A 1974 KISS Debut Album Review
 Part of the New Wave of Ultra-Commercial, Almost Pop, Hard Rock

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Episode 625. Groundbreaking episode
 this week Mark Cicchini gets up, walks to another room, finds a collectible, brings it back, sits down and OPENS IT! And Tommy ( who is this Tommy guy? ) isn’t here to see it happen! Mark reads two 1974 reviews of the debut KISS album and both are actually quite good. Though how they describe KISS is interesting. One of them even mentions how KISS used to be Wicked Lester
 remember this is a review from 1974. When did you first learn that KISS used to be Wicked Lester?

Rock Legend Gene Simmons of Kiss, celebrates opening of Rock & Brews restaurant at Indigo Sky Casino

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WYANDOTTE, Okla. (KOAM) – Rock legend and founder of KISS, Gene Simmons made an appearance Thursday at the opening of Indigo Sky Casino & Resort new Rock & Brews Restaurant and Concert Bar.

He spent time signing autographs for fans and taking to the media before cutting the ribbon with Eastern Shawnee Chief Glenna Wallace and Indigo Sky General Manager Melanie Heskett and others.

Simmons tells KOAM, “Rock & Brews now has 24 locations all across America, coast to coast, and this is our new one with the Eastern Shawnee. We also have six Rock & Brews casinos that are fully branded top to bottom.” 

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BRUCE KULICK: REFLECTIONS FROM THE ASYLUM

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As we mark 40 years since the release of Asylum, Bruce Kulick looks back on his official debut as KISS’s lead guitarist. An Interview by Ken Sharp

Now a full-fledged member of KISS, Asylum marks the official launch of the Bruce Kulick era in KISStory. It would prove to be a rich and fertile creative period for the band, solidifying the comeback success of the Lick It Up and Animalize albums. Teeming with a batch of commercial songs (“Tears Are Falling,” “Who Wants To Be Lonely,” “Uh! All Night”) ready-made for MTV and radio, Asylum kept the momentum cranked in overdrive during KISS’s non-makeup era. The addition of Bruce Kulick on lead guitar was a masterstroke, which expanded the band’s sonic palette—his consummate six-string prowess shined on both the album and tour.

Entering the Asylum age saw KISS truly embracing the MTV pop-cultural zeitgeist. The band’s visual look changed dramatically, trading black leather and studs for a glam-metal makeover, with Paul, Gene, Eric and Bruce outfitted in garish sparkly, flashy costumes. These were costumes awash in loud colors that, in case of nuclear fallout, could seemingly glow in the dark. Similarly, the front and back cover of the album employed a striking neon Day-Glo design aesthetic that fell in line with the vibrant and bright colors of their new Asylum costumes. Spearheaded by the hit single/music video, “Tears Are Falling,” Asylum is a fan favorite and serves as a seminal touchstone in the golden age of KISS’s non-makeup era.

 

Looking back as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Asylum, Bruce Kulick takes us on a personal guided tour of that era.

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Author Recalls Paul Stanley Almost Producing GN’R Debut, Names Kiss’ ‘Not Good-sounding Album’

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There have been only a handful of “perfect albums” issued in rock history, meaning that there was not a single stinker song included, the production doesn’t sound dated at all, the artist in question was at the peak of their powers, etc. And many would agree that Guns N’ Roses‘ 1987 full-length debut, “Appetite for Destruction,” was one such album.

While the quality of the material is exceptional, producer Mike Clink wisely rejected the era’s production hallmarks, tops being those awful canon-sounding drums, and kept things more live-sounding and raw, a la an early to mid-’70s Aerosmith LP. And despite such hits as “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and “Paradise City” remaining the album’s best-known tracks, even such lesser-known selections as “It’s So Easy,” “Nightrain,” and “Mr. Brownstone” are just as great.

But a little-known fact is that before G n’ R settled on Clink to produce “Appetite,” they were considering others, including Kiss‘ Paul Stanley, which ultimately did not work out. During an interview with Booked on Rock, Martin Popoff, the author of the book Guns N’ Roses at 40, discussed whether Stanely producing the album would have been a good thing
or a bad thing.

“Who knows,” Popoff admitted. “Number one, Paul is no producer. I mean, Paul would be in there
he’s not an engineer-producer. He hasn’t produced much. New England [an obscure rock band from the late ’70s that he produced], and I don’t think the Kiss albums sound particularly good. I don’t think any of those sound particularly good. But judging how great [‘Appetite’] sounds and how great it sold, you could only go down from there.”

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“At that point, they were making better Les Pauls than Gibson was”: Kiss’ Paul Stanley broke new ground by trading his Gibsons for Ibanez guitars – and by teaming up with the iconic Japanese brand for an early signature model

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Stanley Eisen, who you may know as Kiss‘ Paul Stanley, may have wielded a Gibson guitar or two during the band’s game-changing Alive! era, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.

“I grew up in a time where, on almost any weekend, I would go for three, four, and five dollars, and see Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, or Derek and the Dominos. And most of the bands I saw were Gibson players,” he explains in an upcoming tĂȘte-Ă -tĂȘte with Guitar World.

However, it seems Stanley had a change of heart in the late ’70s, when he broke with tradition and opted to source his axes from the Japanese guitar behemoth Ibanez – a brand he still endorses to this day.

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BRUCE KULICK Shares Live Cover Of BRYAN ADAMS Classic “Heaven” Featuring ERIC SINGER, TODD KERNS BRENT FITZ And ZACH THRONE (Video)

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Guitarist Bruce Kulick, who was a member of KISS from 1984 – 1996, has shared a new video along with the following message:

“Here’s a great live version of a song that was recorded for a charity event by Eric Singer, Todd Kerns, Zach Throne, Brent Fitz and me in 2021. This live performance was filmed at Red Clay Music Foundry, in Duluth, GA on March 29th, 2025.

It was a private 60th Birthday party for some dear friends of ours. The event was a huge success, and it was my pleasure to perform with these incredible players.”

Eric Singer – Lead Vocal + Drums
Bruce Kulick – Guitars
Todd Kerns – Guitar and Vocals
Brent Fitz – Keyboards and Vocals
Zach Throne – Bass and Vocals

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Chattanooga Knows: What rock band launched a tour from Memorial Auditorium in 1975?

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Q. What iconic rock band launched a tour from Memorial Auditorium in 1975?

A. Heading into its show at Memorial Auditorium on Sept. 10, 1975, Kiss was a 2-year-old band that was making a name for itself with its live shows while struggling to sell its studio albums.

But the 1975 Chattanooga show started a stretch that would become a defining period for a band that produced more gold albums than any American group in history and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. The show at the Memorial Auditorium happened the same day the band’s double-live album “Alive!” was released. “Alive!” became Kiss’ first gold record and helped light “the fuse on a rocket that would send them to worldwide fame,” according to the website Classic Rock & Culture.

Of course, the music was only part of the story for Kiss. Band members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were known for their on-stage antics, platform boots, black leather and makeup.

Ah, the makeup!

“You could probably hire the best makeup artists in Hollywood and not come up with anything nearly as cool and sublime as the iconic Kabuki masks these young musicians created for themselves,” the band’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame profile said.

But while Kiss may have been a rising force in music on Sept. 10, 1975, its presence in the Scenic City was of little interest to either the morning Chattanooga Times or evening Chattanooga News-Free Press. Neither paper previewed or reviewed the concert. The only mentions Chattanooga Knows research could find was a small standalone picture with a caption about the coming show in the Aug. 31, 1975, News-Free Press and a display ad about a week later in the same paper.

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