If you’re a veteran rock act who issued albums over a near 50 year period, there are bound to be a few releases that proved to be more polarizing than others amongst fans. And Kiss certainly had a few of them, tops being 1981’s conceptual rock opera, “(Music From) The Elder” and 1997’s decidedly grungy “Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions”.

But there is another album in their discography that is also met with a bit of resistance from their following: 1987’s “Crazy Nights”. And unlike the other aforementioned controversial albums, “Crazy Nights” was a hit: going platinum in both the US and Canada, and gold in the UK (where the album peaked at an impressive #4). Additionally, Kiss scored a smash hit single with the anthem “Crazy Crazy Nights” in the UK (which also peaked at #4).

But the sudden sweetening of Kiss’ sound with keyboards and some of the material sounding like it was written on the spot (particularly the lyrics to the Spinal Tap-esque “Bang Bang You“) has become quite apparent when listening back to the LP with “2025 ears”.

During an interview with Chaoszine, former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick discussed the “Crazy Nights” album. And explained which member was all for it, and which member wasn’t entirely comfortable with its direction.

“In contrast to ‘Asylum’, which seemed to be more self-produced, it was interesting to get [producer] Ron Nevison involved, who was very successful then,” Kulick said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “He had hits with some big bands, and I know that Paul [Stanley] was very excited to work with him. Gene [Simmons], maybe not as much, but again, I was able to contribute some songs.”

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