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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#24,681
steubig said:
there are people who wear the t-shirt who have never heard the band.
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Then there are people like me, who specifically will never be caught wearing a Kiss t-shirt.

Because I have, in fact, heard the band all too many times.

Quite a few other bands also fall into that category as well.

Of course, if you're an old school Kiss fan, no hate intended. We all like what we like, and though I don't like his band I kind of admire Gene.
 
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#24,682
upload_2023-11-2_16-12-15.jpeg
 
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#24,683
Spectrum said:
Then there are people like me, who specifically will never be caught wearing a Kiss t-shirt.

Because I have, in fact, heard the band all too many times.

Quite a few other bands also fall into that category as well.

Of course, if you're an old school Kiss fan, no hate intended. We all like what we like, and though I don't like his band I kind of admire Gene.
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imo, kiss had one decent song. after that (and even if it's decent), they're not my thing *at all*. (partially because i was too old and a bit of a jazzer when they came out . . . same with the ramones, i might add)
 
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#24,684
I might even go so far as to opine that KISS had 3 or 4 decent tunes, but yeah, when I was in high school and they first appeared on the scene I detested everything they embodied.

Whereas The Ramones have at least a half dozen decent tunes…except they’re all the same tune. Would still rather listen to The Ramones than KISS, but thank the deities I’m not limited to that choice.

I’ve seen both bands live, once.
 
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#24,687
I have listened to KISS a lot, mostly in high school. I would argue that they have more than one good song - and the best ones are the Ace Frehley songs Cold Gin & Shock Me! The first album has a bunch (Strutter being my favorite) and Destroyer is a pretty amazing album IMHO. I was fortunate to miss it while it was happening (a little too young, wasn't listening to rock/pop) - well, actually I remember when Lick It Up came out - they took off their makeup! Boy were they ugly! But I bought the album and that song is still one of my favorite KISS songs (and I managed not to internalize the "values" their lyrics taught). I even saw them live on the Crazy Nights tour in Yokohama! (I must have work to do if I'm going to write a post in defense of KISS lol)
 
#24,688
pretty sure there's an age correlation to liking kiss or not.

their first album came out in my first year in college and i was way into the jazz/fusion thing by then.

i know guys who were in middle/high school when kiss was big and it's the sound of their youth . . .

(my first pass at "middle school" was "muddle school" . . . seems appropriate)
 
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#24,689
If we’re talking about KISS…

My biggest takeaway from them is that they are a good band but bad songwriters. I came to that conclusion by observing their popularity with audiences and the seeing that they have their own microcosm of existence . However I have rarely heard anyone cover a KISS song and do it “justice” or make it listenable (okay there might be a few rare exceptions like Melvins). By contrast Black Sabbath sounds great, and even garage bands often sound pretty good doing covers. KISS songs really need to be performed by KISS for them to sound passable.


I’m well aware that KISS influenced tons of my favorite bands and players, but like Zep, I don’t care for the source material/influence even if I like the downstream results.
 
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#24,690
steubig said:
pretty sure there's an age correlation to liking kiss or not.

their first album came out in my first year in college and i was way into the jazz/fusion thing by then.

i know guys who were in middle/high school when kiss was big and it's the sound of their youth . . .

(my first pass at "middle school" was "muddle school" . . . seems appropriate)
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Lol - I was definitely muddled in middle school - and KISS didn't help! Fortunately, they were never my favorite band - I was actually much more into virtuosic music like Deep Purple, Rush, Yes, and Stanley Clarke...

monsterthompson said:
If we’re talking about KISS…

My biggest takeaway from them is that they are a good band but bad songwriters. I came to that conclusion by observing their popularity with audiences and the seeing that they have their own microcosm of existence . However I have rarely heard anyone cover a KISS song and do it “justice” or make it listenable (okay there might be a few rare exceptions like Melvins). By contrast Black Sabbath sounds great, and even garage bands often sound pretty good doing covers. KISS songs really need to be performed by KISS for them to sound passable.

I’m well aware that KISS influenced tons of my favorite bands and players, but like Zep, I don’t care for the source material/influence even if I like the downstream results.
Click to expand...

Interesting - is that a challenge?! :D Ambient electronic KISS Kovers!
 
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#24,691
hieronymous said:
Interesting - is that a challenge?! :D Ambient electronic KISS Kovers!
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It’s not getting any worse.

I still take it as a point of pride that I once got to jam with Ace and the group I was part of stomped all over his guitar solo. We were instructed to play the album version of a song without a solo even though the live (Alive) version had a famous solo section. Ace was confused and upset when we got to the solo and bulldozed right over it in rehearsal.

We got to perform on stage with him, too. I took the opportunity to bring some homemade stage blood with me and spit it while playing. I have a photo series from that video hanging on my wall. Ace actually seemed amused. I certainly wasn’t going to take my one chance in life to be playing bass with Ace and not spit blood.
 
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#24,692
monsterthompson said:
It’s not getting any worse.

I still take it as a point of pride that I once got to jam with Ace and the group I was part of stomped all over his guitar solo. We were instructed to play the album version of a song without a solo even though the live (Alive) version had a famous solo section. Ace was confused and upset when we got to the solo and bulldozed right over it in rehearsal.

We got to perform on stage with him, too. I took the opportunity to bring some homemade stage blood with me and spit it while playing. I have a photo series from that video hanging on my wall. Ace actually seemed amused. I certainly wasn’t going to take my one chance in life to be playing bass with Ace and not spit blood.
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Thank you - all this talk about KISS has been redeemed because we got this story out of it! When was that?
 
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#24,693
hieronymous said:
Thank you - all this talk about KISS has been redeemed because we got this story out of it! When was that?
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About 13 years ago. It was for a VH1 reality show I was on. The bands were “randomly” assembled players who had never met before with celebrity guests. I got to see/meet Paul at a separate event. I also got made fun of by Lemmy for drinking an absinthe margarita out of a pineapple. Honestly, it was an amazing week and I met several legends and a few heroes.
 
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#24,696
I was in 4th, 5th or 6th grade when some of the dudes in my class discovered Kiss and started bringing magazines and other Kiss stuff to school. Catholic school. The sisters were not amused.

I was amused, as an observer of all this, but I never liked the band much. I do remember vaguely that there was a Kiss cartoon TV show and other such nonsense, and when they took off their makeup to try and get in on the whole hair metal scene of which they themselves were pioneers.

Gene cracks me up because he is unabashedly all about the money and self promotion, and he seems quite comfortable playing the part of sleezy bad guy, not afraid to own it.

 
#24,698
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