I've never seen anyone so crushed as my brother when he was confronted with the fact that bar bands are entertainers/beer salesmen and not artists. A bar owner told us one night if we did any more of that self indulgent wanking we could just pack up at the end of the night and forget the second night we were booked for. He said he wanted simple stuff that got people up dancing and buying beer, not a bunch of 10 minute songs with 3 solos and no vocals. Dumping your bag of guitar/bass/whatever tricks on stage every time you step on one is as boring as an endless string of I-IV-V songs. If not to entertain your audience, what then is your purpose? Just because you are making music the goal is not to be the singular focus of all others who play the same instrument, and artistry is not only about chops and playing ability. It took serious imagination to come up with the total package which is KISS. You have to recognize that it was four musicians who did that instead of some turd in marketing. Think Backstreet Boys for examples of turds in marketing exploiting the music biz. At least with KISS it was our fellow music makers doing the exploiting and not the ones being exploited as is so often the case, or used to be before the world go so much smarter.
Granted, KISS is not the only "brand" who's live stage show is generally more exiting than the music they are making, but they were the first to fully exploit the concept of concert as spectacle, and it paid off very well. I was in Okinawa when I saw my first KISS vid and my initial impression was they would become bigger than Elvis for the same reason Elvis could not be shown from the waist down when he first started appearing on national TV. Elvis had pipes and a decent backup band, but so did most every hillbilly rocker of his time. It was his stage show and some marketing turd that made him king. Tom Parker continued to make money off Elvis even after he was dead, so why is everyone slagging Gene for continuing to make money off the corpse of KISS?
I am somewhat saddened to see Gene turn into some marketing turd who would sell the sweat off his nutz if he thought there was profit in it rather than take his fat stacks and retire, but my dad is still working and he's pushing 80. He's fully retired from both the military and non military government service (department of the army civilian) and draws enough from that and his investments to live more than well, but like he told me one day, "If all I had to look forward to every day was deciding if I wanted to play golf or fish, I'd be insane in less than a month." Some folks just don't feel right if they ain't working and Gene is obviously one of those.
Last..any argument about Gene's skills as a player are really moot at this point. The goal from day one was making money and it's impossible to say that mission was not thoroughly and well accomplished.
Granted, KISS is not the only "brand" who's live stage show is generally more exiting than the music they are making, but they were the first to fully exploit the concept of concert as spectacle, and it paid off very well. I was in Okinawa when I saw my first KISS vid and my initial impression was they would become bigger than Elvis for the same reason Elvis could not be shown from the waist down when he first started appearing on national TV. Elvis had pipes and a decent backup band, but so did most every hillbilly rocker of his time. It was his stage show and some marketing turd that made him king. Tom Parker continued to make money off Elvis even after he was dead, so why is everyone slagging Gene for continuing to make money off the corpse of KISS?
I am somewhat saddened to see Gene turn into some marketing turd who would sell the sweat off his nutz if he thought there was profit in it rather than take his fat stacks and retire, but my dad is still working and he's pushing 80. He's fully retired from both the military and non military government service (department of the army civilian) and draws enough from that and his investments to live more than well, but like he told me one day, "If all I had to look forward to every day was deciding if I wanted to play golf or fish, I'd be insane in less than a month." Some folks just don't feel right if they ain't working and Gene is obviously one of those.
Last..any argument about Gene's skills as a player are really moot at this point. The goal from day one was making money and it's impossible to say that mission was not thoroughly and well accomplished.
