KISS-CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
Talk about your breath of fresh air! For all of the love I proclaim for the lighter KISS records such as DYNASTY and UNMASKED I am not ashamed to admit that a change was needed in the worst of ways. Boy…one could not have imagined a better direction to move towards than 1982’s thunderous finale to the makeup years, CREATURES OF THE NIGHT.
My first exposure to this record occurred the night I first watched KISS-EXPOSED and got my first glimpse at the music video for "I Love It Loud". Now, I have to admit, no matter how cheesy the video may appear I could not have wished for a sweeter parlay into what I consider to be the heaviest recorded album by KISS. It was a very kind introduction into one of the albums that would eventually rank within my top 5 favorite KISS albums.
The video stuck me on that ‘childish’ level. The one that tugs at your heartstrings and carves a notch into your brain that time will not soon fade away. That same voice that rattles in your head and allows you to continue to believe in Superman was the same voice rattling away in my head as The Demon strutted in front of the microphone, melting telephones, blowing up refrigerators, and burning newspapers. By the videos end I was a fan of "I Love It Loud" and without a doubt a fan of that ‘sound’. That heavy bass, crunchy guitars, and my goodness…that thunderous sound of the 82’ Eric Carr drum kit. Good God! If aliens should ever land and question ‘what is KISS?’ for the love of mankind…cue up "War Machine". Pure rock and roll power.
By the time I dove headfirst into the album I was a few years into high school. I was able to drive, had a face full of acne, wore my hair in an even sweeter mullet and had finally begun to face all of those awkward high school emotions of ‘not fitting in’. Enter…CREATURES OF THE NIGHT.
I realize this may sound completely corny however; at the time in my life in which I completely submersed myself in CREATURES OF THE NIGHT I was simply confused teenager. My parents had just gone through a divorce, I had watched as my older sister moved out of the house and left for college and now I was suddenly returning home from school everyday to a house full of ‘silence’? Ughhh…. Believe me, at that time in my life jamming out in my room to "Rock And Roll Hell" felt pretty damn good.
I didn’t drink…I didn’t smoke…I couldn’t have sex (that goal was rather hard to achieve when you couldn’t even get a date)…so KISS pretty much became my outlet. CREATURES OF THE NIGHT served as my ‘pacing the room on a lonely Friday night’ record, as well as my late night – boulevard cruising tape. With each play, every track on the record took on new meaning. The heaviness, the attitude, the coolness of KISS all made everything worth while and made growing up a teenager in a small hick town a little more tolerable.
My first exposure to this record occurred the night I first watched KISS-EXPOSED and got my first glimpse at the music video for "I Love It Loud". Now, I have to admit, no matter how cheesy the video may appear I could not have wished for a sweeter parlay into what I consider to be the heaviest recorded album by KISS. It was a very kind introduction into one of the albums that would eventually rank within my top 5 favorite KISS albums.
The video stuck me on that ‘childish’ level. The one that tugs at your heartstrings and carves a notch into your brain that time will not soon fade away. That same voice that rattles in your head and allows you to continue to believe in Superman was the same voice rattling away in my head as The Demon strutted in front of the microphone, melting telephones, blowing up refrigerators, and burning newspapers. By the videos end I was a fan of "I Love It Loud" and without a doubt a fan of that ‘sound’. That heavy bass, crunchy guitars, and my goodness…that thunderous sound of the 82’ Eric Carr drum kit. Good God! If aliens should ever land and question ‘what is KISS?’ for the love of mankind…cue up "War Machine". Pure rock and roll power.
By the time I dove headfirst into the album I was a few years into high school. I was able to drive, had a face full of acne, wore my hair in an even sweeter mullet and had finally begun to face all of those awkward high school emotions of ‘not fitting in’. Enter…CREATURES OF THE NIGHT.
I realize this may sound completely corny however; at the time in my life in which I completely submersed myself in CREATURES OF THE NIGHT I was simply confused teenager. My parents had just gone through a divorce, I had watched as my older sister moved out of the house and left for college and now I was suddenly returning home from school everyday to a house full of ‘silence’? Ughhh…. Believe me, at that time in my life jamming out in my room to "Rock And Roll Hell" felt pretty damn good.
I didn’t drink…I didn’t smoke…I couldn’t have sex (that goal was rather hard to achieve when you couldn’t even get a date)…so KISS pretty much became my outlet. CREATURES OF THE NIGHT served as my ‘pacing the room on a lonely Friday night’ record, as well as my late night – boulevard cruising tape. With each play, every track on the record took on new meaning. The heaviness, the attitude, the coolness of KISS all made everything worth while and made growing up a teenager in a small hick town a little more tolerable.
posted by RIC @ 7:33 PM
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