It's just..."fashionable"....and pretty ignorant to bag on KISS. And pretty unimaginative, frankly. I call it youthful ignorance, by people who don't know the bigger picture of the band, their influence, and what they did for rock & roll. If you want to boil it all down to simply how talented they are as singers or musicians....you're missing the point. Rock & Roll is not about being virtuosos. It's about being different...changing the game...being rebellious and fun, loud, bombastic and creative. When KISS first came on the scene in the 70's, there was nothing like them; they changed the whole scene of rock & roll and would end up influencing countless bands to follow, including: Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine, George Clinton, Nirvana, DIO, Megadeath, STP, Rick James, Soundgarden, Anthrax, Nine Inch Nails, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Rush, etc, etc.. The list is endless.
Jason Newsted of Metallica once said...if it weren’t for KISS he wouldn’t have picked up the bass.
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave/Prophets of Rage) started learning guitar specifically so he could play Love Gun. Chris Chiflett of Foo Fighters has "Ace" on his guitar.
Nikki Sixx said (Kiss) song writing was really a big influence. Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater (and others) said Kiss "were the Beatles for our generation." Green Day routinely plays Rock & Roll All Night at their shows. Mike McCready & Slash are huge KISS (Ace Frehley) fans. Dave Grohl says KISS "inspired me to become a rock n' roll musician." "One hundred million fucking albums. Countless hit singles, record-breaking concert attendance. They even made fuckin’ disco look cool with “I Was Made For Lovin You.” --Dave Grohl
Nile Rodgers was deeply influenced by KISS, and once said: Chic is a mashup of Roxy Music and Kiss." Questlove on KISS: "I was obsessed".
It's easy for some music snob or slack-jawed 25 year old who wasn't there in the zeitgeist and has no wider knowledge or experience regarding rock & roll in the bigger picture...to make fun of KISS. To me, it just sounds ignorant--and they lose all credibility. Dave Grohl knows more about music, musicianship and rock than most of us will ever know. What does HE know about KISS that some of you idiots don't?
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Wuchak (8512)
8 months ago
they changed the whole scene of rock & roll and would end up influencing countless bands to follow, including: Motley Crue, Alic Cooper,
Alice Cooper had five albums out before Kiss' debut in 1973 and released two more albums that year. So, it's more accurate to say that Alice Cooper influenced Kiss. (Although it's possible that Kiss' mega-success influenced Alice to up the ante).
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