KISS - 45 Years of "Love Gun"
A childhood favorite still brings joy 45 years later.
Hello and thanks for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. Sometimes the first cut really is the deepest and that goes for music as well. For most of us, our first favorite band or first favorite album will stick with us throughout our lives. To that end, I want to talk about my first favorite band this week, KISS.
Growing up in the Midwest, we were practically required to have multiple KISS albums in our collections as kids in the 1970s, and I had several — Alive!, Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, Alive II,and Double Platinum all on LP and Love Gun on 8-track to start and later on vinyl, cassette, CD, and (finally) vinyl again.
I still love the band, although I recognize their flaws more readily now and accept KISS in spite of them. I’ve also enhanced my enjoyment of the band through an excellent, honest, and funny podcast. All of that is the subject of this week’s issue.
Here’s the story.
The Podcast
A few years back, I started to really dig into podcasts. If I liked a TV show, a movie, a band, or was really getting into a topic, I’d go searching for podcasts about them. Honestly, many podcasts are garbage, but there are a lot of good ones out there too, and they can enhance one’s understanding of, or love for, the subject matter.
Some time later, I discovered the Shout It Out Loudcast, which featured two loud guys with Boston accents who swear and laugh a lot. Much of their shouting was about my first favorite band, KISS.
While I couldn’t listen to SIOL with my young daughter in the car due to the cumulative f-bomb total being somewhere north of a PG-13 rating, I came to appreciate the humor and honesty with which hosts Tom and Zeus discussed the band and its music, as well as other topics only tangentially related (or not related at all) to KISS.
Their love of the music and the band — warts and all — shines through and they’ve cultivated a large, loyal following. They get a metric ton of listener mail and do their best to read it all at the start of every show, and I was impressed by their ability to walk that fine line between respecting people’s opinions and not suffering fools lightly. They give their honest viewpoints without fear of riling up their listeners, and hold their heroes accountable for their missteps. But their love for KISS never wavers and they never apologize for what they like about the band (nor should they) and its considerable catalog — both full band and solo material. Likewise, they make, and owe, no apologies for what they don’t like about KISS.
Tom and Zeus met in 1991 at Stonehill College. They discovered their mutual love of KISS, attended a show together on the band’s 1996 reunion tour, and remained good friends through the years. Tom turned Zeus on to podcasts and eventually the two decided to make the kind of podcast that they wanted to listen to.
“We would text all the time, making jokes about KISS or lyrics or Paul Stanley or whatever, and all of a sudden the conversation is like, ‘This could be an episode on our podcast,’” Tom said. “Here we are, four years later.”
The start of the Shout It Out Loudcast couldn’t have been much more timely. Although it started during a bit of a dormant time for KISS, it wasn’t long before they announced they were set to embark on a worldwide “End of the Road” farewell tour, and suddenly the band was back in the news, re-energizing their fanbase and drawing new interest from music lovers who had never checked out these rock legends. In addition to their regular KISS-themed show, Tom and Zeus added content by discussing other bands on SIOL.
“I’m editing Episode 186 (of Shout It Out Loudcast) as we speak,” Zeus said. “We’ve (also) got 33 episodes of the Album Review Crew, where we just review different albums from different artists. We do that once a month. We also have three episodes so far of our Zeppelin Chronicles, where we’re just going through the discography of (Led) Zeppelin. That’s a long-term project. We’re not going to finish that fast, because you can’t wing a Zeppelin review. You’ve got to put time into it or you’re just going to get destroyed.”
Tom and Zeus have fostered a wonderful community, built up around SIOL and their frequent attendance at concerts and KISS-themed events, such as the KISS Kruise and the recent Creatures Fest. Their show has reached a wide audience because they’re funny, relatable, and genuine.
Listening to Shout It Out Loudcast has augmented my own love for KISS and the band’s music, even when I don’t agree with what they say. They’re fair in their criticisms and non-judgmental when listeners or guests differ in opinion on a song or an album and you can’t really ask for more than that.
If you like KISS, don’t mind a little salty language, and enjoy having fun, Shout It Out Loudcast might be right up your alley.
To learn more about the Shout It Out Loudcast, check out their website or download their show on your favorite podcast platform. They’re also active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Album
KISS released their sixth studio album, Love Gun, on June 30, 1977. I was just shy of my 11th birthday and had only become aware of the band the previous fall, when the band appeared on a Halloween television special hosted by comedian Paul Lynde. Suddenly, there was this crazy musical act on my television screen — four guys wearing makeup, dressed up in character, and singing catchy rock songs.
Not long after that, a friend of mine got the band’s breakthrough smash Alive! album, and when I stayed overnight at his house we played it over and over, singing along. I stared at the gatefold sleeve, looked at the pictures, and could hardly believe this strange band I had “discovered” on that Halloween special had albums out that I could actually buy and play at home.
At that point, I had a small Sears stereo with a modest music collection comprised of a few K-Tel records and a couple of 8-track tapes — including a live John Denver album my aunt had gotten me. I asked for Alive! and my mom got it for me, and my KISS fandom was on its way. It wasn’t long before I picked up Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over, and then I got Love Gun — my first “current” KISS album that I got soon after its release — on 8-track.
Love Gun celebrated the 45th anniversary of its release this calendar year, which makes it a good time to discuss it. While it’s not my favorite release by the band (I waver between Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over), it’s from the band’s most iconic era. It’s a captivating record from the jump with its amazing cover art by Ken Kelly, the artist who had previously done the Destroyer cover and who sadly passed away just 28 days prior to Love Gun turning 45 this year.
Produced by KISS and the legendary Eddie Kramer, the album achieved platinum status and reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the U.S. It also did well around the world, going to No. 2 in Japan, No. 3 in Canada, No. 6 in Sweden, No. 13 in Australia, and No. 18 in Germany. The album underwent remastering in both 1997 and 2014 — getting a deluxe edition treatment on the latter reissue with liner notes by Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott. That 2014 edition includes live rarities and an interview with bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons.
Simmons and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley each take lead vocals on four songs on Love Gun, with lead guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss singing lead on one song each. That made Love Gun the first KISS album to feature all four members on lead vocals. It was also the last album on which Criss played drums on all the songs, making it the final full-band effort by the original four members.
The band enlisted a few additional musicians for the recording. Kramer played keyboards on three songs — “I Stole Your Love,” “Christine Sixteen,” and “Love Gun.” Backup singers Tasha Thomas, Ray Simpson, and Hilda Harris added vocals on “Tomorrow and Tonight.” Jimmy Maelen played conga drums on the haunting “Almost Human.”
Love Gun kicks off with the Stanley-penned, up-tempo rocker “I Stole Your Love,” which is one of the best opening tracks in the entire KISS catalog. It has a killer guitar riff by Frehley, but Stanley takes the first of the song’s two guitar solos. Both are great, but the second one absolutely smokes. Paul lets the KISS Army know right off the bat that they’re about to have a very good time by shouting “All right!” just after the song starts. He also lets you know a solo is coming by yelling, “GI-TAR!” The quirky little signature Stanley additions are as endearing for fans as they are cheesy to KISS haters, but they augment “I Stole Your Love” for my money, and it’s a great rock song to open the album.
The band shifts gears immediately for the second track, “Christine Sixteen,” a Simmons composition and the first single from the album. Kramer’s piano intro and a jabbing guitar riff give the song a completely different feel from the opener. When I was 11 years old, a 16-year-old girl was much older than me, and I didn’t think about the song’s lyrics from the perspective of the band. That perspective changed for me years later and now I find them quite cringeworthy and creepy — the perfect vehicle for Gene’s demon stage persona. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the song — it’s too catchy for that — but I try not to think about the words. The song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 20 on the Cash Box chart and the guitar riff was famously sampled on Tone Loc’s 1989 rap rock hit, “Funky Cold Medina.”
According to band interviews, Eddie and Alex Van Halen played on the original demo for “Christine Sixteen,” and Simmons made Frehley copy the solo that Eddie had put down. Simmons also played rhythm guitar on the song, rather than Stanley.
Beyond the creepy lyrics (“I don’t usually say things like this to girls your age, but..”), “Christine Sixteen” has an infectious hook and sounds quite different than the rest of the KISS catalog.
Simmons continues on lead vocals with his song “Got Love for Sale,” an underrated deep cut that plays a bit with panning the sound from channel to channel in the intro. The band’s catchy “have love will travel” backing vocals make this song fun to sing along with.
Iconic Frehley track “Shock Me” features the spaceman’s first lead vocal on a studio record. The guitarist had intended for Simmons to sing it but it’s hard to imagine this song not being done by Ace. Legend has it that he recorded the vocals lying down, because he enjoyed the way the pressure felt on his chest doing it that way. The lyrics are based on an actual electric shock that Frehley sustained prior to a show in Lakeland, Florida, which delayed the start of the concert while he recovered enough to play, although he did so without feeling in one of his hands.
Frehley plays everything on the song except drums, and it has one of the all-time great Ace solos. It was named No. 50 on Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and it’s probably worthy of higher placement. This song could have been a single but instead was a B-side for “Christine Sixteen.” As with many KISS songs, the lyrics can leave a little to be desired, but it’s a catchy song that’s played well, and it’s one of the stronger tracks on Love Gun. This, despite the fact that Ace is not the strongest vocalist. Somehow, his voice and “talk-sing” style fits perfectly with the song.
The first side of Love Gun ends with Stanley’s “Tomorrow and Tonight,” which was an attempt to recapture the anthemic feel of previous KISS hit “Rock and Roll All Nite.” There is some “Rock and Roll All Nite” DNA in “Tomorrow and Tonight,” which echoes the sentiment of the band’s smash single in the chorus:
Tomorrow and Tonight, Tomorrow and Tonight
We can rock all day, we can roll all night
There’s nothing wrong with ripping off your own previous lyrical ideas, and I’m not going to ding Stanley for rhyming “Tonight” with “all night,” although it would be easy to do. The song has hooks for days and is another example of Paul’s pop sensibilities and his ability to write anthemic-type songs. It’s fun to sing along with, has a decent guitar solo, and Kramer adds keyboards to give it a bigger sound. There are more of Stanley’s trademark vocal flourishes with a timely “Owwww!” and “I love it!”
The title track kicks off the second side of Love Gun and it’s an absolute KISS anthem. The band still plays it live today, and Stanley views it as one of his greatest songwriting accomplishments. The second single from the album, “Love Gun” reached only No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stanley plays bass on “Love Gun” in addition to rhythm guitar.
What I like about this song is that Paul’s vocal delivery in the verses became a style of their own. You can hear the echoes of Stanley’s phrasing in some of the hair metal bands that blew up in the 1980s. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think you can hear it in some of fellow New Yorker Dee Snider’s work with Twisted Sister, to give one example.
Criss brought “Hooligan” to the album and it’s a terrific showcase for his raspy voice, even if the lyrics are a bit ridiculous. The drummer co-wrote the song with his friend Stan Penridge, and it’s a song ostensibly about his misspent youth, in which he ran with a tough crowd, skipped school, and got into a lot of trouble. The song absolutely rocks and I love it unreservedly even though the lyrics are nonsense.
“Almost Human” kicks off back-to-back Simmons songs in the middle of Side 2. It’s a weird song and one that I didn’t like for many years but it’s grown on me quite a bit recently, especially while preparing for this issue of MRC. It’s got Maelen’s conga drums, an odd rhythm for KISS, some double guitars, Simmons’ most demonic vocals on the record, and a creepy, otherworldly backing vocal in the chorus. Gene lets out a strange groan at the start of the song and near the end, the lead guitar is growling, slashing, and creating a grungy mishmash of sounds that take it to a place that is decidedly not almost human. It’s fantastic and a bit ahead of its time in some ways — a great deep cut.
Perhaps the catchiest song on the album is “Plaster Caster,” but it also features lyrics that probably seemed clever to me when I was a pre-teen but now seem pretty juvenile. Based on legendary rock groupie Cynthia Albritton — who, like Kelly, died earlier this calendar year — the lyrics feature Gene singing about getting a plaster cast made of his penis. Albritton was known to make plaster casts of the genitalia of rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix. I don’t believe she ever made one of Simmons’ but the topic allows Gene to sing gleefully about how perfect his “love” is and make all manner of sexual references and puns (“My love is in her hands”) that you simply have to laugh and shake your head at.
However, as I said, this is an extremely catchy song. It has a great hook in the chorus, a fantastic bass intro, excellent call-and-answer backing vocals, and standout guitar work. It should have been a single, but perhaps the subject matter in 1977 was deemed a little risque? It’s an album highlight, certainly.
The album closes in an odd way. Stanley brought in a cover of a song by The Crystals, turning “Then He Kissed Me” around into “Then She Kissed Me.” There’s a cool castanets sound throughout the song and a fantastic guitar solo. The song is fine — very good, in fact — but it doesn’t sound like a KISS song. Further, it doesn’t sound like it belongs among the other songs on Love Gun, despite how much variety already exists on the record.
My song rankings as of this writing are as follows below. You’ll note that these differ slightly from my Love Gun song rankings from June of 2020, when I wrote about this album previously. There was no Michael’s Record Collection at that time, but I migrated my original blog post to the MRC Substack site. Currently, I’d rate them like this:
Love Gun
Shock Me
I Stole Your Love
Plaster Caster
Hooligan
Almost Human
Tomorrow and Tonight
Christine Sixteen
Then She Kissed Me
Got Love for Sale
Something has to be first and something has to be last, but I hold a lot of love for all 10 tracks and having “Got Love for Sale” last in this list does not mean I don’t like it. It’s a great song, but they can’t all be first.
Tracklist:
I Stole Your Love
Christine Sixteen
Got Love for Sale
Shock Me
Tomorrow and Tonight
Love Gun
Hooligan
Almost Human
Plaster Caster
Then She Kissed Me
For more of my thoughts on Love Gun and a track-by-track discussion with Tom and Zeus from the Shout It Out Loudcast, check out Episode 77 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast or check out the video below. It was recorded on Gene Simmons’ 73rd birthday, which was a nice coincidence. Tom, Zeus, and I discuss our KISS origin stories, our love of the band, and Love Gun with both the admiration and humility that all KISS fans should exhibit.
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