YOU WANTED THE BEST...etc etc so on and so forth

I think its fair to say that you would be hard pressed to find anybody that grew up in the 70's that hasn't heard of, seen or have an opinion, good, bad or indifferent on KISS...

First time I saw them,  was when a mate brought a copy of Dressed To Kill to school...he knew I was a album cover freak and he figured four blokes with warpaint and ill fitting suits would spark my curiousity...he was fkn right, it did....sparked it so much that I went up to the music store and got a copy of my own the following Saturday...and of course, my favourite track, straight off, was Rock and Roll all nite....and suffice it to say, I kept on buying Kiss music from that point on...Destroyer, Love Gun, and up till that point, both KISS ALIVE'S ended up in the K-Tel record organiser...

then they released DYNASTY, the album, the critics called the infamous Kiss disco album, yeh, well..f**k the critics, I liked it and so did the squillions of others that sent it triple, double platnidiamond...then Molly sometime in late 79 announced the impending arrival of the boys to our fair shores for their first trip on the back of the "Unmasked" album

KISS TOUR MEMORY'S

Like I said, they came down to Australia on touring on the back of the Unmasked album, I knicked out of work at the GPO to see them get welcomed to Sydney town by Doug Sutherland , the mayor of Sydney

I went and then saw them at the second Sydney Showground gig on November 22nd 1980, hell of a windy night, fire blowing was gonna be an issue...anyway, the one thing that pissed me off at the time was, NO Catman, yep, Peter Criss had left the group, and Eric Carr had taken up the drum stool....BUT...when The Fox started bashing them skins, I was won over, his drum solo that night was off the hook...my god, Eric was an awesome drummer, one of the best ever I reckon...

 BUT...bottom line was the 20 something odd thousand standing on the football pitch that night was thoroughly entertained and cudo's to Bruce, my mate who hoisted my 5'3" ass onto his shoulders so I could see RIP (rock in peace ) brother....Fortunately, the band released the Sydney concert on one of the KISSOLOGY dvds sets...thanks guys..;)

Some people thought Unmasked was a shit album, WELL...us aussies loved it, hell, we made Shandi # 1 on the charts, and the guys still play it when they hit Aussie soil to this very day, Hell, the whole album was the grouse, two sides of the coin was my personal favourite track, and still is one of my favourites to this day.....

I saw the boys in '95 as well on the KISS MY ASS TOUR at the Entertainment Centre....this time, no Ace or Eric...Ace had quit (or got the flick) and The Fox had sadly passed away...and while I was sad about Eric, the line-up that hit the stage that night was, I think, without fear of contradiction, my favourite line-up of the band EVER, yeah big call I know, I like Tommy Theyer on guitar, but the lineup of Simmons, Stanley, Kulick and Singer had...IT, at least to me anyway...

The last time I saw them was at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne in '03, this time no Bruce or Eric ..The Catman was back on the kit and Ace had been run over by the wagon he fell off and Tommy Thayer had strapped on the axe...and the backing band was the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra...now, that was on loud fkn gig...awesome stuff indeed.

UNPAINTED AND YET MORE ALBUMS AND MEMBER'S
Anyway, after the debacle that was The Elder, (I only liked one track, I), and Vinnie Vincent had joined the band, the news came through that the band had decided to whip off the paint and of course the world went birko about seeing this lineup of the band nude, from the neck up, for the first time...I think its safe to assume that there wasnt a KISS fan that wasnt watching Countdown that night they played "Lick it Up"...luckily... LICK IT UP , the song and the album,  didnt suck, mind you it sold a fair bit on curiosity value I reckon....I actually bought a few of the "no paint" era albums, I think its safe to say my favourite album was Hot in the Shade with Revenge coming a close second....

the band member roundabout continued, Vinnie Vincent split, Mark St John lasted a cup of coffee and Bruce Kulick took up the axe spot with Alice Coopers skin slammer, Eric Singer taking up for the late great Eric Carr....and then...

I was watching MTV, when it was on Ch 9 (and Richard Wilkins was the mullet in charge), on tele one night and they played a couple of tracks from the Kiss:Unplugged show from the USA MTV, go on guess which clip they played, YEP, the one with Ace and Peter showing up to play 2000 man and Let me go rock'n'roll....I had the strangest feeling that Eric and Bruce would be heading out the door...and sure enough, Ace and Peter got took on as hired hands for the, one off KISS REUNION Tour, that lasted fkn years...to say I was mildly annoyed at this line up change is a massive understatement...I mean, Gene and Paul had said for years the the Space Ace and The Catman where out of control substance abusers, BUT, now they wanted to be on stage with them again.???....F**K OFF..the whole thing smacked of a coffers filling exercise, and while I'm not adverse to making a buck, I wouldnt make said buck working with two people that I had been bagging for years, but thats just me.

The "original " lineup brought out a album called "Pscyho Circus"..didnt do a whole lot for me..probably the only songs that worked for me where "You wanted the best" and Beth Part 2..."I finally found my way to you")

Like I said earlier, Ace then procceded to get run over by the wagon he fell off and Genes P.A and one time Black'n'Blue axe slinger Tommy Thayer stepped up to the mark and has been there ever since, wearing Ace's makeup which I'm still not sure about, I reckon Tommy deserves his own character, same goes with Eric Singer who took over from Peter Criss, he is wearing Cat makeup and I dont think he should...BUT, Gene says that any member of kiss is replacable, who is under the make-up should be irrelevant..sure Gene, whatever you reckon.

So there you go, my KISS rant...I'l probably have to do a Salman Rushdie and go into hiding if any hard core Kiss Army fans read this...so, if this is the last blog...SEEYA...