attempt to recreate the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”, this was their attempt to recreate The Bee Gees’ “Tragedy”.
Unsurprisingly, the record was a smash success. Becoming KISS’ second biggest hit to that point behind “Beth”, climbing all the way to #11 on the Billboard charts and going all the way to #1 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, and The Netherlands. But as a new audience had embraced KISS, the old audience recoiled. Dynasty had confirmed their worst fears. KISS had not just sold out, but they’d gone disco. Songs like “Charisma” and “Dirty Livin'” sounded more like something you’d hear at Studio 54 than in the parking lot of Cobo Hall. While the album debuted in The Top 10 and quickly went platinum, it was the last hurrah. They weren’t courting loyal, hard rock audiences but the fickle, ever changing Top 40 audience. The Dynasty tour was the first KISS tour in years not to be greeted with sold out audiences at every arena. Some dates were even canceled due to low advance ticket sales. The band’s performance itself was suffering, with the new material from Dynasty and the solo albums going over like a lead balloon with the audience, and Ace Frehley & Peter Criss (who was still toured with the group even though he no longer played on the albums) often went on stage in no condition to perform. The Hottest Band on Earth had become a bloated, shambling mess.
There were a few saving graces for the album/era. Dynasty contained some of Paul Stanley’s most mature songwriting with the minor hit power ballad “Sure Know Something” being a particular standout. And with the success of his solo album, Ace Frehley got more chances to contribute to the album. His three tracks on the album helped allay some of KISS’ core fan base anger.
In a little over five years, KISS had gone from critically hated/audience ignored glam rock act to cool cult rockers to biggest band on Earth to a kids show. As the ’70s closed, the future was uncertain for the band. Critics who had predicted that the band would be a mere flash in the pan certainly didn’t look they’d be wrong. The band hoped they would turn a new page with the new decade. Few could have predicted the strange twists and turns that would greet KISS in the 1980s. But I guess the one thing you can expect when it comes to KISStory is not to expect anything.
The Catman bids adieu as KISS goes Unmasked!
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Released: May 20, 1980
Label: Casablanca Records[/alert][/one_third]With the recording of Unmasked, KISS ignored hardcore fans who wanted the band to return to its hard rocking roots and continued to embrace the pop-rock sound that made Dynasty a Top 10 hit. In fact, this album somehow managed to be even poppier than its predecessor. Even Ace’s songs were blatant ploys for Top 40 radio play if that’s at all possible for songs sung by a guy who sounds like a drunk math teacher. KISS’ days as a functioning group had long ended, it was now the era of four different stars in four different limos. Well, three different stars. Vini Poncia once again did not want Peter Criss on the album and he was replaced by Anton Fig. Though his name appears on the credits, Peter Criss had no involvement with the album.
There was little collaboration among the rest of the members. For the most part, Ace played on Ace’s song, Gene played on Gene’s song, etc with little intermingling. In fact, on the album’s first single, “Shandi” (the wimpiest KISS song ever recorded and I mean that in the nicest way possible – it’s a guilty pleasure of mine.), Paul was the only member to play on the track. As a result of dissension in the band, the album was the first time KISS used outside songwriters to such a large extent. Producer Poncia was the unsung hero here with writing credits on 7 of the album’s 11 tracks.
To say that Unmasked was not what KISS long time fans wanted is an understatement to say the least. “Shandi” made “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” sound like “God of Thunder” and those who criticized KISS’ new costumes for making them look like cartoon superheroes on The Dynasty Tour must have not liked the Unmasked cover where KISS portrayed themselves as cartoon superheroes. I actually enjoy this album and think it’s a definite improvement on Dynasty (which I also thought has its moments). The album has a boatload of memorable hooks and has some great power pop tunes but it doesn’t sound like KISS (except maybe a little bit on the album opener, “Is That You?” which ironically none of the band members had any involvement in writing) at all. It was the wrong decision by the band and its management at a time when they couldn’t afford to make many bad decisions.
Unmasked was the group’s first unequivocal failure in years. It was their first album in five years not to go platinum and sold roughly a third of the amount of copies that Dynasty had. However, there was a silver lining. Unmasked proved to be a big hit in several European countries and Australia. So when it came time to tour the album, the band ignored the U.S. almost entirely and toured in Europe (with opening act Iron Maiden!) and Australia.
That video always makes me a bit melancholy, knowing it was the last time that the original lineup would be together for a decade and a half. But then I laugh because KISS wearing new wave clothes is funny!
Unfortunately, the band could no longer rely on Peter Criss to be a functioning member of the band so reluctantly, they kicked him out of the group weeks before the Unmasked tour was set to begin. His replacement was a young, unknown Brooklynite named Paul Caravello, who toiled away in NYC area cover bands for years awaiting a big break. After initially considering the awesomely terrible stage name of Rusty Blade, Caravello settled on the name of Eric Carr. And with days just left before his debut show, it was decided Carr’s stage personae would be The Fox.
Because foxes are tougher than cats, you see. Anyway, Carr proved to be a consummate professional. From a musician standpoint, he was actually an improvement over The Catman and from a personal standpoint, he was much, much less of a flight risk than The Catman. He’s pretty much the only member of KISS that I haven’t heard badmouthed by any of the other band members in their autobiographies. Even Peter Criss has nothing but good things to say about him.
After a wildly successful international tour at the end of 1980, KISS set about to attempting to recapture their audience in the United States. Initially, their plan was to get back to the sound that made them famous. The KISS Army Fan Letter in Fall of ’80 stated the follow up to Unmasked, “will be hard and heavy from start to finish — straight-on rock and roll that will knock your socks off”. Eventually, it was decided that returning to the old sound wouldn’t be enough to capture the public’s imagination. KISS was going to reunite with the man behind Destroyer, Bob Ezrin, who had just come off of co-producing Pink Floyd’s monumental album The Wall, to record the very first KISS concept album.
Next time on Connor’s KISS Korner: So it’s come to this…we take a look back at Music From “The Elder”, the biggest risk of KISS’ career since the solo albums (if not ever). Will critics and audiences embrace the new, more thoughtful and introspective KISS? Uh… we’ll see but I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to this.
