Progress Marches On, Even When The Band Doesn't

[crunchee]

I have NO idea what "going virtual and becoming digital avatars" means.  Is there gonna be a difference between yesterday and tomorrow in the KISS world?  Am I gonna care?  At least I didn't see the words 'Non-Fungible Tokens' being used:  

Kiss say farewell to live touring, become first US band to go virtual and become digital avatars (msn.com)

Edited to add:  Whoops, posted this in the wrong section, Admins, please move this topic to the regular messageboard, many thanks!

Edited December 3, 2023 by crunchee

[gorch]

What is the relevance of Kiss over decades really? No need to talk about Queen, Van Halen, Deep Purple, Guns n Roses, ACDC, Hendrix etc. But what is Kiss except for the makeup? I have no idea TBH.

[Jimbilly]

9 hours ago, gorch said:

What is the relevance of Kiss over decades really? No need to talk about Queen, Van Halen, Deep Purple, Guns n Roses, ACDC, Hendrix etc. But what is Kiss except for the makeup? I have no idea TBH.

 For the marketing class textbooks: if your marketing is good enough, you can sell the heck out of a very mediocre product. 

Their music was never something I listened to intentionally, but from what I've read, their stage shows were very well crafted.

[LucSulla]

I've never liked Kiss. They have maybe three or four songs that I enjoy. 

That being said, I think one thing that it is easy to forget about in our hyper-exposed media landscape today is the value of mystery. I think their music is mediocre at best, but I don't think anyone has ever argued they weren't a helluva live act. I think had I been a kid in the 70s, a combination of wondering who these guys are behind the face paint and having my mind blown at a live show may have hooked me. I certainly loved Ozzy because, to a 10-year-old, he might really be the devil! I was pretty sure Slayer were actual serial killers. That does have a lot of currency, and I still love all of those acts even in my 40s. 

However, I think to get on that hook, you had to be a certain age at a certain time or you have to have the songs. For younger folks knowing everything one can possibly know about Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley at this point, there isn't really any mystery. There is still the show, which admittedly gets some of my friends even now who just enjoy live events even though they don't like Kiss much. That's not a ton of people though, and, despite possibly getting killed here by the Kiss Army, if you don't have the nostalgia through which to listen to those Kiss albums, they... well... they just don't really hold up against so much other music from that era. I'm sure there will always be an audience, but I feel like it has to get smaller and smaller as those kids who got into them in the 70s become less and less available. 

Just walking around campus, I still see Iron Maiden, Metallica, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana, and GnR shirts all of the time, and a lot of those kids like those bands to varying levels still. Don't see much Kiss though. 

[Biz Prof]

5 hours ago, LucSulla said:

I've never liked Kiss. They have maybe three or four songs that I enjoy. 

That being said, I think one thing that it is easy to forget about in our hyper-exposed media landscape today is the value of mystery. I think their music is mediocre at best, but I don't think anyone has ever argued they weren't a helluva live act. I think had I been a kid in the 70s, a combination of wondering who these guys are behind the face paint and having my mind blown at a live show may have hooked me. I certainly loved Ozzy because, to a 10-year-old, he might really be the devil! I was pretty sure Slayer were actual serial killers. That does have a lot of currency, and I still love all of those acts even in my 40s. 

However, I think to get on that hook, you had to be a certain age at a certain time or you have to have the songs. For younger folks knowing everything one can possibly know about Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley at this point, there isn't really any mystery. There is still the show, which admittedly gets some of my friends even now who just enjoy live events even though they don't like Kiss much. That's not a ton of people though, and, despite possibly getting killed here by the Kiss Army, if you don't have the nostalgia through which to listen to those Kiss albums, they... well... they just don't really hold up against so much other music from that era. I'm sure there will always be an audience, but I feel like it has to get smaller and smaller as those kids who got into them in the 70s become less and less available. 

Just walking around campus, I still see Iron Maiden, Metallica, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana, and GnR shirts all of the time, and a lot of those kids like those bands to varying levels still. Don't see much Kiss though. 

Ditto.

[gorch]

13 hours ago, Jimbilly said:

but from what I've read, their stage shows were very well crafted.

Be lucky that you‘ve only read about their shows. I‘ve been once to one 15 years ago, had left after half through the show, that was just boring. They did not connect with the audience. It felt like an old celluloid movie that had too much play.

[BruceM]

18 hours ago, LucSulla said:

I've never liked Kiss. They have maybe three or four songs that I enjoy. 

That being said, I think one thing that it is easy to forget about in our hyper-exposed media landscape today is the value of mystery. I think their music is mediocre at best, but I don't think anyone has ever argued they weren't a helluva live act. I think had I been a kid in the 70s...

I was that kid in the 70s, graduating high school in 1974.  I remember seeing the cover of their first album and hearing their music on a stereo at a summer party before I went to college.  I must admit that my first impression was not "Wow, who are these guys?" but more along the line of "Interesting, I think."  Other albums in heavy rotation at that time were Alice Cooper, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Black Oak Arkansas, Rolling Stones, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Budgie, Slade, J. Geils Band, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Santana, etc...  I found these other groups more compelling, usually, but Kiss were relentless.  I saw them a couple of times before 1977 and while the shows were good, the parties were better.  There were also a couple of local bar bands, cover bands, that I used to see at that time that were very influential, to me.  One of the guitarists sold me my first electric guitar in 1975, for example.  These guys played the Kiss songs because the audiences wanted to hear them, but they were all more tongue in cheek about it.  And, it gave them a chance to play with fire.  It definitely fit into the mix of that heavy rock of the mid-70s.

It grew on me, though, and I'm still fond of their first 2-3 albums and the first Kiss Alive album, but not a whole lot more.  

I've got one more fun Kiss story.  In the later 80s after I had moved to Rockford, IL, they played the Metro Center in Rockford on their unmasked tour.  I was ambivalent about going, but I tried to talk some friends into going with me after my racquetball league match night.  No one wanted to, so I decided to go alone.  I arrived after the opening act without a ticket and the doors were locked.  After pounding on the door and telling the surprised ticket agent that I had driven for an hour after work to get there, she got her manager who proceeded to let me in without a ticket and seated me very close to the stage on the side.  Score!  The show was fun, but not earth-shattering or anything.