A Farewell KISS

Tonight, December 2, 2023, my all-time favorite band played their last show and will go into retirement. It’s a sad day. It’s not just an ending for KISS, but an end to something that has been as integral to most of my life as electricity or running water.

I clambered aboard the KISS bandwagon when I was 10 years old in 1976. Yes, it was the costumes, the fire, and the blood that caught my attention and made me want to know more. Keep in mind, there was no internet, no YouTube or TikTok where you could watch videos of the band anytime you wanted. Mostly what I saw was shown by religious detractors trying to convince others that KISS stood for Knights (or Kings) In Satan’s Service. As a boy forced to go to Pentacostal church two or three times a week, anything that red-faced preacher didn’t like sounded pretty damned good to me.

Ironically, it was my devoutly Pentacostal grandmother giving me $20 for my eleventh birthday who really paved my way to becoming a fan. I took that money to T.G.&Y. and bought Rock and Roll Over, which happened to be their latest release, though I didn’t know it at the time. “I Want You”, “Take Me”, “Ladies Room” “Calling Dr. Love”, “Makin’ Love”, and the rest was unlike anything I’d ever heard. This was no Willie Nelson or Elvis Presley or, God help me, Jimmy Swaggart. I was too young and sheltered to know what Paul meant when he asked somebody to “Reach into my pocket / Grab onto my rocket” but I knew I liked the way he said it. I hurried back to T.G.&Y. and spent the rest of my birthday money on Destroyer. Those two albums were the soundtrack of my youth.

I remember the KISS pinball machine, the action figures, lunchboxes, etc., and I remember the devastation when Peter Criss left the band after a couple of albums that just didn’t sound like those first two I bought. I was still a fan in the dark days of “Shandi” and “A World Without Heroes”, but I’d moved on to include a lot of other bands. Then came the Creatures of the Night album and the band I remembered was back, but Ace wasn’t there anymore.

Off came the makeup, but Lick It Up had some great songs, even if Gene looked like a lonely drag queen in the videos. The ’80s were filled with mediocre albums with a few great songs here and there while the band seemed to chase trends in both sound and fashion. I remember one photo where Paul was actually wearing a fish stringer as a necklace.

When I was a kid with those first two albums, I heard the band was coming to Oklahoma and I asked my dad about going. “Do you know what happens at those concerts?” he asked me. “The girls take off their clothes, and then the boys take off their clothes and they start doing things.” I didn’t want to see any unclothed dudes, but the idea of naked women AND Kiss only made me want to go more. But I didn’t get to. I didn’t get to see the band until the Hot in the Shade tour. That’s a KISS album I never cared to own. It was mostly a good show, in Tulsa, except they let some radio contest winner come up on stage and do most of the vocal duties on “Rock and Roll All Nite”.

I missed the reunion tour, opting instead to meet Anne Rice, who was in Oklahoma City the same night. Okay, it was a financial decision. I didn’t have the money for concert tickets. The next time I saw the band was The Farewell Tour, and that is the only time I’ve seen all four original members. Later, I saw the band again with Aerosmith, but Ace wasn’t there. Joe Perry came out in Spaceman boots and played one song with the band (I think it was “Strutter”). I’ve seen them several more times since then with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, including twice on the End of the Road Tour in OKC and Tulsa.

So many memories, like taking KISS albums to school dances and trying to get the DJ to play real music. Sweeping and mopping Safeway floors between close and open jamming to KISS Killers, the German import where their logo had to be changed so it didn’t look like Nazi lightning bolts. Being a kid at the skating rink and recognizing “Hard Luck Woman” among all the Top 40 songs they played.

Paul and Gene are in their 70s now. Gene, especially, isn’t the force he used to be on stage. Look up a concert or TV appearance from the 1970s on YouTube and you’ll see why parents and pastors were terrified of Gene Simmons. The tongue, the fire, the kicks, a pelvis that would have made Elvis blush, and then the vomiting blood. They were young and hungry and gave it everything they had. Now they are elderly millionaire rock stars and would need multiple joint replacements if they tried the antics that brought in the crowds in the old days.

I do hate that the originals didn’t stay together, but I get it. I’ve read the autobiographies and interviews. I’ll say that Eric Carr was a better drummer than Peter Criss. Vinnie Vincent was a great song writer. Bruce Kulick is an amazing guitarist (and based on Facebook, seems like a really nice guy). I may be in the minority, but I think Sonic Boom and Monster are overall better than any of the non-makeup albums other than Revenge, which is one of the band’s best albums. I wish the current lineup had made more new music. Only Ace is still cranking it out.

One last thing. Sure, a lot of the band’s songs are about sex, but not all of them. Even as a boy of 11, not understanding what was going on in the ladies room, I did get the message of “Flaming Youth” and later “I” and “Lick It Up” and so many other songs about getting all you can out of life. I can’t say I’ve lived it, but I will say that KISS has always been more than entertainment to me. They’ve been an inspiration, and I’ll miss seeing them on stage, but I’ll always have the music.