The next three albums my brother would purchase would all be from the band Kiss. "Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun, and Destroyer" would be about all one would hear coming from our record player. We would actually play them in my sister's room in front of her mirror (we didn't have a mirror in our room,) and proceeded to lip synch while playing song after song.

I think our favorite members of Kiss at the time were Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley. Gene had the manly persona complimented by his fierce looking makeup, the spitting of blood, and the blowing of fire. Ace had the space man character that was equally as cool, and his smoking guitar ranked highly with Gene's theatrics. The girls seemed to have a bigger obsession with Paul and Peter.

Beyond the music, Kiss was an all out craze. I remember being a collector of the famed Kiss cards. Not only did they feature tons of different concert pictures, but you could also turn them over, and there would be part of a puzzle piece to an even larger picture. I wanted the Kiss snow boots... but was denied. I remember being upset that I would miss the "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park" movie because it was the same day as our church Halloween party. This was before the days of VCR's, and long before the days of DVR's.

Front to back, I don't think there is a better Kiss album then Rock and Roll Over. "I Want You" starts with some acoustic guitar as it blends into the heavy electric guitars. You had the radio popular "Calling Dr. Love," (incidentally which was inspired by a 3 Stooges movie,), the ballad "Hard Luck Woman," and the more rocking "Making Love." The one song I would "air drum" from Peter Criss would be the ending drum sequence of this song.

"Ladies Room" would be featured on Kiss Alive II, and occasionally you will see a greatest hits featuring "Take Me," which in my opinion is an under rated song. I've seen some vintage footage of "Love 'Em, Leave 'Em," but I have always been completely surprised that "Mr. Speed" has never been recorded live. If you search YouTube, you will see lots of people playing the great riff that makes up the song, and a Kiss Tribute band even took the song title as their band title. There is one impromptu singalong with Kiss at a Kiss convention, but that is all I have ever seen. It is too bad b/c I count this as one of their very best songs, and my son and his friends also enjoy it.

Many will list "Destroyer" as the mecca of Kiss, and I think it is primarily b/c it features two iconic songs for Kiss. My brother and I would love to listen to the entering guitars of Detroit Rock City. Dueling guitars surging as the song gets underway, and it is simply one of the best rock songs of all time. You also have the ballad "Beth," the pop sounding "Shout it Out Loud," and a song with a different feel all together "Do You Love Me." Are you noticing a theme? Almost every Kiss song has a tie in to the love of women in some way shape or form.

The only reason I don't place Destroyer in as high regard as Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun, is that I personally don't like the B-songs as much. "God of Thunder" is really not a B-song, but it is played on the album at such a plodding pace, that I think it takes away from the way the song was meant to be played. Listen to the version on Kiss Alive II and you get a different song all together, and the increased tempo, combined with the Peter Criss drum solo, makes it a much better effort. "King of the Nighttime World" is just okay for me, and I've never been a huge fan of "Flaming Youth, Sweet Pain, or Great Expectations."

Love Gun... when I think of this album I can't forget how my brother and friends had decided in the 3rd grade, that they were going to put on a Kiss concert. Some girls were going to dress like those featured on the front cover (Right!) and a boy scout was going to carve the guitars. Ha! They collected enough money to get the teacher's attention, and she foiled the show, and instead bought games for the class.

The title track, "Love Gun," is a rocker as well as "I Stole Your Love." There is a little more of a pop vibe with "Christine Sixteen" and "Tomorrow and Tonight." And Ace Frehley finally pleases everybody by stepping up to the mic and delivering "Shock Me." A song that gained popularity on their Unplugged show, "Plaster Caster," has always been a favorite of mine. Rock and Roll Over only holds a slight edge for me over Love Gun, because each album is so solid.

I still listened to other musical genres, but Heavy Metal would become my favorite musical choice for quite sometime. Between the 3rd grade and 8th grade little would change in my musical collection. We would pick up some singles by REO Speedwagon, Queen, The J. Geils Band, Foreigner, Devo, and John Mellencamp. But really that would round out my appreciation of the album years, and the next phase would feature cassettes.

I think Kiss also taught me how to enjoy live music. Like most initial listeners of music, I think you want to go to a show and hear the songs sound exactly like the record. But as my musical tastes have matured, I've realized how much better it is to see a song performed different... or even better than you had initially heard it. My discussion of Kiss could last a month in it's own right, and I'm sure others could do the same. Although I disagree with the amount of commercialism Gene has brought to Kiss, I also appreciate it is a necessary evil to be a staying power in music. But Kiss will always be the original lineup for me. All the other lineups combined haven't come close to equaling the songs created in the early years. Next... The Cassette Years!

Early Music Influences

When thinking about writing a blog, people always tell you to write about what interests you. Since music is one of my favorite subjects, I am going to start there. Now I should let it be known that I am not a stunning musician in my own right. I did play trumpet and tuba at one time, and I can carry a tune, but my greatest interest in music is that of simply being a fan of many different types of music.

Like most kids, my earliest influences in music consisted of what my parents owned in their collection. Yes, they owned an 8-track tape player and a record player, which will date me a bit :). On the 8-track circuit my father owned some Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, Donna Fargo, and a Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn collaboration. The only songs I really remember are "Behind Closed Doors," and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Charlie Rich, "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" by Donna Fargo, and "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" by Twitty and Lynn.

The album side of the equation proved to be more interesting to me and my identical twin brother Brent. We would listen to The Supremes, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Cash, and The Beatles. We also listened to a Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs album, but it was exclusively to hear the theme to "The Beverly Hillbillies." Hey, this blog is going to show my warts and all. We usually listened exclusively to "I Walk the Line" for Johnny Cash, and I really don't remember what Supremes we listened to. I think "Where did our Love Go" was the most memorable.

However, we played the heck out of that Herman's Hermits and the "Meet the Beatles," and "Hard Days Night" albums. Herman's Hermits featured "Can't You Hear my Heartbeat," a version of "Silhouettes," "Heartbeat," and the most popular in our household was "Henry VIII." I remember my brother, sister, and cousins all enjoying that song. With the Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Hard Days Night" seem to be the most memorable tunes.

Soon we would be buying our first 45 singles. My first two purchases were "Undercover Angel" by Alan O'day and "Da Doo Run Run" by Shaun Cassidy. My brother chose "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver and "Black Betty" by Ram Jam. We were young enough that I think we deserve some slack! I remember "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers being my first favorite song back in Kindergarten.

My sister would bring in lots of pop influences including the 45's of "Handy Man" by James Taylor, "You are the Woman" by Firefall, and 2 K-tel Albums. The K-tel Albums featured everything from Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island" (A song I still love,) Andy Gibb's "Love is Thicker than Water," and Player's "Baby Come Back," now of Swiffer commercial fame. It was at this time period that my brother also bought "Spirits Having Flown" by the Bee Gees. "Tragedy" was our definite fave and we marveled at Barry Gibb's vocal range. "Too Much Heaven" was on that album as well.

I still have a fondness for this potpourri of Country music and pop that we grew up with. You will find some Charlie Rich, Player, Firefall, and other songs on my Ipod as a tribute to that time period. However, the next three albums that my brother would purchase would totally re-shape my musical ear. They wore makeup, and spat blood and fire... what was not to love?