You wanted the best, so here goes! My all-time Kiss Top 20, which you might be shocked to find does NOT include "Rock And Roll All Nite", "I Love It Loud" or "Calling Dr. Love"...
20) "Creatures Of The Night" (1982) This song hailed the great Kiss comeback in the '80s, back to the down-and-dirty sound after spending about five years in musical wilderness. It quickly made everyone forget about that Music From The Elder catastrophe...
19) "Nothin' To Lose" (1974) Great call-and-response bit between Peter Criss and Gene and Paul. Old favorite in concert, too.
18) "I Just Wanna" (1992) As Frank Burns on "M*A*S*H" once said--It's got that word in it!
17) "Hotter Than Hell" (1974) I can't understand why they stopped playing this one live so long ago--it's a killer!
16) "She" (1975) Go with the live version on Alive! where Ace gets to really stretch out and jam.
15) "Tears Are Falling" (1985) Asylum was a very overlooked album, and it always pisses me off how Gene and Paul always try to act like the '80s never happened whenever they rehash the band's history--Kiss put out some damn good stuff after they took off the make-up.
14) "War Machine" (1982) A lot of folks don't know that Bryan Adams co-wrote this one. Strike down the one who leads you...
13) "UH! All Night" (1985) I'll give you three guesses what "UH!" means...
12) "Parasite" (1974) Underrated Kiss classic off the poorly-recorded Hotter Than Hell album. Dandy riff from Mr. Frehley, and an even dandier solo...
11) "Makin' Love" (1976) Smokin' little number courtesy of Mr. Stanley. Never sounded very good live, though, minus the echo effect during the chorus.
10) "Fits Like A Glove" (1983) Great riff from Gene and a downright dirty song: "'Cus when I go through her, it's just like a hot knife through butter..."
9) "Firehouse" (1974) Gotta love this one, always a highlight of a Kiss show.
8) "Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll" (1974) Don't bother with the truncated studio version on Hotter Than Hell--go with the live version on Alive! or the demo version on the Kiss box set where they stretch this thing out and jam a little.
7) "Young And Wasted" (1983) Gene sang this nasty little song on Lick It Up, but it sounded even better live with the late Eric Carr on vocals. Even Vinnie Vincent sounded good here...
6) "Love Gun" (1977) Another concert staple with a great riff, and one of Paul Stanley's better vocal performances. It took me a few years to notice what a great bass line Gene Simmons put on this one too, and Ace's solo on here just cooks!
5) "Cold Gin" (1974) You know it'll always win! If that first Kiss album had been recorded worth a damn at all, this song would be an FM radio staple right up there with "Highway To Hell" and "Smoke On The Water". A major missed opportunity...
4) "Black Diamond" (1974) I don't really relate to songs about prostitutes, but this one rocks anyway. Always a concert highlight that closed the shows with lots of bombs and pyro.
3) "Shout It Out Loud" (1976) Kiss meets the Wall of Sound and it works. Screw "Rock And Roll All Nite"--this is the definitive Kiss anthem. A lot of Kiss fans were turned off by the slickness of this one (and the Destroyer album in general), but I fucking loved it. I also love call-and-answer lyrics, and this song is a beautiful two-minute, 46-second masterpiece.
2) "Deuce" (1974) Can't come up with a more appropos title for #2 than this one, can ya? This is the song Kiss most often opens their shows with (or plays in the #2 hole), and this one makes it on attitude alone. It has to, with lyrics like "Get up and get your grandma outta here!" Love the little bit of choreography that Gene, Paul and Ace always did at the end of the song in concert, too.
1) "Detroit Rock City" (1976) If they ever make a movie about my life, I want this song to play during the opening credits. From the opening riff through the verses and the chorus, this was abso-tively The Hottest Band In The World's finest hour in the studio. You most definitely gotta lose your mind in Detroit, too. I actually have done so, a couple times...
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3 comments:
Back in high school in Omaha in '74 I came across an article in Creem about this band from NY. I ran down to my record wholesaler (they sold to the public if you knew how to find them) and picked up KISS and Hotter Than Hell. The copy of KISS turned out to be missing the track Love Theme From KISS. Think that makes it a rarity? I also picked up the recently released Queen and Queen II on the same day. Like your taste in music. Dave (baksdad@yahoo.com)
Well, if it's missing "Love Theme", it most definitely is a rarity, but I think you might be referring to "Kissin' Time" instead, which is also pretty rare. The first album was released with just nine tracks, and they later added "Kissin' Time" to coincide with that kissing marathon contest. I've never seen a copy of that album without that track myself, but if you have one, it's probably worth some serious moolah today. Thanks for the commentary, also!
Nice list...so many others though.
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