KISS - ANIMALIZE - LIVE UNCENSORED

It was the video boom. Video rental stores were sprouting like wildfire throughout small towns and more than likely you found yourself looking towards the family’s videocassette recorder for your ‘media’ fix. KISS lent themselves to the home video evolution quite well after establishing themselves as one of the most visually enticing bands of the 1970’s.
1984’s ANIMALIZE LIVE UNCENSORED served as KISS’ first venture into the world of home video. The band themselves, with their feet still firmly planted in the (the makeup’s off – how do we act?) awkwardness were featured in rare live concert form as they performed a gripping live performance filmed in Detroit on December 8th, 1984, originally to be aired on MTV’s Saturday Night Concert series.
Makeup and huge explosions aside, ANIMALIZE – LIVE UNCENSORED can simply be labeled as ‘cool’. Coming from a band whom since 1982 had only made minimal television performances and released a handful of videos, this was a pretty rare glimpse into a world most of us were not privilege to. Some of the coolest moments of the concert occur when Simmons, Stanley, and Eric Carr present for the first time (sans makeup) bass, guitar and drum solos’. As a kid, unless you or your older kin were KISS die-hards this quite possibly served as your ticket into catching a glimpse of the band live and in concert with all of the ‘extra’ concert gimmicks thrown in to-boot. Classic tracks like "Detroit Rock City" and "Love Gun" still made the set list as well as new comers, "Fits Like A Glove" and "Thrills In The Night", and with the chance to see Simmons breathe fire at the end of "War Machine"…this video is basically a no-brainer. Plain and simple fun…the way KISS has always done it.
ANIMALIZE – LIVE UNCENSORED represented a good start into an increasingly better line of home videos from KISS. KISS would continue this good fortune throughout the 1980’s releasing other gold mine successes like EXPOSED, X-TREME CLOSE UP, and THE SECOND COMING. Sadly, for a band that had adapted themselves so creatively to image related media KISS had a hard time adapting to the DVD age. However, for an intro into the Home Video movement….ANIMALIZE – LIVE UNCENSORED was the sweet beginning KISS needed.

KISS - ANIMALIZE

I sometimes find it mind boggling the differences KISS fans see in the bands records. One fan can hate LOVE GUN but love CRAZY NIGHTS. One fan can love DESTROYER and be 'so-so’ when it comes to discussing ROCK AND ROLL OVER. Each album is steeped within rock and roll featuring loud guitars and pounding drums but for one reason or another one album tugs at one person’s heartstrings more than another.
My point to all of this is simple. Within my circle of geeky KISS fans and friends there are two particular albums that are continually lumped together in roundabout discussions. Those particular albums remain the experimental MUSIC FROM THE ELDER and the somewhat hard to swallow, ANIMALIZE.
In countless interviews I have read, Gene has rated the KISS catalog giving MUSIC FROM THE ELDER a (zero star rating) for a KISS record and (two star rating) as a bad Genesis record. Sadly, every time I hear this quote I must disagree. My choice for a KISS album receiving a (zero star rating) would be ANIMALIZE.
AMINALIZE stands out of the pack as the one KISS record that is trying the hardest just to fit in. Most KISS albums make a statement. Hell…even THE ELDER had a mission…ANIMALIZE is simply ‘there’. And for a band with the charisma and drive of KISS…simply being ‘there’ is never enough. Be it the era (1980’s) or the ever changing lineup, or simply the absence of an actual producer, ANIMALIZE strives more than it hits the mark. ANIMALIZE showcases forgettable tunes and less than stellar packaging, which ultimately drives the album to the bottom of my KISS (fan-favorite) play list.
When ANIMALIZE was released in 1984 I was steadily rocking out my Quiet Riot - METAL HEALTH ringer-tee in the 4th grade. More interested in FOOTLOOSE than former rock stars of the 1970’s ANIMALIZE passed almost completely under my radar. My only notification of the its existence came from a novelty shop in the St. Joseph mall called, Martin Enterprises.
For St. Joe, Martin Enterprises was the closest a small town kid could get to rock and roll fashions. They had everything from T-shirts, bandannas, hatpins, and the ever so cherished spiked wristbands. One afternoon I found myself in the shop with an acquaintance from church, both hoping to add to our hatpin collections, when ANIMALIZE fell flat in my lap.
As we waited for our mothers patiently on the benches outside of the store I asked to see what hatpin he had purchased. He carefully slid a tiny metal pin out of his card stock envelope and showed it to me. It was a cheap metal copy of the KISS – ANIMALIZE album cover, complete with KISS logo, ANIMALIZE font and wild animal print. At the time I didn’t know what it meant but it looked a lot cooler than the Harley Davidson Eagle logo pin I had just purchased.
"I’ve never heard it," I questioned…feeling dumber than ever.
"Heaven’s On Fire?" he exclaimed, proceeding to sing a few bars,
"Feel my heat…taking you higher…burn with me…Heaven’s On Fire!"
The warning alarms went off in my head…. Visions of my mom looking like that robot from LOST IN SPACE….DANGER!…DANGER!…
There was no way on God’s green earth my mom would allow me to listen to something like that…not at the age of 10…for that matter not at the age of 15! ‘Burn with me’?...'Heaven’s On Fire’?….I was carefully pushing the envelope with kid friendly hits like "Cum On Feel The Noise", playing a song like that would only ensure my mom’s 1970’s notions about KISS. Lyrics like that would only press home the fact that this band were dangerous and yes….quite possibly satanic. (My mom believed every minister who had his own talk show on television…what else can I say? Growing up in my house was no picnic).
All of these 1980’s Reagan fears / small Midwestern minds and values being said…thanks to my mother and that day…ANIMALIZE remained out of my grasp well into my late teens when the collecting bug finally hit hard and the album found its way into my collection. Fortunately, I wasn’t missing out on all that much.

KISS - LICK IT UP

When I discovered KISS, fans generally spoke of KISS in terms of two separate versions. There was the 70’s KISS and the 80’s KISS. Using KISS-EXPOSED as my springboard into the phenomenon I was more familiar with and found the 80’s KISS more accessible and by using Dan as my guide on this journey he quickly led me to KISS’ landmark first ‘non-makeup’ album, LICK IT UP.
Which ever side you stand for, the makeup era, the non-makeup era…Vinnie Vincent as the king axe-slayer of KISS or Mark St. John…you must admit that LICK IT UP stands alone as the bands greatest non-makeup recording…. period.
The album itself is not as strong as CREATURES OF THE NIGHT but represents the band's most honest material throughout the 1980’s. I attribute most of the album's success not only to Stanley’s strengths as a songwriter but also Vincent’s guitar licks as well as his songwriting talents. Add to the mix Simmons’ hunger and the fact he had yet to become ‘Mr. Hollywood’ and you have yourself a winning combination.
The album is straight-ahead early 80’s ‘metal’ (for lack of a better term). Not as brutal as Metallica or as dangerous as Motley Crue but still much cooler than the average SCORPIANS record. Songs such as "Gimme More" could have stayed on the cutting room floor but gems like "All Hell's Breakin’ Loose" completely make up for it.
Had I had access to the album in 1983 I’m sure I would have been a fan. It would have remained a staple in my cassette player the same way CONDITION CRITICAL did for an entire summer when I was a youngster, but the bottom line was back then I had no clue the album even existed. In fact, I never even saw the album until a few years after its release in 1986.
One night running errands with my mom we made a quick stop at a store called, Venture…and for a department store they had a pretty sweet music section. So, as my mom made her way around the store with the cart, I darted off for the cassette tapes.
I remember being drawn to the side bar of the cassette based firmly on the distinctiveness of the white KISS logo on the black cassette card stock. It stood out of the crowd. I slide the plastic cassette holder out of the rack and stared blankly at Gene sticking out his tongue, remembering visions of the KISS lunchbox I had held briefly in the 1st grade.
"Wow!", I thought. "This is what they really look like!"
Its odd to think, that even though the ‘importance’ of KISS taking off their makeup had long gone by, here I was, an 11 year old kid thinking the same thing the rest of the world had thought years earlier.
This simply goes to prove the impact of KISS. That it doesn’t really matter when in life you discover them…the simple fact is…everything they have done has been larger, brighter, and shinier than any other band out there…and on that fact alone, KISS will never be ignored.