Tim McPhate | KissFAQ
New York Times bestselling author/KISS fan dissects “Music From The Elder,” spanning topics from the album’s packaging and the meaning of “Odyssey” to analyzing Paul Stanley’s disdain for all things “Elder”
In conjunction with KissFAQ’s month-long NovElder retrospective, New York Times bestselling author/KISS fan Chuck Klosterman has offered his insight into “Music From The Elder.” Among other topics, Klosterman shared why the album is a personal favorite, offered a viewpoint on why Paul Stanley has grown detached from the album, and why the album failed to resonate with fans, among other topics.
The following are excerpts from Klosterman’s interview with KissFAQ’s Tim McPhate:
First reaction listening to “The Elder”:
KF: When you first listened to “The Elder,” what was your immediate reaction to what you were hearing?
CK: My main memory of playing The Elder is that I just kept thinking to myself, “So this is it. I’m listening to The Elder.” I’d read so much about it that it seemed meaningful to simply possess the artifact. I knew (going in) that it was supposed to sound unlike any other KISS album, so I unconsciously exaggerated how much that difference would be. I probably thought it would sound like free jazz or something. But it still seemed like KISS to me. It didn’t sound anything like Pink Floyd or Jethro Tull, which is what I’d been told. I suppose the very beginning of the album is a little like “Locomotive Breath,” but that would have never occurred to me at the time. “I” seemed exactly like a good mid-period KISS song, except for the part where Gene directly criticizes people who get wasted. But that was a known thing about KISS. They were totally overt about their sobriety.
The fascination with “The Elder”:
KF: Chuck, what is it exactly about “The Elder” that fascinates you?
CK: If you like a band, you appreciate all the things they do well. But if you LOVE a band, the parts of their career that truly fascinate you are the aspects that go wrong. Artists are best understood through their reaction to failure. So if you love Black Sabbath, the record you want to think about is Technical Ecstasy. If you love Oasis, you want to think about Be Here Now. And if you love KISS, the record that’s most compelling is The Elder. It’s not even close. The Elder helps you see the psychopathy of KISS. You can still see how the experience of this album changed the way they look at themselves and how it galvanized some of their pre-existing opinions about the world.