I should be transcribing the TB interview, but listening to Ian Robinson on Q104 tonight took me on a tour down memory lane. I thought I'd take a couple of paragraphs to tell you about it.
You may not have known this about me, or cared for that matter; but I was a huge KISS fan back in the day. My friend Reg, who reads this blog, was a bigger fan. His passion for the band transcended all logic. I can state this because I know mine did.
For the most part, I am embarrassed that I liked their music so much. Most of their songs are stupid, with sophomoric lyrics that discuss things I'd rather not mention here. There are metaphors in their tunes that I didn't notice at the time, because, well, metaphors are things I don't get at the best of times.
In 1978, as a marketing ploy to get people to buy 4 albums rather than one, the boys released solo albums simultaneously. Even the most stalwart KISS fans have a hard time defending these albums. They mostly suck. There are some decent tunes here, but precious few. Peter Criss' album barely qualifies as a professional recording, in my opinion.
The biggest hit from the 4 records is an unlikely one. It was by their lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, who up to that point had barely squeaked on one of their albums, let alone sung on one. He had sung on a tune called "Rocket Ride" on Kiss Alive II the previous year, and that's about it. (Yep. Another metaphor. I actually thought it was a science fiction song for the longest time. See what I mean about metaphors?)
I thought I'd share that hit song with you. I hope you enjoy "New York Groove". It still holds up rather nicely.
Oh, I thought I'd mention this: A year after these albums were released, all four of them were on sale for the cost of what one had cost the year before. Instead of costing, say, 8 dollars each, you could get all 4 of them for 8 dollars! Yeah. They sucked that hard.
Frehley was not invited back for the current KISS tour. Neither was Criss, who recently revealed he had been diagnosed with breast cancer (yes, men can get breast cancer). But Frehley is still out there, and released another solo album this year.
Here is the official commercial for that album, "Anomaly".
And here is his version of Sweet's "Fox on the Run".
Thanks for playing both songs tonight, Ian. I appreciate it!
Bevboy
1 comment:
I hear you Bev. Playing air guitar at 14 may have been cool but looking back , man they are so cheesy . A few tunes at max have held up but that's it. Sad to see 60 year old men still wearing spandex ,high heels and singing songs like Christine Sixteen. But then again most rock bands don't hold up that well form that era(60-70's).
The joke is on us I guess . Last year Kiss merchandise,concert sales and Cd sales , around 250 million! Crazy or what .
Have a good one.
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