On this day back in 1950, the Caravellos from New York welcomed a bouncing baby boy to the family. Paul Charles Caravello would go on to become Eric Carr, drummer for Kiss through the 1980s. Sadly, we lost Eric on November 24, 1991, which is the same day Freddie Mercury passed. Longtime Goldmine writer — and author of the recent Kiss at 50 — Martin Popoff, celebrates Eric’s life and times with a look at the top songs of his tenure. —Pat Prince

Thanks Pat, and a pleasure to write this one up, as that ‘80s period from Kiss is rapidly and continually rising in the estimation of the Kiss faithful as the years roll on. Let’s see if we can figure out why. —Martin Popoff

20. “Little Caesar”

This Hot in the Shade track wouldn’t have made this list on merit alone, because I don’t like these funky, butt-shaking Gene Simmons stripper-rock songs as a rule. But we celebrate it because Eric Carr co-writes (with Simmons and Adam Mitchell) and then turns in a rock-solid, confident lead vocal, his only one besides the band’s “Beth” remake. As it turns out, Eric had a great voice, too, putting him right between Peter Criss and Eric Singer as capable singing drummers in Kiss. And the weird thing is, despite having a somewhat unusual voice, he sounds like Eric Singer, and even, to some extent, Peter when he’s singing higher and cleaner and not doing his lion’s roar. It’s kinda like Kiss’ version of the Genesis story.

19. “Crazy Crazy Nights”

This is just pure stupidity like “Lick It Up,” but it gets sold, partly because it’s the lead track on the mostly anemic Crazy Nights album. There’s a bit of a Charlie Watts approach to the high-hat track that helps the song, which otherwise survives on Paul Stanley’s spirit of hope in it, and then a modulation. OK, maybe it isn’t Shakespeare or Queen, but whatever it is, it’s a hair metal confection that’s hard to get out of your head once you hear it. And the British sure liked it, sending it to No. 1 on the charts, making it the band’s highest-charting U.K. single ever.

18. “Nowhere to Run”

After the failure of Music from “The Elder,” Polygram requested a course correction, with Kiss turning in four new songs (with Bob Kulick on lead guitar) to go on a European hits compilation called Killers. None of them were that great, but Paul’s “Nowhere to Run” is kind of fun because it represents Kiss in rare AOR mode, sounding very much like the commercial music of its day as practiced by Sammy Hagar, Bryan Adams and Night Ranger. Conversely, it sounds like a really good song from Paul’s 1978 solo album, albeit with brash, overly loud and reverb-laden drum production (so not the best representation of Eric).

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Episode 581. We are joined by guitarist Jason Hook this week. Jason updates on his new band Flat Black, their new album will be released on July 19th. But… we talk all KISS with Jason, who is a HUGE KISS fan. Jason shares his feelings and thoughts on the end of KISS and the upcoming avatars. We also discuss our five favorite KISS albums and our two least favorite albums.

KISS‘s classic song “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” has joined Spotify‘s “Billions Club”.

Billions Club is a playlist first launched in 2020 which includes all of the songs on Spotify that have surpassed one billion streams on the platform. After the achievement, Spotify gifts artists the Billions Club plaque.

“I Was Made For Lovin’ You” joins other tracks — including METALLICA‘s “Nothing Else Matters”, AEROSMITH‘s “Dream On”, SURVIVOR‘s “Eye Of The Tiger”, PAPA ROACH‘s “Last Resort”, GUNS N’ ROSES‘ “Paradise City”, BON JOVI‘s “You Give Love A Bad Name” and EVANESCENCE‘s “Bring Me To Life” — to be featured in Spotify‘s “Billions Club”. The milestone has reportedly been achieved by at least 500 songs so far.

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Kulick was around for Kiss’ under-appreciated no-makeup era, but when the band’s first reunion fell through, he was never invited back

Bruce Kulick has opened up on his departure from Kiss, and explained why he wasn’t all that fussed when he never received an invite to rejoin the band in the early 2000s.

Over the years, Kiss has recruited a number of electric guitar stars, from Mark St. John to Thayer and Vinnie Vincent, whose controversial guitar solos drove Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley mad.

Kulick’s is another name that can be found on the list, but his stint with the band was particularly unique: he was a key part of Kiss’ no-makeup era and stuck around when the band began to explore a grungier sound in the ’90s.

However, Kulick – whose time in the band came to an end when the first Kiss reunion rolled around in the mid-’90s – and his contributions are often under-appreciated, and he wasn’t invited to take part when Kiss played their ‘End of the Road’ farewell shows.

That wasn’t the first time he wasn’t invited back by Kiss, either. When their first reunion fell through, Simmons and Stanley employed Tommy Thayer as their guitarist, and decided against re-hiring Kulick.

But as Kulick explains in the new issue of Guitar World, he’s not all that bothered, and while he misses being part of the band – and would have liked to have been a part of the farewell shows – he wouldn’t have wanted to compromise on who was as a player to get back in.

“I’ve made peace with not being included in Kiss’s End of the Road,” Kulick says. “That said, no, they never called me.

“I’ve always missed being in Kiss, but if being in Kiss meant being the Spaceman like Tommy, I wouldn’t want to do it,” he continues. “And if being a part of the final shows meant I had to ask to be there, I’d rather stay home. I guess that’s why Ace respects me and has always been kind to me.”

For Kulick, donning the Spaceman makeup was never an option, and the fact he would have been required to do so had he returned means he’s not especially disappointed with how everything panned out.

“I’m not disappointed they didn’t ask me to be in Kiss again,” he explains. “To be in Kiss again, I would have had to be the Spaceman, right? If I had done that, I would have negated my entire non-makeup era.

“Tommy Thayer did a fine job playing Ace’s riffs with some swagger. He did the Spaceman well, but I never wanted to.”

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What makes a good live show? Is it the sound quality? The atmosphere? The pyrotechnics? The audience interaction? The setlist? According to Gene Simmons, the ultimate defining quality of live excellence is how the band holds itself—if it ignores what others are doing and focuses on everything it has to offer, that’s when the true magic happens.

Of course, many Kiss fans will likely argue that this is precisely the appeal of their favourite band. With their energetic and visceral on-stage presence, it’s hard to find anyone that did it like Kiss. In fact, this exact calibre of uniqueness garnered them legions of fans, even if their sound and image seemed off-putting or artificial for some in the beginning.

But a live show isn’t just about whether a band stands out. It’s in their attitude, their silent ability to shun critics, and their unspeakable prowess under the spotlight, the kind that says: “We’re all here together for one night of fun, why not enjoy it?” According to Simmons, there’s only one band that holds this kind of magnitude on the platform, and that’s AC/DC.

AC/DC has been enjoying a widely popular run of live shows lately, which just goes to show that, five decades on, they hold the same type of appeal. Simmons’ love for the band runs deep, mostly because he witnessed their trajectory as a band that went from putting in all the work to one that couldn’t have slowed down if they tried.

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ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT!

Happy 4th of July!

WABENO – Gene Simmons is becoming something of a Wisconsin northwoods regular, and even in the leather pants and rock star cowboy boots, he fits right in.

The KISS legend was back at Potawatomi Casino Hotel Carter on Tuesday to open the newest and 25th Rock & Brews restaurant in the franchise he co-founded with bandmate Paul Stanley.

He hammed it up with local media, swiping microphones and flipping up the collars of his interviewers, and sat down with Green Bay’s WIXX-FM morning show co-hosts Huggie, Natalie & Corey for a chat minus the usual radio questions.

He posed for photos with the kitchen staff, members of the Forest County Potawatomi Community color guard, kids in KISS makeup and T-shirts, elders with walkers and “every person on the planet” at the invite-only ceremony. He signed KISS memorabilia, did the honors of the ribbon-cutting with a pair of giant scissors and impromptu danced to Prince’s “1999” in between meet and greets like only he can.

Just when everyone thought The Beatles had done all that could be done with rock music, the 1970s arrived. Following the momentous hippie phase of the late 1960s, this new decade was marked by more anarchistic countercultural revolutions in the punk wave alongside progress in the realms of heavy metal, glam rock and prog-rock. Somewhere amid this chaos was the New York City glam metal group Kiss.

In the early 1960s, rock bands mostly stuck to dark suits, later embracing colourful, fluffy jackets and shoulder-length hair in the psychedelic era. By the time the 1970s rolled around, glam rockers like David Bowie and Marc Bolan operated at the fashion vanguard, the former with colourful flare suits and orange hair and the latter with a fetching stovepipe hat and cheek glitter.

Taking heed of such developments in style and showmanship, Kiss made icons of themselves by layering their faces with white makeup and elaborate suits that developed throughout the years. As bassist Gene Simmons unravelled his six-inch tongue on stage before tearing into an early hit like ‘Deuce’, there could be no mistaking who stood on stage.

Behind all the glitz and glam, however, Kiss were serious about their craft and prided themselves on innovative composition. Invariably, their music was hard-hitting, inspired by early metal innovators like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, with an appreciation of catchy bass hooks and uptempo rhythm guitar work.

As the band’s co-lead vocalist, prolific songwriter and bassist, Simmons relied on inspiration from all corners of the musical map. As a bassist and composer, few of Simmons’ luminaries could measure up to Paul McCartney, whose songwriting prowess seemed to outshine his melodic grasp of the bass throughout the 1960s. “When I was growing up as a Beatles fan, I heard a Beatles song, and you’d listen to it, and you’d go away humming it,” he reflected in a 2016 conversation with Rock Cellar. “You only later realise that every once in a while, you’re humming a bass part.”

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Episode 580. Recently Peter Arquette announced he was shutting down his long running and respected KISS collectibles store KISS Museum. He sold the inventory to KISSArmyWarehouse.com and is retiring. Why now, why is he retiring. What is he going to do now. What about the future of KISS expos. Is he planning to do any expos in the future.

Great set of new KISS glasses.

Buy now at KISSArmyWarehouse.com!