When I was a kid, I worshiped kiss. Not because they were musically great, but because they were fascinating and I admit I thought they were somewhat mythical. I was 6-8 years old when my babysitter first introduced me to kiss. It didn't hurt the Kiss cause that I had a massive crush on her. And so my kiss obsession started. The first album that I heard at her house was destroyer.



In retrospect that's a tough act to follow as it was one of their best produced albums from that era. The second album that I got was hotter than hell...for my birthday.



It seemed like a different band, but I still wore the record out on my little mono record player with the clown face on it. From that point on it was a buying frenzy. All in all I had all of their albums up until unmasked*



I remember when I heard that there would be a kiss movie. Either I was mistaken, or originally the film was going to be a theatrical release before it went straight to TV. I saw the movie, and even though I knew it was pure cheese, I loved it. It was the first time I actually was able to see them on stage, albeit fighting their "evil twins" who looked nothing like them. But that's what made it fun, the 70's was pure cheese anyway (grammar?…who cares). Apparently Peter Chris didn't even show up for most of the shooting, so it's either a double or at the very least, a voice-over from someone else playing him.

By this time I literally had my entire room filled with kiss stuff. From large posters, to anything that I could cut out of a magazine. I was obsessed.



And I was a musical monogamist. I recall my friend David saying, hey Cheap Trick are awesome, and it felt like he was cheating on Kiss. Note: Feel free to analyze me if you wish.

I recall with fondness the blood inked comic...i.e. the comic with their own blood in the ink. There were 2 comics back then, in both they were more like gods...and gods they were to me.



It is crucial that at least one parent loathe your favorite music, hence rebellion, and my dad was no exception. He hated kiss with a passion. He was a "muso" of sorts, and in hindsight, so am I now (or so they tell me). I didn't care, I was in it for the sensationalism.

They came to town for a show on their dynasty tour, and I was not allowed to go (let it go, forgive and forget I know) although my friends did. They are all more successful then I am and much happier. I'm kidding...sorta.



Then, one day on the news my parents called me to the TV and there it was...kiss without makeup. It was like hearing that Santa, the Easter bunny, lepricons and the pot of gold were not real...all at once. I was already becoming too cool for a band obsession like that (13ish), but that was the proverbial nail in the coffin.



*in my teens I picked up the kiss touch again, and even saw them in concert sans make up, but that was a totally different era, and they were more of the typical 80's bands that were everywhere.