Welcome to Dissected, where we disassemble a band’s catalog, a director’s filmography, or some other critical pop-culture collection. It’s exact science by way of a few beers. This time, we follow the legendary career of KISS, from their 1974 self-titled debut to their most recent (and likely final) effort, 2012’s Monster.
KISS are one of the most successful rock bands — and brands — of all time.
Founded in New York City by Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss, KISS became a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s. Songs like “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “Detroit Rock City” would become perennial FM staples, but perhaps even more recognizable than the band’s music is its appearance.
The makeup will forever be KISS’ defining trait: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss). The band’s original lineup struck a shocking image, capturing the imagination of young fans at the time and befuddling their parents (who ended up buying the records for their kids nonetheless). As an example of this dichotomy, Criss claims that photographer Joel Brodsky wanted to put balloons behind the band during the photoshoot for the first KISS album cover, thinking the band were literal clowns.
Meanwhile, across the pond, young Norwegian children collected KISS trading cards despite having never heard the band’s music, attracted to the demonic makeup of Gene Simmons, which would become the primary influence for the corpse paint of black metal.
KISS’ massive commercial reach is one of the most remarkable feats in the history of the music industry. Not only did the band churn out album after album from 1972 on, but it toured relentlessly while making a point to hit smaller markets. As immortalized in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, KISS shows were worth making a journey for, and the fact that the band would play podunk towns as well as big cities expanded the KISS Army tenfold.
Being the wise business men that they are, Simmons and Stanley parlayed the music with merchandising, with KISS action figures and collectibles becoming as ubiquitous as their records. Meanwhile, the band deftly surfed the rock trends of the times, always privy to what the masses were consuming. The band’s early Detroit-influenced hard glam rock led to disco metal, then to conceptual pieces like the unprecedented four “solo” albums experiment and Music From “The Elder”. Then, when hair metal took off in the 1980s, KISS went “unmasked” and took off the face paint for the MTV cameras.
But running a band as a business also took an interpersonal toll. Criss would exit KISS in 1980 (replaced by Eric Carr), and for various reasons that amount to a saga unto itself, Ace Frehley was no longer actively participating in the band by 1982, opening up a revolving door of guitarists (including Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, and Bruce Kulick). The original KISS lineup would eventually reunite in 1996 and stay together for several years, though the four piece would again fall apart by 2003.
Financial disputes, addictions, and personal disagreements are at the crux of the disconnect, which, as of now, remains unreconciled. KISS have just embarked on the final leg of their “End of the Road” farewell tour (tickets available here), Simmons and Stanley are joined by Tommy Thayer on guitar and Eric Singer on drums — this latter-era lineup being responsible for the band’s final two studio albums. Sadly, all signs point to Frehley and Criss not appearing during the final December 2023 gigs at Madison Square Garden.
We can only hope all parties can put aside their differences and make that final reunion happen. Because the career of KISS — one that has brought so much joy to so many fans on an international scale — is one worth celebrating, and everyone who’s donned the makeup has had a part in it.
So, as the end draws nigh, we decided to do some celebrating ourselves, exploring all of the different eras of KISS to rank the band’s 20 studio albums from worst to best (we’re not including the 1978 solo LPs released under the KISS banner). There’s certainly enough here to rock and roll all nite (and for at least a few days). See how our ranking panned out below.
–Jon Hadusek,
Senior Staff Writer
20. Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)
Licking It Up (Analysis): Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions, the band’s 17th studio LP, represents a striking departure from the classic KISS sound as they attempted to jump on the grunge bandwagon. It was released in 1997, which was a weird time for music in general. Earlier in the decade, grunge had unceremoniously bumped glam rock out of the spotlight. Apparently, it was as good a time as any for KISS to get experimental again (let’s not forget about 1979’s Dynasty). While KISS definitely has a signature sound, they were always a little more eager to try the genres of the day on for size than other rock artists like AC/DC… for better or worse.
From the very first notes of “Hate,” it’s evident that Carnival of Souls treads on unfamiliar ground. It awkwardly lands somewhere between Helmet and ’90s Anthrax in style exuding a gritty, dirge-like sound — in stark contrast to the glam and hard rock that had defined KISS in the past. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s vocals are darker and angrier, and Bruce Kulick’s guitar work delves into more dissonant and aggressive tones. Lyrically, the album expresses themes of inner turmoil and anger, reflecting a more introspective approach. KISS without makeup or a sense of humor begs the question: Is it really even KISS?
Loving It Loud (Best Song): “Hate” features a brooding atmosphere with chugging guitar work by Kulick while Simmons’ grainy vocals and deep bass lines as “The Demon” blend with the darker sound. Simmons conveys a sense of inner conflict and anger as the lyrics expound about hate at the heart of man, and saints and sinners. It’s a little reminiscent of “Unholy” both lyrically and musically, which makes it more familiar territory for the band.
Skippin’ Time (Worst Song): Maybe it’s because Kulick is singing, maybe it’s the weird effects, but “I Walk Alone” just doesn’t feel anything like a KISS song. It’s true, most of this album comes out of left field, but this track is the worst offender. It’s a slow, mediocre, and cheesy pseudo-grunge song. Kulick certainly lends his expert lead guitar skills to the mix, which is the only thing keeping it going at all. – Colette Claire
Pick up Carnival of Souls here.
19. Hot in the Shade (1989)
Licking It Up: KISS’ 1980s output was a mixed bag for various reasons, with a couple of majorly strong efforts (Creatures of the Night and Lick It Up) coming in-between much less likable LPs (Music from “The Elder,” Animalize, Asylum, and Crazy Nights). Without question, the band capped off the decade with the worst of the bunch, Hot in the Shade.
Aside from the popularity of hard rock ballad “Forever” (co-written by Michael Bolton, which says a lot about where KISS were at creatively), Hot in the Shade didn’t fare well domestically or internationally. It was the final album with Eric Carr fully involved, too, since he died prior to 1992’s Revenge, and its bloated runtime and excessive amount of mediocre songs only poured more salt into the wound.
There’s barely anything here to get excited about, as the sequence is uninspired at best (“Rise to It,” “King of Hearts,” “The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away”) and excruciatingly corny and/or saccharine at worst (“Cadillac Dreams,” “Forever,” “Boomerang”). Most of the time, however, the songs simply blend together into an amorphous blob of desperate old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll platitudes.
Sure, Hot in the Shade steered away from the keyboard-heavy focus of Crazy Nights, but it’s still a worse album.
Loving It Loud: None of the songs are particularly good, but if push comes to shove, “Rise to It” at least recaptures touches of vintage KISS’ infectious exuberance, sleek yet gutsy chants, and sweltering musicianship. Its deeply ingrained Southern rock coatings capture your attention as well, and the back-and-forth bridge (“I’ll give you fever/ Oh, I’ll give you chills/ Make you a believer/ Well, baby, baby, I’m going to break your will/ Yeah, yeah”) is fun.
Skippin’ Time: At the risk of sounding like a contrarian just for the sake of it, “Forever” truly is awful. It joins several other detestable ‘80s power ballads from previously kick-ass ’70s artists as a shamefully sugary ode. Essentially, Paul Stanley belts out romantic Hallmark poeticisms on top of overly produced and overwhelmingly trite playing. The acoustic guitar solo is decent, though. – Jordan Blum
Pick up Hot in the Shade here.
18. Crazy Nights (1987)
Licking It Up: More so than most KISS albums, Crazy Nights is the sound of the band unmistakably trying to keep pace with other ‘70s rockers who had remodeled their sound for the ‘80s – with a decidedly glossy sheen (namely, the integration of keyboards and a more pop-friendly production). Seeing/hearing what Ron Nevison had recently done for Heart (on their mega-hit self-titled album) and Ozzy Osbourne (The Ultimate Sin), KISS hired the veteran producer to try and replicate the same approach – in hopes of also scoring a blockbuster.
Crazy Nights certainly contains tunes that sounded perfect for mainstream rock radio circa 1987 – namely the anthemic “Crazy Crazy Nights” and the power ballad “Reason to Live.” And unlike previous attempts at softening their sound for the masses (namely Unmasked), Crazy Nights does feature some honest-to-goodness headbanger-friendly moments – especially “No No No.” But an obvious ploy to follow the likes of Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, and Whitesnake up the charts rather than dealing out some true heavy metal thunder ultimately makes Crazy Nights a disappointment. Interestingly, while the LP barely cracked the Top 20 of the US album charts (No. 18), it nearly topped the UK album tally (No. 4).
Loving It Loud: KISS always had a knack for penning rock anthems – “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “I Love It Loud,” etc. And on this album, they offered up another party-hearty tune with a custom-made sing-along chorus, “Crazy Crazy Nights” (notice the extra “Crazy” in the song’s title). Penned by Paul Stanley and songwriter-for-hire Adam Mitchell, the tune would also serve as KISS’ first-ever true hit chart single in the UK, also peaking at No. 4 like the album.
Skippin’ Time: The lyrically atrocious “Bang Bang You” could have easily received this unwanted award, but instead, let’s go with the oft-overlooked (for good reason) “My Way.” In case you were wondering, this was not a cover of the Frank Sinatra classic… which would have probably proven to be a better listen than this far-too-keyboard-sweetened turkey of a tune. In fact, this best-forgotten ditty probably would have fit better in a triumphant scene in either Stayin’ Alive or Fame rather than on a KISS LP. – Greg Prato
Pick up Crazy Nights here.
