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| From "Scooby Doo & KISS" |
Without hesitation, he answered, "KISS is my favorite band. My second favorite is Imagine Dragons."
"You're the youngest KISS fan," I told him.
"Yeah, me and Avery," Izzy said, referring to his 7 year-old brother.
It's been that way for the past year. The funny thing is - when I was his age, I was a KISS fan, too. In fact, they were the first rock 'n roll band that I ever listened to.
Growing up in rural Utah in the 1970s, I was kind of sheltered from rock music, having been exposed to country music, and such. There was a six month stint in 1976 where I lived in urban Phoenix and became aware of disco. But it wasn't until around 1977 or 1978, the same age as Izzy, that the music of KISS was introduced to me, and the world changed.
It was mainly because I had older, preteen brothers. I specifically remember sitting in the basement bedroom of one of their friends and listening to "Kiss Alive II" on 8-track. The music was raw and hard, unlike anything I had ever heard. Their makeup was garish and wild. This was forbidden music, stuff that I would definitely hide from my parents that I listened to. Back then, it was rumored that they worshiped the devil, and they were "Knights In Satan's Service", but I loved it. It forever will be the force that brought me to rock n' roll, and I am still here.
It even taught me about the concept of an album. I had listened to "Destroyer" and "Love Gun", and I remember in 1979 when "Dynasty" came out. Everyone was so excited for it. But I was disappointed that it had songs that were utterly foreign to me. I couldn't understand that a band would come out with new songs. I expected it to have songs on there that I love, like "Detroit Rock City". I'm glad that I was wrong.
In the 1970s, KISS ruled the world. I remember seeing teen girls with their faces like the band members in the band for Halloween. They would sell out arenas. People talked about Gene Simmons spitting both fire and blood, and the devout Christians would whisper about how he had sewed a cow's tongue to his own to make it ridiculously long. My good friend Howard, who is also a huge KISS fan and has seen them innumerable times, told me, "It's about the performance, not just the music. I'll even admit - some of the music is not even that great. But to see them live - that's where the magic is."
In 1978, they even came out with a TV movie with the band members playing themselves in costume, but with super powers. I watched the movie, and I was enthralled. There was no other band like them. They were the best band in the world.
For a few years at least. Then I discovered Styx, Rush, and then Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, and then punk. That was all she wrote. I forgot about KISS.
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| Scooby & Demon |
Now move forward to 2015, and I'm shopping for a movie for my kids. I see a feature length cartoon called "Scooby Doo & KISS". I decide to buy it for my kids, but really I was kinda buying it for me. Little did I know that my kids, especially Izzy, would fall in love with this movie. It was great. Not only did it feature the Scooby Gang, but all of the current line-up of KISS lent their voices, playing themselves, or at least their onstage avatars. This movie not only catered to the little kids, but to the parents as well, including some tongue-in-cheek humor, bordering on risque. In the movie, KISS plays themselves, but with superpowers, taking Scooby and the gang on a psychedelic roadtrip to Kissteria, including a banging medley of KISS music.
Izzy would watch this movie every day, racing home to finish his homework and watch the movie, and, like me at the same age, KISS became his favorite band. He idolized the characters, and, in no time, he decided that he was Demon, Gene Simmon's character, and the other kids were assigned their own characters, like Avery became Catman.
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| Avery & Izzy |
Since Izzy liked KISS so much - and since I have never personally owned an album by KISS - I decided to download a comprehensive collection - "The Very Best of KISS". This 21 song anthology is a fairly justifiable representation of their 42 year career. I was surprised at how many songs Izzy recognized on here from the Scooby movie - "Rock and Roll All Nite", "Detroit Rock City", "Shout It Out Loud", and "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Exactly the songs I loved when I was a kid. Plus I got to introduce him to some other songs like stuff from their earliest releases in 1974 like "Strutter" and "Deuce". All of my kids know that Peter Criss sings "Beth", There are the '80s, big hair ballads like "Lick It Up", "Love It Loud", and "Forever". Then I got to show them classics that I love like "Love Gun", "Christine Sixteen", and "Calling Dr. Love". Fortunately, they are only seven and don't understand the obvious sexual metaphors in most of the songs. But the good thing in all of this is that I have rediscovered KISS though the ears of my children. I am able to remember what made these songs great to me back then. This album is something I listen to with Izzy and the kids in the car together, something we share, something we can bond over.
There is a tradition of half birthdays in our family, and it comes from being a plural family. You can read about it here. For Avery's birthday, he got a Kiss Army t-shirt, and Izzy got a matching t-shirt as his half birthday gift. They still wear them with pride, even though Izzy is kind of outgrowing his. Last week, at a football game, I got to introduce Izzy to my friend, Howard. Howard showed Izzy his Demon tattoos, and Izzy was amazed to learn that Howard has met Gene Simmons on several occasions. That is a very short degree of separation from Izzy and his idol.
So yes, KISS really is a multi-generational phenomenon. They are going as strong today as they were in the '70s. Maybe Izzy will tell his grandkids about he listened to KISS with his dad.
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