The year that has the most impact on your musical journey

[Podaar]

I would add "Rock and Roll Over", but that's just me.

You're not going to like this, Stadler, and I'm not trying to be cruel, but these are the facts. I was 15 in 1976 and everything that goes along with it, including being to old and cool to listen to KISS. That was kid stuff. It was meant for the thumb-suckers, the gullible, and people who went to circuses and monster truck shows. And it stuck. To this day, I can't hear a KISS song or see and image of them without revulsion. Paul Stanley's voice makes my ears hug to my head in fright and causes an involuntary muscle spasm which makes my arm shoot out to change the radio channel (because that's the only way I'm going to hear KiSS). I'm not kidding.

Since I started frequenting DTF, this is the most baffling mystery on the whole board to me. I've kept my mouth shut about it, until now. How can grown up people, who are serious fans of music, stand to listen to KISS? I hear you, King, TAC, and probably others, bang on about this album, or that album and I can only shake my head. It doesn't appear to be nostalgia either, y'all seem to really like it. I know, I know, "opinions" and all that.

[TAC]

I would add "Rock and Roll Over", but that's just me.

You're not going to like this, Stadler, and I'm not trying to be cruel, but these are the facts. I was 15 in 1976 and everything that goes along with it, including being to old and cool to listen to KISS. That was kid stuff. It was meant for the thumb-suckers, the gullible, and people who went to circuses and monster truck shows. And it stuck. To this day, I can't hear a KISS song or see and image of them without revulsion. Paul Stanley's voice makes my ears hug to my head in fright and causes an involuntary muscle spasm which makes my arm shoot out to change the radio channel (because that's the only way I'm going to hear KiSS). I'm not kidding.

Since I started frequenting DTF, this is the most baffling mystery on the whole board to me. I've kept my mouth shut about it, until now. How can grown up people, who are serious fans of music, stand to listen to KISS? I hear you, King, TAC, and probably others, bang on about this album, or that album and I can only shake my head. It doesn't appear to be nostalgia either, y'all seem to really like it. I know, I know, "opinions" and all that.

I appreciate your POV as a 15 y/o who was there. I find it really interesting, and I'm thankful for your perspective. I hadn't considered that even in 1976, there were people calling Kiss gay or a baby kids band.


I got into Kiss in 1978 in the 4th grade. I was 9 turning 10. My first album was Kiss Alive II. One of my father's students gave us Kiss: The Originals, and my mother got us the other albums through Columbia House.
I thought the makeup and personalities were interesting. The whole "can't be photographed" personas.

Their music is really the first music that started laying a foundation to me being a rock/hard rock fan for life. Their music has stuck. They were "The Beatles" of my lifetime. And saying that, understand that the actual Beatles mean nothing to me.

[Stadler]

Podaar, I can probably come up with an example that is similar to Kiss for you. I totally get it.   My parents were big into country music, and worshipped at the altar of Big John Cash and Elvis, as well as other luminaries like George Jones, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, ... these are the "Rolling Stones" and "Beatles" of their genre.   For a fan of that, Gene Simmons was a boob (and my dad called him that on many an occasion).   

But I was like TAC.  I was 10.  I was a scared, shy kid that knew girls were the goods, but didn't have the first clue as to how to involve myself in that new world.  And you had these guys... they were larger than life. They were rock gods.  They were everything I was not.   They could decide who saw them and who didn't.  Maybe... just maybe... that WAS their real faces (find a book by Robert Duncan, a writer for Creem magazine; he dedicated an entire chapter to Gene that was sort of otherworldly; I wore that paperback out as a kid.)

But it's not all just "had to be there".  That was the Partridge Family.   Here, I liked the music immediately, but that was a visceral thing.  I didn't think about it.  I was 10.  "She": Bwa-now.  BWA-NOW! Ba-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-NAH! Loved it.  But later, I came to appreciate the music, once I knew a little more.  They were a cool blend of the Beatles (Gene's walking basslines, some of the melodies) and Zeppelin (the heavy riffage of a Les Paul through a Marshall stack) and the Stones (the suspended chords, the two guitars working in unison)...   with all the nonsense out of the way, I LIKE their music. I LIKE Gene's voice.  I LIKE Paul's voice.  I swear, I listened to Kiss in the car - probably "She", it's still one of my top three favorite songs by Kiss - within the last three days.

I've met Gene and Paul, twice each, and both times they were EVERYTHING you would hope your heroes were.  Kind, generous, attentive... both times, Gene actually asked ME a question. Paul met my daughter (she was I think 6 or 7 at the time) and got down on one knee and asked her about her earrings and stuff...

Not everything sits well:  As good a song as it is musically, I bristle a bit at lyrics like Christine Sixteen. 

[Podaar]

I'm glad you and Tim took my post as it was intended. I'll be 62 this summer and my morning posts frequently sound crotchety when I read them later in the day. I don't intend to offend, and I very much value our associations on this forum.

I will say, that since arriving here, I've tried several times to listen to KISS with your ears. I'll probably try again at some point. So far, I've only been able to find a grudging appreciation for Gene's playing...in fact, I'd probably really like Detroit Rock City for that reason alone if it weren't for the interruption of the tortured cat screeching of Paul Stanley. *shudders*

I'm sure they're fine folks underneath, but I find their odious public persona's a bit too much for me.

[King Postwhore]

I would add "Rock and Roll Over", but that's just me.

You're not going to like this, Stadler, and I'm not trying to be cruel, but these are the facts. I was 15 in 1976 and everything that goes along with it, including being to old and cool to listen to KISS. That was kid stuff. It was meant for the thumb-suckers, the gullible, and people who went to circuses and monster truck shows. And it stuck. To this day, I can't hear a KISS song or see and image of them without revulsion. Paul Stanley's voice makes my ears hug to my head in fright and causes an involuntary muscle spasm which makes my arm shoot out to change the radio channel (because that's the only way I'm going to hear KiSS). I'm not kidding.

Since I started frequenting DTF, this is the most baffling mystery on the whole board to me. I've kept my mouth shut about it, until now. How can grown up people, who are serious fans of music, stand to listen to KISS? I hear you, King, TAC, and probably others, bang on about this album, or that album and I can only shake my head. It doesn't appear to be nostalgia either, y'all seem to really like it. I know, I know, "opinions" and all that.

Hell, I listen to the Bay City Rollers once in a while.    Honestly, It's nostalgic these days.  I see a birthday for an album and listen to it.  My tastes have changed but it's still fun to listen to the old albums.

[TAC]

I'm glad you and Tim took my post as it was intended. I'll be 62 this summer and my morning posts frequently sound crotchety when I read them later in the day. I don't intend to offend, and I very much value our associations on this forum.

All of this applies to me as well.

I'll be 55 in September. I can't imagine what my posts are gonna look like when I'm 62. 

[King Postwhore]

I'm glad you and Tim took my post as it was intended. I'll be 62 this summer and my morning posts frequently sound crotchety when I read them later in the day. I don't intend to offend, and I very much value our associations on this forum.

All of this applies to me as well.

I'll be 55 in September. I can't imagine what my posts are gonna look like when I'm 62. 

*Sign of the cross*

[Zook]

I don't have years when albums came out, but 2004 - 2006 is when I had my biggest discoveries in music.

[Stadler]

I'm glad you and Tim took my post as it was intended. I'll be 62 this summer and my morning posts frequently sound crotchety when I read them later in the day. I don't intend to offend, and I very much value our associations on this forum.

All of this applies to me as well.

I'll be 55 in September. I can't imagine what my posts are gonna look like when I'm 62. 

*Sign of the cross*

Word.