- THURSDAY JAM: Early morning sunshine tell me all I need to know (4/18/24)
- THURSDAY JAM: Why does the sun shine? (4/4/24)
- FRIDAY JAM: A rovin’ a rovin’ a rovin’ I’ll go (12/1/23)1
- SATURDAY JAM: You feel the turning of the world, so soft and slow (11/11/23)
- SUNDAY JAM: Hello, Darkness, my old friend (11/5/23)
- FRIDAY JAM: Plowin’ straight ahead, come what may (10/27/23)1
- WEDNESDAY JAM: Some folks say there ain't no bears in Arkansas (10/25/23)1
Friday Jam(s): I Was Made for Lovin' You and Hard Luck Woman - Kiss
I've taken great pains to introduce my son to a variety of music.
In doing so, I had him listen to some Kiss a couple of months back. While the boys from Detroit Rock City have never exactly been my favorite, they made some charming, straightforward rock music over the years.
Besides, I figured the face paint and outfits would amuse a six-year-old.
I was right. He loved "Rock and Roll All Nite" (which I sort of hate, actually), "Detroit Rock City," "Shout It Out Loud" and "Black Diamond."
Recently, though, he's been walking around the house humming or singing "I Was Made for Lovin' You"; a Kiss song to which I've never given much mind.
The cause, I soon discovered, is an ill-advised Honda Odyssey Commercial featuring a children's choir.
So the other day, I indulged him and listened to the Kiss version and was shocked to discover something: It's a freakin' disco song.
I've always thought of young Kiss fans in the late '70s as being at the forefront of the "Disco Sucks" crowd. While I think I'm correct in this assumption, I don't think I accounted for something about Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and the boys: Even more than than rockin' and rollin' all nite, they are mainly concerned with bedding as many women as possible and making piles and piles of cash.
Making a disco song in 1979 was a great chance to do more of both.
So, the "Disco Sucks" fans be damned, they threw their lot in with Chic, Donna Summer, the Bee Gees and all the rest.
I tried to figure out if I was the first person to recognize this, but apparently not. The single and its mother album "Dynasty" both sold well, but reviews were middling to terrible. This was clearly disco and if you didn't like disco, you weren't going to be convinced by one Kiss song.
So, anyway, I don't particularly love the first half of my Friday jam this week, but thanks to Honda and Miles, it's been in my head all week. I'll let you all share in it too.
But because I don't love that song, I'll offer a bit of palate cleanser in my favorite Kiss song: "Hard Luck Woman."
I've never loved Peter Criss, mostly because of the cat makeup. I don't like cats and I wouldn't want to paint my face as one.
Be that as it may, if Kiss needed to make a ballad, Peter was the guy to sing it.
I did always find it weird, though, that when the song comes on, I think of Rod Stewart. The jangly 12-string guitar reminds me of songs like "You Wear it Well" and "Maggie May" and Peter's raspy vocals make him a poor-man's Rod the Mod.
And then I read that Paul Stanley originally wrote the song with Rod in mind. Makes sense now.
So enjoy "Hard Luck Woman."
As you're watching, make note of the use of the double neck guitar, with Paul playing the six-string and Ace standing behind him playing the 12-string.
I mean, there was no reason to do that. They could have just played separate guitars.
Kiss are some weird dudes.
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