Daily Archives: June 19, 2024

Top 10 ’90s KISS Songs

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Although Kiss released only three albums during the ’90s, it was quite an eventful time for the group.

At the start of the decade, the group found themselves in a mirror version of their dilemma in the early ’80s. In 1982, after squandering nearly all of their career momentum with questionable trend-chasing albums, they released the masterful Creatures of the Night, which didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved. Chastened but determined, Kiss took off their trademark facepaint and clawed their way back to platinum sales and sold-out arenas with a string of successful ’80s albums.

Although the situation wasn’t nearly as dire, after closing out the ’80s with a pair of somewhat disappointing albums – 1987’s Crazy Nights and 1989’s Hot in the Shade – Kiss hit it out of the park with 1992’s Revenge, which much like Creatures failed to get its due on the sales charts.

This time, the band responded by putting their makeup back on, with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley bringing back founding members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley for a massively successful reunion tour that led to what can only be called a “reunion” album if you use air quotes. Oh, and before they they had a brief flirtation with grunge which resulted in a controversial but underrated album that sat on the shelf for a year before being unceremoniously dumped into the marketplace. It’s all explained below, in our list of the Top 10 ’90s Kiss Songs.

10. “Master & Slave”
From: Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)

Unlike his eager bandmate Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley was “dead set” against Kiss attempting to incorporate grunge music into their sound on the Carnival of Souls album. “I never believed the world needs a second-rate Soundgarden, Metallica or Alice in Chains,” Stanley declared in the 2001 book Kiss: Behind the Mask. But as a good teammate the once and future Starchild gave it his best shot and even made the formula work a couple of times, most notably on the storming “Master & Slave.”

Recorded with the Revenge-era Stanley / Simmons / Bruce Kulick / Eric Singer lineup, the album was shelved during the original lineup reunion tour, and released with little fanfare in late 1997 after being heavily bootlegged by fans.

9. “In My Head”
From: Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)

It’s easy to see why Gene Simmons was excited by the darker, edgier sounds of the ’90s alternative rock revolution, which suited his once (and again, future) demonic alter ego very nicely. He unleashes his most sinister growl on the savage “In My Head” while lead guitarist Bruce Kulick attacks the riffs like a bull that just broke out of his pen.

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30 Years Ago KISS Got Their Groove Back With ‘KISS My A–’

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The late ‘80s were a weird time for KISS. The band “unmasked” and revamped themselves on 1983’s Lick It Up. It was a risky move, but one that rejuvenated their career. Pop metal (or “hair metal”) acts started dominating MTV and the Billboard charts, so this was perfect timing. Their look and sound fit perfectly alongside Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, and Poison.

It worked really well. That is, until it didn’t: by the end of the decade, hair metal was yesterday’s news and was quickly becoming a punchline. Sure, KISS was still headlining arenas, and they had some pretty big pop hits (“Reason To Live,” “Forever”). Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley would probably protest the premise of this article: they’d say that their “bad” years were better than most bands’ best years. And that’s true. But this is also true: although they were never “hip,” if you grew up in the suburbs, no band was cooler in the ‘70s. If Gene and Paul had a nickel for every kid who bought a guitar or drumset because of KISS, they’d double their considerable fortunes. But a few years into unmasking, they were no longer cool.

Strangely enough, the bands that were banishing the pop-metal rockers to the discount bins turned out to be KISS fans, too. Gene and Paul, always aware of trends, knew this was an opportunity. 1990 saw the release of Hard To Believe: A KISS Covers Compilation on the indie label C/Z Records; that’s the same label that released the 1986 Deep Six compilation, the record that helped to launch the Melvins, Green River (featuring future Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament) Skin Yard (featuring future Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron) and Soundgarden.

Hard To Believe: A KISS Covers Compilation had contributions from both the Melvins and Skin Yard, as well as legendary punk band All. Oh yeah, and Nirvana, who covered “Do You Love Me?” Always attuned to trends, and never shy about addressing or defending their legacy, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanely decided to take the reins to assemble their own tribute album.

To be fair, KISS was already changing with the times before they started working on the tribute: their 1992 album Revenge was a darker, heavier record than they’d done since they unmasked, and they adopted a new, mostly black look, a visual 180 from their bright garb from the past decade or so. But they were still playing to the shrinking KISS audience.

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