I’ve covered popular music for 30 years.
Most managers get in your way and that’s if you’re lucky. I’ve lost track of unreturned phone calls and dark ports, but I won’t forget when the Sun-Times sent me to Toronto to interview singer Robert Palmer. His manager told me that Palmer had throat problems and we would have to put off the conversation for a day. My editors told me to sit tight.
In 1978, there were two things on the minds of boys ages 5 to 16. OK, maybe three. They were KISS, “Star Wars,” and girls. You pick the order they were in for you personally. I was 6, so girls really hadn’t figured into the equation yet.
Girls were on boys’ minds for the obvious reasons. “Star Wars” was popular because it had just been released the year before and blew everyone away with its groundbreaking, never-before-seen special effects and imagery. After only being around since 1973, KISS was the hottest band in the world because of their shockingly explosive on-stage spectacle and look. They had already released several best-selling studio, live, and solo albums. They had t-shirts, stickers, belt buckles, and everything else you can think of with their logo and likenesses plastered on them. The band even had a comic book that featured the members as superheroes that was published through Marvel Comics.
Here’s KISS playing “Two Timer” during soundcheck on the KISS Kruise!
Continue reading