KISS going micro???

[JimmyM]

Kiss? Really? I mean musically, ***? Especially during that era when every week some band came out with chops (Bad Co, BTO, Bowie).

As for them being underground LOL. The Dolls were underground! I always considered Kiss a bunch of privileged kids whose lawyer uncle told them controversy will overshadow musicianship. They then set out to implement a strategy from the outfits, to the pyro to the logo to the stage antics to the four separate album covers etc. The were professional wrestling on stage Actually I guess they did borrow from Cooper in that way but I would Killer or BDB up against any Kiss product.

I had a eight year old brother too and I saw what happened to him, so I do understand the phenomenon. Of course the Pistols turned Kiss into a nostalgia act in 1978.

As for Gene, I don't hate him, but every time I hear him open his mouth he proved to be (imho) - the biggest ahole in rock along with Zappa. Frank however was a musician extraordinaire!

As for me not jumping on the Love Boat. You can't set up a can in the middle of the road and not expect some guy to come along and kick it

Speaking of someone who loves the sound of his own words...

Don't be surprised when you find out I whizzed in that can just to see what moron would kick it. And don't think I haven't done it and laughed my ass off when someone kicked it. Well, thank you for exposing yourself as someone who gets their jollies by trolling threads. You sound a little too old for that kind of shtick.

BTW, ever see the Pistols reunion shows? I have. Absolutely pathetic.

 

[will33]

What is it about KISS that brings out so much hate? The success?...jealousy?....geez, if ya don't like it, don't listen.

Gene turned a lot of people on to bass and made it cool, like it or not. There aren't many bass players out there that are really well known to the general public. Ya pretty much got Gene Simmons and Geddy Lee, that's about it. Of course them being singers/frontmen didn't hurt either. I mean really well known to the general public, non-musicians, not a bunch of bass players talking about other bass playera.


Yeah, I tried breathing fire a couple times too. Cool if ya get it right but easy to set your hair on fire too. You couldn't get Everclear or grain alcohol in Minnesota in those days, we used 151 Bacardi rum. Spit it out in kind of a mist across a flaming torch and back away at the same time. Go ahead...try it...if y'all are so badass and Gene is such a poser...I dare ya.

 

[Buster Brown]

What is it about KISS that brings out so much hate? The success?...jealousy?....geez, if ya don't like it, don't listen.

Gene turned a lot of people on to bass and made it cool, like it or not. There aren't many bass players out there that are really well known to the general public. Ya pretty much got Gene Simmons and Geddy Lee, that's about it. Of course them being singers/frontmen didn't hurt either. I mean really well known to the general public, non-musicians, not a bunch of bass players talking about other bass playera.


Yeah, I tried breathing fire a couple times too. Cool if ya get it right but easy to set your hair on fire too. You couldn't get Everclear or grain alcohol in Minnesota in those days, we used 151 Bacardi rum. Spit it out in kind of a mist across a flaming torch and back away at the same time. Go ahead...try it...if y'all are so badass and Gene is such a poser...I dare ya.

I've never really gotten the hate thing either. I was never a KISS fan, but I couldn't have cared less whether they played or didn't play - just wasn't my thing. However, from the standpoin of a guy (me) who has made a living in the "entertainment" industry for the last 30 years, I absolutely respect KISSs business acqumin. Absolutely. In my humble opinion, Simmons is a business genius.

As far as the recognizability of bass players - you are correct. There are hundreds of bass players out there that WE (as players ourselves) are aware of, but unfortunately, the customer, never pays much attention to, and that is to be expected. The "public" I.e., WOMEN, seem, for some weird reason, to focus on the skinny, leather clad clown at the mic, center stage. Weird, I know - but there you go.

 

[Hues]

This all brings to mind a recent TV interview with Paul Stanley, who said..."Gene and I live about five blocks from each other. In fact, I can see his ego from my house."

 

[boynamedsuse]

. . . .

As far as the recognizability of bass players - you are correct. There are hundreds of bass players out there that WE (as players ourselves) are aware of, but unfortunately, the customer, never pays much attention to, and that is to be expected. The "public" I.e., WOMEN, seem, for some weird reason, to focus on the skinny, leather clad clown at the mic, center stage. Weird, I know - but there you go.

To be fair, most women know who Sting is.

 

[GregC]

What is it about KISS that brings out so much hate? The success?...jealousy?....geez, if ya don't like it, don't listen.

Gene turned a lot of people on to bass and made it cool, like it or not. There aren't many bass players out there that are really well known to the general public. Ya pretty much got Gene Simmons and Geddy Lee, that's about it. Of course them being singers/frontmen didn't hurt either. I mean really well known to the general public, non-musicians, not a bunch of bass players talking about other bass playera.


Yeah, I tried breathing fire a couple times too. Cool if ya get it right but easy to set your hair on fire too. You couldn't get Everclear or grain alcohol in Minnesota in those days, we used 151 Bacardi rum. Spit it out in kind of a mist across a flaming torch and back away at the same time. Go ahead...try it...if y'all are so badass and Gene is such a poser...I dare ya.

That's it? I don't think so. There's that McCartney fellow. And Sting. And Flea. And Entwistle. And arguably JPJ, Bootsy and Nikki Sixx.

 

[f.c.geil]

Kiss? Really? I mean musically, ***? Especially during that era when every week some band came out with chops (Bad Co, BTO, Bowie).

As for them being underground LOL. The Dolls were underground! I always considered Kiss a bunch of privileged kids whose lawyer uncle told them controversy will overshadow musicianship. They then set out to implement a strategy from the outfits, to the pyro to the logo to the stage antics to the four separate album covers etc. The were professional wrestling on stage Actually I guess they did borrow from Cooper in that way but I would Killer or BDB up against any Kiss product.

I had a eight year old brother too and I saw what happened to him, so I do understand the phenomenon. Of course the Pistols turned Kiss into a nostalgia act in 1978.

As for Gene, I don't hate him, but every time I hear him open his mouth he proved to be (imho) - the biggest ahole in rock along with Zappa. Frank however was a musician extraordinaire!

As for me not jumping on the Love Boat. You can't set up a can in the middle of the road and not expect some guy to come along and kick it

At least do some homework. They were as far from "privileged" as you can get. "Dirt poor" is closer. They were doing whatever they had to in order to never be poor again, and to take care of their families.

 

[Phlipper]

Didn't know GS was such a big influence on bassists. Ace Frehley was the reason I bought my first electric guitar as a 13 yo, and at one time I could play any lick off the first five albums. I moved on to Nugent, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Crue, etc. and even the Sex Pistols, Clash, X, and others but I still like that old Kiss stuff.

 

[will33]

Right!!...I forgot a couple...Mccartney and Sting...also singers, maybe Greg Lake too.. Flea, and possibly Entwhistle may ne the most famous who aren't also singers/frontmen or have some other role in the band besides playing bass. Although, with Flea's outfits and stage antics, he's pretty hard to miss.

 

[BrandoFlex]

Why are people here so thin-skinned. Clearly you Kiss fans have had to fight this fight before

That being the case, if the OP just posted this thread "to see what morons responded" then to him I say - that's creative and for sure a worthwhile effort!

I think Kiss sucks, anyone who wants to get into arguing the opposite, especially on a site for musicians - you best go round up your army to help you with that one LOL

 

[R Baer]

Why is it that some people think that if you play simple bass lines, then you obviously suck as a musician? Gene is certainly not up the musicianship level of Stanley Clarke or Victor Wooten, but does that somehow make him any less of a musician? Being a musician isn't some contest about who has the best technique, or who can play the most notes. A musician is someone who makes music. Period. These guys are good players, sing, write their own music and put on a hell of a show. Somewhere along the way, they also managed to sell about 100,000,000 albums. Sounds like some pretty darn talented musicians to me.

 

[JimmyM]

Why are people here so thin-skinned. Clearly you Kiss fans have had to fight this fight before

That being the case, if the OP just posted this thread "to see what morons responded" then to him I say - that's creative and for sure a worthwhile effort!

I think Kiss sucks, anyone who wants to get into arguing the opposite, especially on a site for musicians - you best go round up your army to help you with that one LOL

I, for one, would like to see a single KISS thread anywhere on the internet where self-appointed taste guardians don't come into it and start lecturing us all about how KISS sucks 40 years after their first album. But if you're happy with boring everyone with the same old crap folks like you have consistently repeated over and over and over and over for 40 years, have at it...just not in this thread, or else I'll shut it down, and you'll have to go somewhere else to whine about KISS being so successful for so long to people who couldn't care less what you think.

Now, may we please continue with this awesome thread in peace, please?

 

[boynamedsuse]

KISS downsizing their backline is not a sure sign of the coming Apocalypse.

Having a KISS thread where there no KISS/Gene Simmons bashing would be though.





We seem to be safe for now.

 

[f.c.geil]

It's amazing to me that these "no talent hacks" have managed to maintain a career for over 40 years, have sold more concert tickets than any other band, have sold hundreds of millions of albums, and have sold more merchandise than most every other band combined. Man, I wish I had that little talent!

 

[JimmyM]

BTW, the road to rock superstardom has been littered with bands who had very cool gimmicks but only lasted a couple years before their fire burned out. Why? Because their music didn't hold up over the years. Meanwhile, KISS' early stuff is as well-regarded as any hard rock, and their newer stuff ain't bad either. If people don't respond to the music itself, nobody's going to come to the show. Yet they get thousands to every show and tour the world as much as they want. I know all you anti-KISS people like to pretend it's not true, but it is. And if it's so easy to slap some makeup on and have a career for 40 years, why isn't everyone doing it?

 

[Melonthief]

Didn't know GS was such a big influence on bassists. Ace Frehley was the reason I bought my first electric guitar as a 13 yo, and at one time I could play any lick off the first five albums. I moved on to Nugent, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Crue, etc. and even the Sex Pistols, Clash, X, and others but I still like that old Kiss stuff.

This one is funny! Like Van Halen turned you off to guitar and you started working your way backwards.

 

[BrandoFlex]

Like any reunion type band, Kiss has a 40 year career because those who were 10 years old when they came out are now 40 years older and still following them. There are few exceptions to this rule as it is the music you love in high school that sticks with all of us. The only older band I have ever seen that was able to attract a young crowd was the Dead. Now talk about an unheralded bassist!!

 

[Melonthief]

Kiss has been continuously recording and touring, hardly a " reunion" band. And unlike the Grateful DeAd you don't have to be on drugs to enjoy their music.

 

[will33]

Why is it that some people think that if you play simple bass lines, then you obviously suck as a musician? Gene is certainly not up the musicianship level of Stanley Clarke or Victor Wooten, but does that somehow make him any less of a musician? Being a musician isn't some contest about who has the best technique, or who can play the most notes. A musician is someone who makes music. Period. These guys are good players, sing, write their own music and put on a hell of a show. Somewhere along the way, they also managed to sell about 100,000,000 albums. Sounds like some pretty darn talented musicians to me.

So much this^^

The good bassist does whatever is needed to drive the song. 99.9999% of the time that does not involve 32nd note runs at blazing speed. Hell, the vast majority of the time it involves nothing at all resembling slap bass.


This coming from someone (me) who would much rather listen to crappy recordings of live shows than listen to albums with 8 layers of guitars and everybody getting 25 chances to get it right then going back and fixing it anyway.

Also much more enjoy listening to a whole band do simple songs than a solo bassist shred. That stuff gets boring rather quickly.

 

[BrandoFlex]

Kiss is a nostalgia band. They had some type of silly contest where the city that voted the most would get a concert, then they decided they did not want to play there after all LOL. They are a gimmick band.

As for the Dead and drugs - don't be a fool, no musician or music fan would ever think of such a thing!!!