Jump to content

If it wasn't for the makeup, KISS would be nothing today.


ShadowOfTheWave

Recommended Posts

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

Yes, they have many good songs. My point is that they are a "classic" band that didn't make classic music, their enduring popularity is directly connected to their image.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

:lol:

Without realizing it, I think you sort of confirmed OP's assertion. Kiss has some good songs, and some really good songs. Overall, they're not that great of a band. :shrugs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't the same be said about every band/artist? Especially the ones with a sort of gimmick? Image is everything. It's what helps you stand out.

From the androgyny of Bowie to the horror-like Alice Cooper to the straight out weirdness of Marilyn Manson to the masks of Slipknot. Hell, why not pile the bunch of punks from the LA gutter called Guns n' Roses on there.

Image is always a part of it. It's what people remember you for. Especially at first. No famous band in history would be who they are without their image.

Edited by username
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't the same be said about every band/artist? Especially the ones with a sort of gimmick? Image is everything. It's what helps you stand out.

From the androgyny of Bowie to the horror-like Alice Cooper to the straight out weirdness of Marilyn Manson to the masks of Slipknot. Hell, why not pile the bunch of punks from the LA gutter called Guns n' Roses on there.

Image is always a part of it. It's what people remember you for. Especially at first. No famous band in history would be who they are without their image.

I think whats being said is its image without substance i.e. lose the image and there's fuck all there, the same cannot be said for David Bowie and i believe GnR too.

But basically i agree with your point, image is a lot, a helluva lot. I think Marc Bolan said 'rock n roll is a bitch and you've got to come on like a bitch, i mean you cant be real, im not the boy next door, i never was, thats why Im successful, i dont wannabe the boy next door and they dont want me to be the boy next door. In fact on that stage I'm at liberty, I'm in a realm of fantasy, i can do whatever i wanna do and get away with it'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

KISS has the songs to at least have been a pretty big band. However, it was escalated due to their imagery and stage show, of course. Where would Slipknot be without the masks though? Where would Ghost be if it wete just some normal dudes playing their music? If you come up with a good image, something new that shocks people, you're gonna get a boost for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they still would have made it without the gimmick but it would have been a longer process. People can say what they want about Paul and Gene but they worked really hard to make sure KISS was known. Nobody can take their work ethic away from them. Gene is more business than music which is a shame because he's a talented bass player whereas Paul was music first but still smart about business. The make-up and stage show escalated their success and they smartly capitalized on that by releasing Alive - a repackaged version of the best songs from their first three albums. Like others have said, KISS at least does have some great music behind it all.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

T Rex above Bowie and everyone else kickstarted glam.

Gene talks a lot of shit, even Paul wrote in his book that KISS hires people to do marketing for them and all he and Gene do is just approve or deny the ideas. Tommy Thayer's involved in it.

Doc McGhee was the one who made the KISS reunion happen and helped Axl deal with Irving Azoff and some of the tour stuff, but Fernando would have to be the one to get into what was going on as far as GNR goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Are you saying Gene is 'average' looking? Granted I'm a heterosexual male but I have seen scrotums more aesthetically pleasing than Gene's face - as witnessed in perfectly straight porn of course!

Edited by DieselDaisy
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Listen to their early demos, they were a real talented band in the beginning

But they learnt how the music business works and went to the commerical route

Of course they are all horrible human beings and assholes, but who cares

Axl Rose is an asshole too

That's all

you just butthurt for something, i guess

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

Yes, they have many good songs. My point is that they are a "classic" band that didn't make classic music, their enduring popularity is directly connected to their image.

Check the Live at the Daisy bootleg, Ace even says that people should join their mailing list (in 1973!)

They worked hard to become "something"

Can't the same be said about every band/artist? Especially the ones with a sort of gimmick? Image is everything. It's what helps you stand out.

From the androgyny of Bowie to the horror-like Alice Cooper to the straight out weirdness of Marilyn Manson to the masks of Slipknot. Hell, why not pile the bunch of punks from the LA gutter called Guns n' Roses on there.

Image is always a part of it. It's what people remember you for. Especially at first. No famous band in history would be who they are without their image.

Exactly this

Might as well close this thread here

Kiss is something today?

yeah, a nostalgia act like GNR, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rolling Stones etc etc.

Rock is dead for Pitchfork media people i guess that is why you're asking this question, because you don't have an opinion on your own

Edited by Strange Broue
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

Yes, they have many good songs. My point is that they are a "classic" band that didn't make classic music, their enduring popularity is directly connected to their image.

i dont know what you mean by classic music

i dont know if kiss doesnt play on the classic rock radio where you live

where i live, kiss plays on classic rock radio

kiss is played on every party where there is rock music

and kiss is considered to be classic rock

if by classic you mean music that stands (so far at least) the test of time, then kiss has a lot of classic stuff

many bands did the gimmick image thing and went nowhere

because they didnt have the songs

if kiss didnt have good songs, they would be nothing today

if they didnt have good songs, they would have lasted a month, a year, maybe two

it would be something like

- oh do you remember those guys from the 70s who had a great makeup?

- yeah, they were great

- what was their name again?

- kiss, right?

- yeah

- remember that guy who spit blood?

- yeah, the one with the huge tongue!

- fuck, that was awesome

- yeah

- too bad their music sucked

- yeah

===

on the same subject, i dont know if you know about the la hair metal scene in the 80s

one can say that nearly all the bands from that scene had a lot of concern for the image

fasterpussycat-2.jpg

and, in most cases, they had little concern for the music

what happened? very few of these bands actually are remembered these days

their songs are not played much anywhere

why?

because they are not that good

are there good songs from those bands?

yeah

but if you take like 10 bands from that scene, you will have a hard time finding 20 good songs

the one band from that era that really stood the test of time and really went waaaaay beyond the la hair band niche was also the band that had the best songs

08522_150823_grouprecklessroadshoot_01.j

on their first album alone, they had 12 great songs

you could be mine, november rain, dont cry, aint going down were fuckin outtakes

i can bet you all guys the la hair bands would give their right nut to have written a song like you could be mine

you can live off of a song like that for your whole life

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i mean you cant be real, im not the boy next door, i never was, thats why Im successful, i dont wannabe the boy next door and they dont want me to be the boy next door. In fact on that stage I'm at liberty, I'm in a realm of fantasy, i can do whatever i wanna do and get away with it'.

you should see the legendary jani lane (rip) interview where he says he entered the record company building and he saw an alice in chains poster instead of a warrant poster and he couldnt understand how those guys that looked like beggars could be promoted by their record company instead of them

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Have only read this post in this thread, but besides their obviously impressive live show and the iconic makeup they did have a lot of killer tunes to back it up.

The first few albums in particular are pretty chock full of kick ass rock and roll songs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont know I listen to the first two records and they sound pretty good. But they may just have a cute appeal now but they were trying to be heavy.

Destoyer is actually awesome.

I think its accepted that Alive was a better representation of what the band were about. Just a big spectacle.

So image and live show was how they got fans on board. There was no devestating debut album or anything mind blowing musically. But for middle america it was probably about right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure which album King of the Night Time World is on but that kicks ass. In fact the make up and Gene ruin the band in a way. I remember hearing Crazy Crazy Nights on radio Luxenberg and thinking it was decent but then I saw pics of them and couldnt buy an album. I kind understand who they are now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People bitch that KISS is just a brand now, but it always was. Kiss became famous for their live show, and their makeup. It's their image that's sustained their popularity for decades, not their fucking music. Do you really think "Rock N Roll All Nite" and "Beth" would be considered all time classics today if they were recorded by the average looking rock band?

And yes, I realize their popularity lasted throughout the 80s without makeup, because they already had a successful name, built off their image. If they looked in 1974 like they did in 1983, they would be nothing today.

Say what you want about Kiss, but they have dozens of good songs

some of them are really good

Yes, they have many good songs. My point is that they are a "classic" band that didn't make classic music, their enduring popularity is directly connected to their image.

i dont know what you mean by classic music

i dont know if kiss doesnt play on the classic rock radio where you live

where i live, kiss plays on classic rock radio

kiss is played on every party where there is rock music

and kiss is considered to be classic rock

if by classic you mean music that stands (so far at least) the test of time, then kiss has a lot of classic stuff

many bands did the gimmick image thing and went nowhere

because they didnt have the songs

if kiss didnt have good songs, they would be nothing today

if they didnt have good songs, they would have lasted a month, a year, maybe two

it would be something like

- oh do you remember those guys from the 70s who had a great makeup?

- yeah, they were great

- what was their name again?

- kiss, right?

- yeah

- remember that guy who spit blood?

- yeah, the one with the huge tongue!

- fuck, that was awesome

- yeah

- too bad their music sucked

- yeah

===

on the same subject, i dont know if you know about the la hair metal scene in the 80s

one can say that nearly all the bands from that scene had a lot of concern for the image

fasterpussycat-2.jpg

and, in most cases, they had little concern for the music

what happened? very few of these bands actually are remembered these days

their songs are not played much anywhere

why?

because they are not that good

are there good songs from those bands?

yeah

but if you take like 10 bands from that scene, you will have a hard time finding 20 good songs

the one band from that era that really stood the test of time and really went waaaaay beyond the la hair band niche was also the band that had the best songs

08522_150823_grouprecklessroadshoot_01.j

on their first album alone, they had 12 great songs

you could be mine, november rain, dont cry, aint going down were fuckin outtakes

i can bet you all guys the la hair bands would give their right nut to have written a song like you could be mine

you can live off of a song like that for your whole life

Their music is played on classic rock radio and has "stood the test of time" because of their image. My point is that they did not make classic rock music like the other bands of the time, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin ect. They aren't worthy of classic status.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kiss is something today?

yeah, a nostalgia act like GNR, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rolling Stones etc etc.

Rock is dead for Pitchfork media people i guess that is why you're asking this question, because you don't have an opinion on your own

Fuck off with that. My not liking Kiss has nothing to do with Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, MTV or any other music review outlet. It has everything to do with me simply hearing their music, seeing their shit gimmick and coming to my own conclusion that they're a trash band for trash people.

Secondly, rock is not dead, not even for hipsters. Shit­rock is dead. There's a major difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...