If you were to ever pick someone who embodied the complete stereotype of a rock star, Paul Stanley would be up there. No offence to him – that’s not to say his story or contributions to music are in any way run of the mill – but when it comes to the typical tropes of sex and drugs and rock and roll, it’s fair to say he’s seen it all.
In many ways, Stanley has lived a life, both literally and metaphorically, with stars in his eyes. But aside from physically donning the iconic face paints of his Kiss persona, this status also granted him an all-seeing perspective on the rock music canon at large, casting his defining view over many bands and tunes that would either become stratospheric or crash and burn.
But Stanley himself could have only learned this trade from the greats, and there was one band in particular who had his undivided attention when imparting their masterclass on being rock and roll legends. That was naturally AC/DC, the inimitable Australian force that took the world by storm throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, just when Kiss themselves were gearing into life.
Speaking of the band and his favourite album of theirs to Louder Sound in 2023, Stanley enthused: “With Back In Black the band’s sound was polished to some degree. They were building on what they’d done before, moving forward. That kind of bare-bones grit they had in the early days was replaced with this driving sonic overload. But it was so brilliant. I thought what was gained overrode what was lost.”
Yet Back in Black, surprisingly, does not take the crown of AC/DC’s best effort in Stanley’s eyes. Instead, it was their follow up record, For Those About To Rock from 1981, that holds the most special place in his heart. Reflecting on the album’s titular track, Stanley continued: “There’s another great song from the beginning of the Brian [Johnson] era. ‘For Those About To Rock’ is as impressive and colossal as anything I’ve ever heard. The end of that song, with the cannons firing, it really is gladiator music!”
With critics roundly considering the record as one of the band’s best ever creations, it’s clear that Stanley does not stand alone in his fawning views. Indeed, to give its lead song in question its full title – ‘For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)’ – the references to its “gladiator” spirit are not misplaced, as the name derives from the ancient Roman prisoner saying, ‘Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant,’ translating to, ‘Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you’.
