KISS @ 50

 

Released 50 years ago today, on February 18, 1974, the eponymous debut LP from KISS is celebrating its golden jubilee. While the album didn't break the band into the heights that would come with the release of their 1975 "Alive!" set, it gave them the rock solid foundations that would provide the songs needed to make that later LP a classic. So many of the bands most established concert favourites are found on this album, it's impossible not to retroactively consider this as perhaps their most important release.

KISS formally began the year before, after Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons pulled the plug on their Wicked Lester band, when that project failed to come together into the vision they'd been brewing up between them. Originating in 1970 as Rainbow, Wicked Lester was an entity that had evolved a kind of accessible, vaguely psychedelic 1960s pop-rock aesthetic, while Paul & Gene were sensing something heavier, darker and vastly more theatrical bubbling up from their creative juices. That all came clearly into focus when they re-branded themselves as KISS. The founders also changed their names from Gene Klein (who'd already renamed himself from the Hebrew name, "Chaim Witz") & Stanley Eisen to Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley, respectively. They then ditched the dead weight musicians from Wicked Lester, and hired Ace Frehley and Peter Criss to complete their new quartet. The name changes for Gene & Paul were driven by a self-consciousness about being Jewish, and concern over being rejected by mainstream rock audiences because of it. It's a situation that raises a lot of concerns, but the presence of antisemitism in popular culture is unavoidable, and they were certainly not the only entertainers to take such precautions with their personal branding in order to avoid sounding too "ethnic" to "white bread" Anglo-Saxon US audiences.

Bringing a stash of songs forward from the Wicked Lester set, the band had a leg up when it came to getting an album together, though the new arrangements were vastly different from the older demos. You can readily find Wicked Lester versions of KISS songs around, and it's rather striking to hear how dissimilar they sound, pointing to a very conscious contrivance to move away from the airy-fairy sounds of the past, and into decidedly more "metal" territory with the new band. Needless to say, you weren't gonna hear any flutes on a KISS record!

When it came time to record their debut at NYC's Bell Sound Studios, production came together quickly, and the album was essentially completed, start to finish, in just 13 days. The studio was owned by the same company that owned Buddha Records, which was where Neil Bogart was an executive before starting Casablanca Records. This put Neil in the right place to hear the band and sign them to kick off his brand new label. Neil had negotiated a distribution deal with Warner Bros, specifically because they owned the rights to the movie, Casablanca. This association enabled Bogart to appropriate the name, imagery and graphic styling from the movie without having to worry about any copyright or trademark infringement actions from WB. However, when Bogart held an elaborate release party in LA for the KISS album, WB execs were incensed by KISS' outrageous stage antics and appearance. Afterwards WB demanded KISS stop wearing their trademark makeup, but manager Bill Aucoin backed the band and refused to concede to the demands. The result was that WB released Bogart from any further obligation to the company, which on one hand, gave him complete autonomy, but on the other, pulled the funding rug out from under Casablanca's budgets.

With KISS' debut album floundering in sales, Bogart became desperate to generate revenue, so he insisted that KISS needed a hit single, pushing them to record the cover song, Kissing Time, which had been a Top 20 hit for Bobby Rydell in 1959. It was recorded two months after the album was released, but was subsequently added to all future represses and re-releases. Though the single wasn't a hit on its own, it did boost LP sales noticeably after it was added. Sales were also helped as the band made some key TV appearances, the most notorious of which was on the Mike Douglas daytime talk show, aired March 29, 1974. During the interview portion of the show, Gene Simmons awkwardly declared himself to be "evil incarnate", eliciting nervous, confused reactions from the studio audience, to which comedian Totie Fields humorously commented, "Wouldn't it be funny if he's just a nice Jewish boy underneath the makeup?" Although neither confirming nor denying his Jewish heritage, Simmons replied, "You should only know", to which, Fields countered, "I do. You can't hide the hook", referring to Simmons' nose.

The album's cover photo evokes a similar look to that seen on With The Beatles from a decade earlier, with the band members' faces highlighted against a black background. Gene, Paul and Ace all executed their own makeup, but professional makeup artists were used on Peter, though they somewhat missed the mark in terms of recreating his established look. The results were decidedly more "tribal" than "cat-like", and Criss immediately reverted to his usual look after the shoot. Paul had only recently modified his look to the "Star Man" after initially adopting a "bandit" mask. Ace augmented his appearance with some silver, water soluble spray paint in his hair.

The bulk of the songs on the album would end up forming the backbone of KISS' live show for the remainder of the decade and beyond. Strutter, Nothin' To Lose, Firehouse, Cold Gin, Deuce and Black Diamond all became staples, if not linchpin moments for their live theatrics of breathing fire, spitting blood and soloing. I don't think any subsequent album from the group could lay claim to supplying so many critical components for their live performances. Aside from the more recognizable songs, there is also one of my favourite "deep cuts" from the band in the form of the rare instrumental, Love Theme From KISS, which started out as a live club set piece called "Acrobat". It's an excellent little example of New York funk-rock that simply grooves without having to make a spectacle of itself.

While the album's initial sales were disappointing, once the group got some traction with Alive!, fans soon back-tracked to pick up the three studio albums which had come before it, all of which helped their debut be certified gold by June 8th of 1977. For old time KISS fans, their debut album remains a touchstone to the band that many first fell for when they were adolescents and looking for something to alienate their parents. Those first few years were a time when the band had an air of danger and controversy, before they became a "kids" band, pushing comic books and bad superhero movies. KISS were the first band I ever collected, buying all their albums up until Double Platinum and Gene Simmons' solo KISS album in 1978 (I never bought the rest of the solo albums). By that time, it was "punk" and "new wave" that were demanding my allowance money, but I've always had a soft spot for KISS's early years and the memories those records bring back of my junior high teen years in the mid '70s. I even wore platform shoes for a couple of years, and fell off them regularly, like all the other kids my age.