FAIR WEATHER KISS FANS
Boy, there were a lot of people at those 1996-97 reunion shows weren't there? And standing in line for tickets 2 months before the show. Where the hell were you "fans" for the Revenge or Crazy Nights tours? I overheard a guy in line behind me and my friend while waiting to buy tickets for the August 9, 1996 Indy show, "Oh man, I've ALWAYS loved KISS!! They're my favorite band of all-time!!" Then a couple minutes later, "That no make up shit they put out sucked!! I quit listening to them when they took their make-up off." What the hell? Sure KISS wasn't as huge as they were and are again during the non-makeup/non-original line up era, but to say they are the best followed by "that shit sucked" made the guy sound stupid! I was too young to appreciate the 70's KISS, so I have a place in my rock-n-roll heart for the 80's material. I think it's great! Animalize is an ass kicker of an album! Crazy Nights was a little on the slick side as far as production, but it's a great album anyway! And Creatures Of The Night is hands down my favorite KISS album. I was at those non make up shows and had a great time!! But as soon as the grease paint, Ace and Peter return... everyone's a KISS fan again! I remember those thousands of empty seats at the Revenge show in 1992. Where were you people? Guess those "fans" had other plans that night.

TOO MUCH MERCHANDISING
KISS Beanie Babies? Credit cards? Shot glasses? Johnny Lightning cars? And Gene says, "We're turning down stuff left and right"!! What the hell are you turning down, man?? Sure, KISS can do more with merchandising since they have the super hero image, but I find a lot of this stuff ridiculous! It's about the music for me. Some of the merchandise is okay. The figures are cool, I have the Psycho Circus edition figures. But Beanie Babies? I'd rather see a 4 CD set of unreleased demos and songs that were cut from albums (ie "Sword And Stone" & "Time Traveller"). That would be awesome!! But I just can't get into the stuff that really has nothing to do with the music. T-shirts are okay, the McFarlane figures are cool, posters and the lot. But I can do without the KISS bed sheets.... with matching pillow cases!! Ugh!!

NON-MAKE UP SONGS BY THE ORIGINAL LINE UP
I love this idea!! I was really bummed when they said only material the "original band" did. For the Reunion Tour, I could see doing that. But when you look at the Psycho Circus setlist and there's a 20 year gap between Psycho Circus songs and the all the others, you gotta say, "Hey, what about those other songs?" :-) It's silly to not play songs from a 15 year span because 2 of the original members were not in the band when those songs were done. It's also silly to think that all those great songs from the 80's (Heavens On Fire, Tears Are Falling, I Love It Loud) would never be played again! Did the Gene, Paul, Bruce and Eric Carr version of the band not play pre-Animalize songs? No. Did that same line-up not play "Black Diamond" ? Hell no! And Eric sang that song great! Hell, they even recorded a version of Beth with Eric singing it (to the chagrin of lots of people, Mr. Crisscoula included!) So I am waiting for the original band to open the show with Creatures, and later hear the deep bass drums when Peter starts playing I Love It Loud or hear Ace jammin on I Just Wanna. I'm looking forward to the next tour to hear what they do play!!

Well, I may piss off some with my comments but remember, it's just my opinion!

KISS ASYLUM -- KISS Museum News Archive Features Tour Dates Photos