Okay, first let's get this out of the way - ROCK OF AGES IS THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!! Well, actually, I'm not sure how it fares and compares with The Brady Bunch parody movies, The Blues Brothers, or the Back To The Future trilogy. As time goes on, will I think it's better than all of those, or will it just take its' own place among those films as "its' own thing," a film that, like those others, simply stands on its' own? I don't know. In fact, due to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, I failed to see Rock Of Ages a second time in the theatre before it left the screens. But the movie's mixing of '80s hair metal power ballads and Broadway musical tugs right at my heartstrings, because for me it mixes the musical environment I grew up in as a kid with my mother's show-tune albums, the FM and vinyl record store rock environment I was introduced to as a '70s teen, and the environment that spawned, the '80s hair-band/cock-rock scene that was in full force when I did my TV show Hard Rock Heroes. And it mixes those worlds perfectly and effortlessly.
So, with that, I tweeted a great deal about this movie. But comments like the ones above aren't suitable for Tweets - too long and can't adequately be shortened. So the stuff I ended up tweeting were my fun observations of the film's historical accuracy, which was mostly bang-on. And, by coincidence, in my last blog post, I talked about possibly reprinting Twitter comments here. So without further adieu, here are those comments, all collected and reprinted here. BUT: I actually had taken those comments previously and turned them into a writeup I had sent one of the Winnipeg media music writers. So it's actually that writeup that I will now pull apart to seperate ideas into their own paragraphs below. So that's why what's below doesn't really look like Tweets.
So here we go:
"In the poster for this film, why is Alec Baldwin wearing a 1996 Kiss reunion t-shirt when Rock Of Ages is set in 1987? And that shirt would be purported to be a '70s one, too, or it better, 'cause in 1987 the last time Kiss had worn makeup and had both Ace and Peter in the band was in very early 1980." (Note: Baldwin, or anyone else, never actually wore that shirt in the film. Good.)
"In the Tower Records store, there was a Kiss Crazy Nights poster, and that album came out in September 1987, so the movie is obviously set in the fall. But why is 'More Than Words' by Extreme here, when that song came out in 1990? And funny how that's the only song that doesn't fit timewise. Is someone an Extreme fan?"
"The first time Stacee Jaxx is presented to us is a mixture of Gene's entrance and Paul's re-entrance, when the reporter finds him in his bedroom, in the home video Kiss Exposed, and Stacee's monkey is also stolen from Kiss Exposed."
"Ironically, Kiss Exposed came out in 1987. Maybe the picture is trying to be painted that monkeys were hip then."
"Oh, and Steven Tyler's monkey in that skit in the American Idol finale was stolen from Kiss Exposed, too. He should get that monkey to help him at Burger King."
"Teaching today's generation about records and used record store culture. Try the plotline about Sherrie's stolen records with a fucking IPod."
Me during the broadcast of "Much On Demand" outside in front of the Muchmusic building in Toronto, ON on September 25, 2003.
Showing posts with label Kiss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kiss. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Kiss Stuff
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE TWELFTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM NOVEMBER 2008 TO FEBRUARY 2010.
While we're on the subject of Kiss, Gene Simmons once said he'd like to brand the air we breathe as "Kiss Air" so that every time we'd take a breath, we'd owe him money. I think this puts Gene in a quandry: "Kiss Air" would make more money than "Gene Simmons Air" but for "Kiss Air" Gene would have to give 50% of the profits to Paul Stanley.
While we're on the subject of Kiss, Gene Simmons once said he'd like to brand the air we breathe as "Kiss Air" so that every time we'd take a breath, we'd owe him money. I think this puts Gene in a quandry: "Kiss Air" would make more money than "Gene Simmons Air" but for "Kiss Air" Gene would have to give 50% of the profits to Paul Stanley.
Short Snappers
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE TWELFTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM NOVEMBER 2008 TO FEBRUARY 2010.
Due to my writeup on greatest hits albums last time, a lot of comments piled up. Some of them are getting old. Like these, but they're still funny, and they're short, so I'll just lump them all together here.....Rosie O'Donnell is now trying to get Bob Barker's hosting gig on The Price Is Right after he retires. Bob says that's okay with him as long as she gets spayed and neutered.....The White Stripes are playing all three territories on their tour: Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut. If it's cold up there, they'll REALLY be concerned about ".....the hardest button to button.....".....So Fergie liked Alanis' You Tube video of "My Humps" so much she gave her a cake shaped like an ass? Alanis needs a knife to cut that cake now, I guess. Too bad she has ".....10,000 spoons when all she needs is a knife....." Hey, maybe that cake tastes Fergalicious!.....You know what song Rod Stewart should have covered on that rock classics album he did? Kiss' "Hard Luck Woman!"
Due to my writeup on greatest hits albums last time, a lot of comments piled up. Some of them are getting old. Like these, but they're still funny, and they're short, so I'll just lump them all together here.....Rosie O'Donnell is now trying to get Bob Barker's hosting gig on The Price Is Right after he retires. Bob says that's okay with him as long as she gets spayed and neutered.....The White Stripes are playing all three territories on their tour: Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut. If it's cold up there, they'll REALLY be concerned about ".....the hardest button to button.....".....So Fergie liked Alanis' You Tube video of "My Humps" so much she gave her a cake shaped like an ass? Alanis needs a knife to cut that cake now, I guess. Too bad she has ".....10,000 spoons when all she needs is a knife....." Hey, maybe that cake tastes Fergalicious!.....You know what song Rod Stewart should have covered on that rock classics album he did? Kiss' "Hard Luck Woman!"
Greatest Hits Albums
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE ELEVENTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM MARCH TO NOVEMBER 2008.
Something a little different this time around on The Beau Zone. A few weeks ago, Winnipeg Free Press writer David Sanderson asked me to contribute something to an article he was writing for the paper's Saturday Detour section on the 50th anniversary of the greatest hits album. I initially thought that meant I would be quoted in his article, but instead he just put some of my comments, along with other Winnipeg celebrities' comments, in a certain section of the page alongside the article. So he took a few of my many comments I e-mailed him and squished them together the best he could. I kind of feel some of what he printed was taken out of context, although if he had printed what my context was, I admit the resulting piece would have been too long. Nevertheless, since I'm overdue for a new Beau Zone, I thought I'd reprint my original e-mail to him here in the next few paragraphs for your pleasure. Enjoy.
Thanks for thinking of me, David. I have to generally go into my vinyl albums, because I don't have time to really think about the CD compilations that come out now, although I buy some of them. It was in the '70s that my friends and I played albums over and over and really got to know them. For this reason, greatest hits albums were a bit off our radar, because we had the songs already and they didn't have the flow we already had become accustomed to from the individual albums. Live albums made the songs flow better.
That being said, I took a quick look at my record collection, and, although I can't decide upon one all-time favorite, here are some random thoughts:
1) I love Kiss' "Double Platinum," their first greatest hits collection from 1978 that they entrusted Jimmy Iovine to remix, where he made new versions of some of the songs, although they weren't that happy with some of the resulting tracks. Some of what he did that I love included Hard Luck Woman where the drums don't come in until the second verse, or Calling Dr. Love, with the added mystery in the intro and the effect of emphasis on the sleazy guitar line during the chorus when Gene's vocal is removed right after the guitar solo.
2) "All The Best from Prism" had a lot of airplay at friends' parties when it came out, just 'cause they were one of those bands that "passed us by," so to speak, but had enough hits that a greatest hits collection that captured them all sufficed perfectly.
3) Streetheart: There's never been a decent Streetheart greatest hits compilation. Formerly, this seemed to be due to the band appearing on two different record companies in its' career and the problems that entails, probably financially, to include songs from both record companies on one compilation. The Rolling Stones can do it, but they obviously have way more money than anyone connected with Streetheart. The "60 Minutes With Streetheart" CD (now out of print, I believe) on Capitol had to include live versions of their WEA songs. I guess those songs were unavailable for a Capitol release. "Action: The Best Of Streetheart" only comprises their WEA stuff after Streetheart left WEA and is basically a too-early compilation. Recently, whoever is doing the "Essential" CDs put out "The Essential Streetheart" with songs from both record companies, but it has only around ten tracks just thrown together without rhyme or reason. I hate CDs like that. The first song doesn't sound like it should be the first song on the CD, etc. I didn't have time to remember who put that out, if it was Capitol or who. There's an interesting very early cover photo of the band, probably when they were called Witness, I believe even pre-Paul Dean/Matt Frenette, that probably has other members who have left, but there's no liner notes or anything telling us about that photo or anything else. Just completely slipshod. Streetheart needs a worthy greatest hits album that has between 15 and 20 songs on it.
4) Beatles: I have a soft spot for 1976's "Rock And Roll Music," a double album with all their uptempo songs mixed to sound louder and brasher. I guess this is more of a "compilation" and less of a "greatest hits" album. For a real greatest hits album, I don't know what's better: "20 Greatest Hits" (is that still in print?), their new CD "No. 1s," or the vinyl-but-CD-or-boxed-set-styled-in-hindsight albums 1962-66 and 1967-70. Depends what mood you're in at the time, I guess.
5) "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits:" I always like it when greatest hits albums pick up wayward tracks that were singles only or given to movie soundtracks. In this case, it was "Come Together" from the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack. This album also makes me think of the Aerosmith biography where Joe Perry talks about how, during the time he wasn't in the band and was doing The Joe Perry Project, some kid gave him this album to autograph and it was the first time he had ever heard of it or seen it. No one had told him of its' release.
6) Recent CDs? Well, before I was into hard rock, I was into '70s pop and bubblegum, so I absolutely adore "Absolutely The Best Of The Archies" and The Partridge Family "Greatest Hits." And yes, I'm going to see David Cassidy. Ace Frehley, too, for that matter. Along the same vein, very valuable is TimeLife's "AM Top Twenty: Sounds Of The Seventies," an excellent collection that contains such early '70s AM gems as The Night Chicago Died, Billy Don't Be A Hero, and Rock Me Gently. The only CD I've ever bought from an infomercial. My most-played non-Kiss CD. I also like "The Best Of Foghat," because they did blues-boogie, but my friends and I liked their straight hard rock stuff, so their albums were spotty to us. Their live album, "Foghat Live," was one of our top albums. So "The Best Of Foghat" effectively collects all their best hard rock tracks. The CD "Anthology" by Angel (remember them, with their white outfits?) needs more songs from the "Sinful" album.
7) Have to include this: In the "Television's Greatest Hits" records/CDs, my favorites are volumes 2 and 5 with the most memorable sitcom and cartoon TV theme songs. The first one is good, too.
Something a little different this time around on The Beau Zone. A few weeks ago, Winnipeg Free Press writer David Sanderson asked me to contribute something to an article he was writing for the paper's Saturday Detour section on the 50th anniversary of the greatest hits album. I initially thought that meant I would be quoted in his article, but instead he just put some of my comments, along with other Winnipeg celebrities' comments, in a certain section of the page alongside the article. So he took a few of my many comments I e-mailed him and squished them together the best he could. I kind of feel some of what he printed was taken out of context, although if he had printed what my context was, I admit the resulting piece would have been too long. Nevertheless, since I'm overdue for a new Beau Zone, I thought I'd reprint my original e-mail to him here in the next few paragraphs for your pleasure. Enjoy.
Thanks for thinking of me, David. I have to generally go into my vinyl albums, because I don't have time to really think about the CD compilations that come out now, although I buy some of them. It was in the '70s that my friends and I played albums over and over and really got to know them. For this reason, greatest hits albums were a bit off our radar, because we had the songs already and they didn't have the flow we already had become accustomed to from the individual albums. Live albums made the songs flow better.
That being said, I took a quick look at my record collection, and, although I can't decide upon one all-time favorite, here are some random thoughts:
1) I love Kiss' "Double Platinum," their first greatest hits collection from 1978 that they entrusted Jimmy Iovine to remix, where he made new versions of some of the songs, although they weren't that happy with some of the resulting tracks. Some of what he did that I love included Hard Luck Woman where the drums don't come in until the second verse, or Calling Dr. Love, with the added mystery in the intro and the effect of emphasis on the sleazy guitar line during the chorus when Gene's vocal is removed right after the guitar solo.
2) "All The Best from Prism" had a lot of airplay at friends' parties when it came out, just 'cause they were one of those bands that "passed us by," so to speak, but had enough hits that a greatest hits collection that captured them all sufficed perfectly.
3) Streetheart: There's never been a decent Streetheart greatest hits compilation. Formerly, this seemed to be due to the band appearing on two different record companies in its' career and the problems that entails, probably financially, to include songs from both record companies on one compilation. The Rolling Stones can do it, but they obviously have way more money than anyone connected with Streetheart. The "60 Minutes With Streetheart" CD (now out of print, I believe) on Capitol had to include live versions of their WEA songs. I guess those songs were unavailable for a Capitol release. "Action: The Best Of Streetheart" only comprises their WEA stuff after Streetheart left WEA and is basically a too-early compilation. Recently, whoever is doing the "Essential" CDs put out "The Essential Streetheart" with songs from both record companies, but it has only around ten tracks just thrown together without rhyme or reason. I hate CDs like that. The first song doesn't sound like it should be the first song on the CD, etc. I didn't have time to remember who put that out, if it was Capitol or who. There's an interesting very early cover photo of the band, probably when they were called Witness, I believe even pre-Paul Dean/Matt Frenette, that probably has other members who have left, but there's no liner notes or anything telling us about that photo or anything else. Just completely slipshod. Streetheart needs a worthy greatest hits album that has between 15 and 20 songs on it.
4) Beatles: I have a soft spot for 1976's "Rock And Roll Music," a double album with all their uptempo songs mixed to sound louder and brasher. I guess this is more of a "compilation" and less of a "greatest hits" album. For a real greatest hits album, I don't know what's better: "20 Greatest Hits" (is that still in print?), their new CD "No. 1s," or the vinyl-but-CD-or-boxed-set-styled-in-hindsight albums 1962-66 and 1967-70. Depends what mood you're in at the time, I guess.
5) "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits:" I always like it when greatest hits albums pick up wayward tracks that were singles only or given to movie soundtracks. In this case, it was "Come Together" from the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack. This album also makes me think of the Aerosmith biography where Joe Perry talks about how, during the time he wasn't in the band and was doing The Joe Perry Project, some kid gave him this album to autograph and it was the first time he had ever heard of it or seen it. No one had told him of its' release.
6) Recent CDs? Well, before I was into hard rock, I was into '70s pop and bubblegum, so I absolutely adore "Absolutely The Best Of The Archies" and The Partridge Family "Greatest Hits." And yes, I'm going to see David Cassidy. Ace Frehley, too, for that matter. Along the same vein, very valuable is TimeLife's "AM Top Twenty: Sounds Of The Seventies," an excellent collection that contains such early '70s AM gems as The Night Chicago Died, Billy Don't Be A Hero, and Rock Me Gently. The only CD I've ever bought from an infomercial. My most-played non-Kiss CD. I also like "The Best Of Foghat," because they did blues-boogie, but my friends and I liked their straight hard rock stuff, so their albums were spotty to us. Their live album, "Foghat Live," was one of our top albums. So "The Best Of Foghat" effectively collects all their best hard rock tracks. The CD "Anthology" by Angel (remember them, with their white outfits?) needs more songs from the "Sinful" album.
7) Have to include this: In the "Television's Greatest Hits" records/CDs, my favorites are volumes 2 and 5 with the most memorable sitcom and cartoon TV theme songs. The first one is good, too.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Kiss Coffeehouse & Kiss Cologne Comments
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE NINTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM NOVEMBER 2006 TO JUNE 2007.
So a Kiss Coffeehouse has opened up? How about this for the ad:
Hot, hot, hotter than hot coffee,
You know that you can get it well done,
Hot, hot, hotter than hot coffee
On the patio in the midday sun!
And hopefully the people that work there will know who Kiss is. There's Kiss cologne now, too. "Well, I sure smelled something, sure smelled something....."
So a Kiss Coffeehouse has opened up? How about this for the ad:
Hot, hot, hotter than hot coffee,
You know that you can get it well done,
Hot, hot, hotter than hot coffee
On the patio in the midday sun!
And hopefully the people that work there will know who Kiss is. There's Kiss cologne now, too. "Well, I sure smelled something, sure smelled something....."
That '70s Show Stuff
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE NINTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM NOVEMBER 2006 TO JUNE 2007.
Regarding the "That '70s Show" series finale: That was eerie, the way Eric showed up and how we didn't get to see him at the party greeting his parents. And we didn't even get to see one second of the gang in 1980. I was wondering if we'd hear The Pina Colada Song, since that was the last #1 song of 1979/first #1 song of 1980. And we'll never get to find out Hyde's reaction to Bon Scott of AC/DC dying less than two months after that party, John Bonham dying in September (the same way Bon Scott died, incidentally, by choking on his own vomit while sleeping/passed out), signalling the end of Led Zeppelin, and then the big one - John Lennon being murdered on December 8. Hey, even Peter Criss leaving Kiss in May. Yes, it all happened in 1980!
Regarding the "That '70s Show" series finale: That was eerie, the way Eric showed up and how we didn't get to see him at the party greeting his parents. And we didn't even get to see one second of the gang in 1980. I was wondering if we'd hear The Pina Colada Song, since that was the last #1 song of 1979/first #1 song of 1980. And we'll never get to find out Hyde's reaction to Bon Scott of AC/DC dying less than two months after that party, John Bonham dying in September (the same way Bon Scott died, incidentally, by choking on his own vomit while sleeping/passed out), signalling the end of Led Zeppelin, and then the big one - John Lennon being murdered on December 8. Hey, even Peter Criss leaving Kiss in May. Yes, it all happened in 1980!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Television
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE THIRD EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2004.
I hope in the new and final season of That '70s Show we'll finally get to see the gang, horror of horrors, ENTER 1980!!! You see, they have been in a time warp since Christmas. Let me explain: They did the talking yearbook photos gag at the end of the 2001/02 season with the heading "1978," they graduated high school at the end of the 2002/03 season, so that was 1979, and at the end of 2003 (part of the 2003/04 season) they did the Christmas show. So they must be stuck somewhere between Christmas and New Year's of 1979. 1980 is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!!! They do seem to be playing songs from 1979, and the license plate reads 1979 now, too. I was hoping they would graduate high school in 1980, 'cause that's the year I graduated, but at least Jackie will! Did you see the episode this past season where they accompany her to a high school dance? I had forgotten that she's actually a grade behind the rest of the gang. I remember someone brought it up in the first season. As she's preparing to graduate, someone's gotta burst in shouting, "OH MY GOD!!! PETER CRISS HAS LEFT KISS!!!" I remember that news coming out in May 1980. Americans finish school in May, right? In Canada we finish in June. I would also like to see one of those dream sequences with the four guys doing a parody of Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" video, wearing those Dream Police outfits Cheap Trick also wears on the cover of the DP album. Wouldn't that be nifty?
I hope in the new and final season of That '70s Show we'll finally get to see the gang, horror of horrors, ENTER 1980!!! You see, they have been in a time warp since Christmas. Let me explain: They did the talking yearbook photos gag at the end of the 2001/02 season with the heading "1978," they graduated high school at the end of the 2002/03 season, so that was 1979, and at the end of 2003 (part of the 2003/04 season) they did the Christmas show. So they must be stuck somewhere between Christmas and New Year's of 1979. 1980 is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!!! They do seem to be playing songs from 1979, and the license plate reads 1979 now, too. I was hoping they would graduate high school in 1980, 'cause that's the year I graduated, but at least Jackie will! Did you see the episode this past season where they accompany her to a high school dance? I had forgotten that she's actually a grade behind the rest of the gang. I remember someone brought it up in the first season. As she's preparing to graduate, someone's gotta burst in shouting, "OH MY GOD!!! PETER CRISS HAS LEFT KISS!!!" I remember that news coming out in May 1980. Americans finish school in May, right? In Canada we finish in June. I would also like to see one of those dream sequences with the four guys doing a parody of Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" video, wearing those Dream Police outfits Cheap Trick also wears on the cover of the DP album. Wouldn't that be nifty?
Kiss
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE THIRD EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2004.
Since Kiss is my favorite band, people ask me what my opinions are these days of the band "changing their minds" and carrying on with touring after the farewell tour and without Ace or Peter, but with "imposters" Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer wearing Ace and Peter's makeup. Here's the reason this is happening: This fits in with Gene's natural inclination for entrepreneurship and its' resulting extension towards today's phenomenon known as "branding." (Personally, I think branding is nothing new, it's just a fancy new name for the same old thing.) Kiss is no longer a band, Kiss is now a brand. Gene Simmons understands the concept of branding now, and he recognizes that Kiss had painted themselves into a corner with the reunion and now that they've done the farewell tour, and also with the various Peter and Ace contract problems, probably won't release any more albums of original music and will definitely have temporary or permanent replacement "members" in the original members' makeup and costumes. On the subject of the current tour, Paul said, "Consider this the first in a series of encores." I don't think one-off appearances should be counted, especially TV shows where they're only doing one or two songs. Plus I think Paul & Gene recognize original music from Kiss in makeup and costumes has run its' course. Psycho Circus was a deliberate attempt to construct "A Kiss Album." But they can't do that twice, and they know it. After their 70's albums, what's left? Changes in direction have proven to not work for the makeup version of this band. Personally, I would like to have seen Kiss call the farewell tour the "farewell to the makeup and costumes" tour, and then continue with the orignal lineup but wear whatever they want on stage and play whatever kind of music they wanted to on original albums. If Peter or Ace can't be there, whatever. The albums may remind us of The Beatles' White Album, but whatever. It would honestly be where these men's minds and hearts lie in 2004. But Gene would probably say, "But that's not Kiss." So Kiss becomes a brand; those four makeup designs, those particular songs, that particular show, and it's all reflected on the merchandise Gene puts out. As Gene says, one day there will be no original members in the band and it will really be like a carnival attraction. That would be so many years away, though, it's hard to connect that in the mind with the tribute bands. I can see the carnival attraction attracting, say, the teenagers and 20-somethings of 2043. But the tribute bands today play bars to dwindling audiences. They've burned themselves out. Gene would simply have to order them to cease and desist before Kiss (the corporation called Kiss) does their own "tribute band," that's all. The evolution of all that would certainly be interesting to those of us who live that long, that's for sure.
Since Kiss is my favorite band, people ask me what my opinions are these days of the band "changing their minds" and carrying on with touring after the farewell tour and without Ace or Peter, but with "imposters" Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer wearing Ace and Peter's makeup. Here's the reason this is happening: This fits in with Gene's natural inclination for entrepreneurship and its' resulting extension towards today's phenomenon known as "branding." (Personally, I think branding is nothing new, it's just a fancy new name for the same old thing.) Kiss is no longer a band, Kiss is now a brand. Gene Simmons understands the concept of branding now, and he recognizes that Kiss had painted themselves into a corner with the reunion and now that they've done the farewell tour, and also with the various Peter and Ace contract problems, probably won't release any more albums of original music and will definitely have temporary or permanent replacement "members" in the original members' makeup and costumes. On the subject of the current tour, Paul said, "Consider this the first in a series of encores." I don't think one-off appearances should be counted, especially TV shows where they're only doing one or two songs. Plus I think Paul & Gene recognize original music from Kiss in makeup and costumes has run its' course. Psycho Circus was a deliberate attempt to construct "A Kiss Album." But they can't do that twice, and they know it. After their 70's albums, what's left? Changes in direction have proven to not work for the makeup version of this band. Personally, I would like to have seen Kiss call the farewell tour the "farewell to the makeup and costumes" tour, and then continue with the orignal lineup but wear whatever they want on stage and play whatever kind of music they wanted to on original albums. If Peter or Ace can't be there, whatever. The albums may remind us of The Beatles' White Album, but whatever. It would honestly be where these men's minds and hearts lie in 2004. But Gene would probably say, "But that's not Kiss." So Kiss becomes a brand; those four makeup designs, those particular songs, that particular show, and it's all reflected on the merchandise Gene puts out. As Gene says, one day there will be no original members in the band and it will really be like a carnival attraction. That would be so many years away, though, it's hard to connect that in the mind with the tribute bands. I can see the carnival attraction attracting, say, the teenagers and 20-somethings of 2043. But the tribute bands today play bars to dwindling audiences. They've burned themselves out. Gene would simply have to order them to cease and desist before Kiss (the corporation called Kiss) does their own "tribute band," that's all. The evolution of all that would certainly be interesting to those of us who live that long, that's for sure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)