Over the years KISS ASYLUM has had some great articles from our columnists in the Video Spotlight (Byron Fogle), KISS Thought Vault (Ron Albanese), Diamonds In The Rough (Dale Sherman), and KISS Album Focus (Julian Gill) features among others. In addition to the reoccuring articles from these great authors, we wanted to open the door to other writers out there and give them a place where they can voice their opinions about KISS. We realize not everyone may want to write a column on a regular basis, but we bet there are more than a few of you who have at least one KISS related topic burning in you that you'd love to write a one time piece about. Well, KISS ASYLUM is happy to bring to you a forum in which to do so in our new feature "SOUND OFF!" KISS ARMY.
"SOUND OFF" is the place where YOU get a chance to be a guest columnist at KISS ASYLUM. If you have something you want to get off your chest and share with other KISS fans we encourage you to email us and submit the essay! From your own creative idea for how KISS could gain new fans, to what you think really went "wrong" with the KISS/Vinnie Vincent relationship, to your take on the KISS merchandizing, to an analysis on the evolution of KISS album covers.... if you want to write about it, we want to help you share it with fellow members of the KISS ARMY! Perhaps you have been motivated to respond to something written by one of the other feature writers here at KISS ASYLUM? Now is your chance to "SOUND OFF" and be heard!
"SOUND OFF!" - SOUND OFF Archives: Recent Articles | Articles 1-20 | Articles 21-40 | Articles 41-60 | Articles 81-100
KISS' box set has been talked about by the band for so long it's become almost mythic. I have no idea what KISS is planning, but there are hundreds of directions they could go when designing a box set. It could be an extended greatest hits, like the Led Zeppelin set. Aerosmith put out a mix of hits and unreleased songs. The Misfits box set offers everything they ever recorded. KISS is in a different situation since they already have quite a few compilations and their entire back catalogue is available and remastered. Because of this, the box set needs to be something different, something special. My idea of the perfect KISS box set is a "gravestone" for the band. A collection that shows what KISS stood for: 30 or so years of hard work and great music.
I have been a KISS fan since 1975. I can remember the 1st time I saw the cover of ALIVE. When I heard the music I felt a sense of common interest. I don't look at KISS as a band that spoke to me, rather a band that had the same views I had. They were unique in there presentation which made me feel I could be different and it didn't matter. I also had battle scars for my support of KISS when all others were into FOGHAT and ZEPPLIN. I lived in Detroit in 75 and had tickets to the COBO HALL concert, but my father stopped me from going because he felt KISS was a bad influence. Funny thing about my DAD, he was the bad influence with his drinking and abuse towards my mom. KISS represented to me the normal kid stuff, women, fun, women, loud music and women. Nothing negative in their messages, just fun.
I recently read in Sound-Off that fans who complain HATE Gene and Paul because they seem to make all of the $$ in KISS. This could not be further from the truth. We KISS fans are so mad at them because we LOVE them and they have hurt us. I am 37 years old and have been a KISS fan since my pre-teens so I have lived through every era of KISSdom. I have been to concerts of every tour since Destroyer. I proudly display my concert souvenirs, even those of the "HATED" Gene and Paul. The problem is with the lying. They lie all the time. They lie so much they even start to believe their own lies.
Have you ever really stopped and taken a look at how many things that KISS has in common with Alice Cooper, not top mention things that they just plain stole from him? I'm sure there are other examples I haven't taken into account yet (please submit them if I missed them), so here's what I have noticed....
I have some thoughts to share about the long-rumored box set. We all know that KISS memoribilia can be, at times, very expensive. For instance, KISS golf balls can run anywhere from $20.00 to $25.00. That's a little out there, isn't it. For years Gene Simmons has be talking about a KISS box set; he has refered to it being "the mother of all box-sets". Now, we know how expensive all box sets can be and coming from KISS, there is no way the price will be low enough that most of us will be able to buy it. My idea would be to put out an anthology similar to that of The Beatles a few years ago. By doing this fans who don't have money to spend $100-$200 will be able to buy an addition at a time. This way we can afford it and Mr. Simmons can buy his mother a new house, again.
There has been quite a bit of discussion, or should I say bashing of KISS' original, or for this KISS fan of twenty two years, ONLY KISS guitarist Ace Frehley ever since he got on WNEW-FM and made his comments concerning the future of KISS. Lots of fans, online and at expos that I have attended, have made several of the following complaints that I would like to address....
"I'm a legend tonight" Well, OK Paul, at one time maybe. But now your band has done something to itself that media and opposition has failed to do since 1973; make KISS look pathetic. I've been on the KISS bandwagon since 1987 when I was 11 years old. I bought Dressed to Kill at K-mart one day simply because my dad said I wouldn't like it and I wanted to spite him. Then KISS became an obsession. By the next year I had all the albums and every Metal Edge that so much as had one KISS picture in it. I loved all the music, from the makeup days to the then present.... Flash to present. After 3 years of constant merchandising, continuous broken promises, an album with session musicians playing all key parts, and tours with the same setlist and stage show, KISS has managed to reach an all-time low.
By now, I doubt that anyone can really have anything new to say on this subject. I, like so many others, fine myself reaching for the shotgun with tears streaming, knowing old yeller needs to be put out his misery. I will be seriously sad to see KISS go. But, I just don't like the current climate of the band or fans.I have always applied the same philosophy to KISS that I apply to family or friends. I will stand behind you, but if I think you are being an idiot I won't call you a genius. For me there have always been little moments of glory, but many moments where I felt the band was merely paying lip service to fans. I think with alot of things they do have genuine intentions, but I also think the bottom line and assembly line thinking eventually creeps in to ruin what probably start out as truly great ideas or projects.
"Does anyone out there actually believe that the KISS members care about their music anymore??" So asks "Sound Off" author Eric Mehta in his essay. Sorely disappointed in Psycho Circus and the tour to support it, Eric believes a large part of the "problem is Gene Simmons' ego and failure to mature as a human being. He fails to realize that the original KISS fans of twenty years ago are now grown up and have wives and kids. How many times can we hear Gene slagging off women as bitches and sluts. The neanderthal interviews have got to stop!" After all, What Goes Around Comes Around!
David P Neel thinks that there's simply too much emotion in the KISS Army to ever really sort out all the differeing opinions on what has (or hasn't!) gone wrong with the band. He personally thinks that perhaps the biggest mistake made recently was the choice of second single for the Psycho Circus album. "I believe that the poor choice for a follow-up single put the death knell on this stage of KISStory." He does acknowledge, however, that perhaps it's best We Agree To Disagree.
Joe Spiller thinks the reunion is a perfect example of be careful what you wish for... you might get it! He thinks that all the same people who are complaining about the merchandising and "mistakes" the band is making now are probably the same ones who were so excited to have the "orignial" line up back. Well, "you wanted the original KISS back, you got it. You got the makeup, the costumes, and with that you get all of the merchandising, the egos, and the problems they had in the 70's." Joe also points out that "we all would not have had a Reunion Tour if Gene and Paul would not have kept KISS going over the years." The originals? Joe says You Wanted The Best... You Had It!
Marc thinks that many of the prior "Sound Off" authors are talking out of both sides of their mouths. "'I hate KISS because of this... I hate KISS because of that... But I still love KISS.' This to me me sounds like a contradiction. You can love the band, or you can hate them... but not both." Marc thinks that, given the current climate of the band -- and its fans -- there are certain Things You Need To Debate As A KISS Fan.
"When Paul talks about looking out a window and seeing families lined up at the arenas, he's seeing me and my friends. At least once a week all of the kids in my neighborhood got together and listened to Double Platinum and played air-guitar with our tennis rackets." So says "Sound Off" author Dave Picolo, who thinks that for all the mistakes KISS may have made of late, They Can't Tarnish The Old Memories, Only The New Ones.
Chuck Eaton (music critic for BeeRadio.com) has taken the time to analyze the criticisms that other "Sound Off" authors have been writing about. While not discounting them entirely, Chuck points out: "Granted, they could give us, the fans, more of what we want from them, but they have to keep this monster called KISS rolling 365 days a year, and have done so for the past 27 years, so obviously they ARE doing something right." Chuck also throws down a little challenge for KISS himself, but thinks that in general fans should Quit Whining... You've Still Got The Best!
David C. Hill is tired of that particular "faction" of the KISS Army that finds it necessary to complain about every little thing the band does. "KISS supplies what the public demands -- not what a small group of fans who think they deserve special treatment demands. If "the faction" feels so cheated/used/taken advantage of -- time and time again, why do they continue to portray themselves as fans?" David thinks it's time for "the faction" to Quit Complaining -- It's Only Rock And Roll.
Repeat "Sound Off" author Chris Karam has brought up a very good, amazingly simple point in his most recent essay -- through all the "greasepaint and gripes" let's not forget all the good music the band has provided us throughout the years. Picking a handful of KISS's albums to analyze and use as demonstrations of the vast and varied catalogue they have provided us with in the past 25 years, Chris reminds everyone that at the heart of it all -- the reason we all became fans of this band in the first place -- is The Music, The Music.
Bob Rodrick, author of the original "ultimate KISS box set" essay nearly two years ago here ar KISS ASYLUM has decided to weigh in with another essay geared toward future KISS album releases. Noting that some artists live forever through their music, Bob believes KISS will be one of those rare artists - and that they'll do it on the strength of their music. For starters, Bob sees the following as necessary future KISS album releases once the band is no longer creating new material: The Entire Wicked Lester Album * KISS: Live At The Daisy 1973 * The Unmasked Anthology: 1983-1995 * Live In The Shade 1990 * The Essential KISS: The Real Best Of. Yes, Bob certainly has a strategy planned out for KISS and The Way It Should Be: Future Album Releases.
Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, the "Sound Off" stakes have just been raised to a new level! In an essay so big it took three authors to create, Matt Donaldson, Darren Dewis and Todd Dewis have covered just about every aspect of KISS you can imagine, including: Set List ("As Gene is lifted to the lighting rig, and passes infront of the look-a-like logo, the logo is set on fire, giving the effect that Gene's presence has set it alight. After he is in position on top of the lighting rig he then starts the next song. The logo burns for the whole song"), Costumes, New Studio Album ("The most important question is.... who should produce the album? After long deliberation we have finally come up with Bob Rock. He is not as "tame" as Bruce Fairbairn, and he has worked with alot of different types of people - Motley Crue, Metallica and Bon Jovi"), Opening Acts ("It's obvious to us that UNION should open for KISS, especially in the U.S."), Solo Albums ("We really pray that they release solo albums again. It wasn't so much of a mistake before, as it was more of an ego thing to try to out do each other. Now that they are older and wiser and have been thru that childish phase, it would be a good time to see how each one has grown."), Outside Projects ("They must stop ALL outside projects immediately. As long as KISS is still going then all their efforts should be on KISS."), Merchandise ("Fair enough, some of it is pretty expensive, but that's because KISS know that if KISS fans want it, they will pay for it. That's not stupidity, that's smart business sense."), Movies ("If KISS are looking for the opportunity to do a REAL movie, then let it be real. They need to do an autobiographical movie in the same vein as The Doors' movie which starred Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison."), 80's Material ("The last thing we want is to be put thru the hell of listening to songs like "I Love It Loud", "Lick It Up" and "Heaven's On Fire" live.") and The Box Set (including 9 "mini boxes" - each of which contains a CD, Live CD and Video!). These guys haven't missed a trick, and say that KISS needs to Do The Things We Say To Do.
|
|
KISS Museum