KISS

[EthanJClarke93]

What are your thoughts on this band?

[stack-o-tracks]

One of the greatest song & music video combos of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcj34XixuYg

[JohnMill]

What are your thoughts on this band?

"Hard Luck Woman" was a catchy enough song and obviously "Rock And Roll All Nite" became quite the anthem in it's day.  Outside of that never had much respect for them.  They seemed to be more about how many bombs they could explode onstage and of course the face paint was something that caught on like wildfire back in those days.  My mother was teaching high school at the time when KISS became popular and ended up chaperoning this dance and all these kids turned up in full KISS fatigues and were promptly shown the door which kind of sums it up for me.  KISS was above everything else a fad.

[the captain]

Hugely important to me personally and to pop in general. See the record room for the definitive thread on the subject (if it's still up).

[I. Spaceman]

I'm in the Army. Left active duty a while back, but am in the reserves and ready to report for duty should I be needed.
The only band to get me on my feet at any and all times.

[cablegeddon]

Detroit Rock City is one of those great songs in the history of rock and pop music. Written by Stanley and music producer Ezrin.

That song shows what they brought to rock music. It's hard to put words on it but it's this slick, attitude filled vibe that you don't get from Zeppeling or Deep Purple.

[Ron]

Above someone mentioned they don't have any respect for them, but the same reasons are why I DO have respect for them.  Not as musicians, though, although I'm sure they have their highpoints... I have respect for them as entertainers, they've done something truly unique and creative for a very long time, very well. 

They've actually gotten to the point, earning money, where the expense of tickets and etc. are part of the show.  Many Kiss fans comment about, you know, "Oh, these tickets were 500 bucks!" or whatever.  Now I would never spend that kind of money, but I admire that the band was able to so shamelessly pull that off, lol. 

Also the way they were able to replace 2 band members, because the facepainted characters could be interchanged is interesting to me. 

I met a customer online that I shipped something to, the guy was showing me pictures of his house, he's a huggggge KISS fan.  His entire basement is painted like a dungeon, and he's got all the expensive 'cool' KISS toys, things like concert worn Gene Simmons boots, reproduction autographed guitars, etc. 

Again it's not really my thing, but they created this entire universe and spectacle that's world famous, and have the ability to generate tons of money for themselves, and this entire 'army' mentality among their fans.   Basically it's all good time rock and roll, I appreciate them in a business sense. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

A big fan of Kiss, well, at least the early stuff. They picked up where the MC5 left off, and along with bands like Blue Oyster Cult, The New York Dolls, and Slade, helped keep hard rock significant in the early/mid 1970's until punk came along. I think especially Paul Stanley is an underrated singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Kiss might be the biggest snub from of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

[JohnMill]

Above someone mentioned they don't have any respect for them, but the same reasons are why I DO have respect for them.  Not as musicians, though, although I'm sure they have their highpoints... I have respect for them as entertainers, they've done something truly unique and creative for a very long time, very well.  

They've actually gotten to the point, earning money, where the expense of tickets and etc. are part of the show.  Many Kiss fans comment about, you know, "Oh, these tickets were 500 bucks!" or whatever.  Now I would never spend that kind of money, but I admire that the band was able to so shamelessly pull that off, lol.  

Also the way they were able to replace 2 band members, because the facepainted characters could be interchanged is interesting to me.  

I met a customer online that I shipped something to, the guy was showing me pictures of his house, he's a huggggge KISS fan.  His entire basement is painted like a dungeon, and he's got all the expensive 'cool' KISS toys, things like concert worn Gene Simmons boots, reproduction autographed guitars, etc.  

Again it's not really my thing, but they created this entire universe and spectacle that's world famous, and have the ability to generate tons of money for themselves, and this entire 'army' mentality among their fans.   Basically it's all good time rock and roll, I appreciate them in a business sense.  

So in essence what you are saying is it's pro wrestling with guitars? 

For what it's worth though, I do think they are worthy of RNR HOF candidacy for everything you mentioned above.  They did create one heck of a brand.