William Michael Redman
-
Preamble
“You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world …
What a great time to be a KISS fan! 2014 marks 40 years since their debut album, and tickets for the summer tour with Def Leppard have just gone on sale.
April 2014 in particular is notable due to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where the four original members will be honored. In the same week, Paul Stanley’s long-awaited autobiography will be on the shelves, completing the quartet of published life stories told by each of the original members of KISS.
And on a completely different note, the professional arena football team, The LA KISS, have made their debut this year.
I’ve been a KISS fan most of my life, and I’ve decided to take this month of April 2014 — which I am declaring as KISS Month — to write down some things: what songs I like, what album covers appeal to me most, and what each band member has meant to me.
I’m also going to present a series of writings which will try to explain why I have such a fascination with the band and the brand. I’ve titled this series: Unmasking the Masks of KISS.
My hope is that my musings here are as interesting and entertaining as KISS is to me. It wasn’t always easy being a diehard fan of this group, but I feel proud to have backed a band which has finally beaten down their detractors and is getting the recognition that they deserve of being one of the most important rock bands of all time.
-
The Unmasking of the Masks of KISS, Part One of Five
First Smack to the Head
I received my first rock music album in 1980 when I was 9 years old. It was a birthday present from my best friend, who had himself been given the exact same gift fifteen days before on his 9th birthday. The album was KISS Alive II, released in October of 1977 over two years prior, which accounted for the sliced off lower left corner indicative of its rescue from a cut-out bin. My pal had fallen under a spell of KISS fever in those two weeks between our birthdays, and he most graciously went to Camelot Music or Musicland at the mall and searched out another copy to present to me as a gift.