Tonight marks the second-to-last ever concert by “the hottest band in the world,” KISS, the first of two sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden,in NYC, where the band was founded in 1974. Its the final stop on their three-year “End of the Road” tour and they vow that this is truly it, no more concerts, no more tours. They’ll be in their full regalia with makeup, along with pyro, huge lights,a massive lighted logo behind the stage…20-some odd songs in a career-spanning setlist.
KISS is the evidence for my believing,that when it comes to music, there’s no such thing as a “guilty pleasure.” I love KISS, makeup or not, both the original line up (Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss) and different variations thru the decades without Frehley and Criss. Which is a reminder that there’s no end to the debates amongst KISS fans about their personnel, why members left, who’s better, etc.
And yes, I love the larger-than-life concerts,but the reason why I still dig this band, is that ultimately, they made some excellent, influential hard rock (yes, influential). Folks can laugh at the makeup, decry albums’ worth of mysoginistic lyrics (some are downright hilarious)and name a dozen other bands they think KISS either copied (and not just in their early days) or have better musicians, but I simply do not care. I care about the music that moves me, I love hard rock, and I love KISS. There, that’s it.
With 20 studio albums, near-countless greatest hits and live albums, how do you choose one song you need to hear? That’s easy, just choose one of their very best songs, “Deuce” by Gene Simmons, from their debut album. Its got one of my favorite opening lyrics: “Get up and get your grandma out of here!” Say what? Its got an amazing riff, great vocals,explosive drums, some killer guitar solos and his always a highlight live,thanks to all that, and the guy’s coordinated stage moves towards the end of the song (a tradition, every performance).
There’s a ton of “Deuce” videos at You Tube (its been in probably every KISS live show for 50 years) but this is one of my favorites. I’ll shut up now and just crank it up…
Over-the-top,ridiculous,loud…call it whatever you want, I don’t care. I LOVE IT!