KISS.
January 10, 2010 5:52 AM Subscribe
Here are those KISS video clips you requested: KISS and Tom Snyder (part 1 part 2), KISS and Casey Kasem, KISS and Mike Douglas.
Bonus:
Gene don't like Paul dissin' him.
Paul Stanley doesn't like fans with lasers.
Gene Simmons sets his hair on fire.
Bonus:
Gene don't like Paul dissin' him.
Paul Stanley doesn't like fans with lasers.
Gene Simmons sets his hair on fire.
I actually requested Casey Kasem kissing Mike Douglas.
posted by mazola at 6:14 AM on January 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by mazola at 6:14 AM on January 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
My request had very specific instructions about what you were to do with them.
Anyway, here's that audio clip you requested.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:30 AM on January 10, 2010
Anyway, here's that audio clip you requested.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:30 AM on January 10, 2010
Nice. Now how about The Plasmatics on Tom Snyder (both times)? And The Plasmatics on Solid Gold?
posted by peewinkle at 7:01 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by peewinkle at 7:01 AM on January 10, 2010
No.
posted by fourcheesemac at 7:22 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by fourcheesemac at 7:22 AM on January 10, 2010
I've always loved that Mike Douglas clip. "I do - you can't hide the hook" - it's funny how Totie Fields is hipper than Gene Simmons even back then.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:00 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:00 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
I saw them on French Canadian TV recently. They were encouraging fans to go pick up the latest album at Walmart. So Rock & Roll.
posted by juiceCake at 8:35 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by juiceCake at 8:35 AM on January 10, 2010
Favorited for Gene Simmons on fire and pissed on.
posted by pracowity at 10:17 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by pracowity at 10:17 AM on January 10, 2010
I have not kept up to date with Gene, have never seen Family Jewels, but based on this older stuff I always felt a little sorry for him. He seems so uncertain of himself, uncomfortable in his own skin.
In the Mike Douglas clip, he looks like a little kid at haloween, thinking he has such a cool scary costume while the adults are all "yes, dear, you certainly are scary". When he says "I am evil incarnate" it's just cringeworthy - no you aren't, Gene, you are just a guy in a ridiculous costume.
In the video Lick It Up, there is such a contrast between him and Paul Stanely... Paul is jumping and shaking his thing, absolutely certain that he is a sexy rockstar. Gene looks like he isn't quite sure how to stand, or how to look into the camera.
And the whole "I have fucked a million women" shtick, it just comes across as if he needs validation... yes, Gene, you really are cool, everyone thinks so, it's OK.
And no, I have no idea why I suddenly care about this.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:44 AM on January 10, 2010
In the Mike Douglas clip, he looks like a little kid at haloween, thinking he has such a cool scary costume while the adults are all "yes, dear, you certainly are scary". When he says "I am evil incarnate" it's just cringeworthy - no you aren't, Gene, you are just a guy in a ridiculous costume.
In the video Lick It Up, there is such a contrast between him and Paul Stanely... Paul is jumping and shaking his thing, absolutely certain that he is a sexy rockstar. Gene looks like he isn't quite sure how to stand, or how to look into the camera.
And the whole "I have fucked a million women" shtick, it just comes across as if he needs validation... yes, Gene, you really are cool, everyone thinks so, it's OK.
And no, I have no idea why I suddenly care about this.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:44 AM on January 10, 2010
Thanks for this post! I'm feeling fairly old right now, because I remember watching Kiss on the Mike Douglas and Tom Snyder shows when they originally aired. I was such a rabid fan at that time that when Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park was scheduled to be aired, I begged and pleaded with the guy in charge of the A/V equipment where I worked (it was one of the first JVC video cassette recorders on the market with a timer; our company had an A/V department mainly to produce sales videos of the automation equipment we manufactured) to record it for me. I offered to buy the blank tape (which cost about $15 at the time), but the curmudgeonly old crusty fellow took pity on me and taped it for me gratis. I still have that tape, and it's become an interesting time capsule - there are commercials for Ford's "new" LTD (which is about the size of a fishing boat) and for the premier episode of a new sitcom called Diff'rent Strokes. Our local station (Channel 4, previously WWJ) that aired the film had just recently changed its call letters, so I also have a video record of one of their spots explaining the meaning of WDIV: "D for Detroit, IV the Roman numeral four - We're "for" Detroit!!"
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:49 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:49 AM on January 10, 2010
In the video Lick It Up, there is such a contrast between him and Paul Stanely... Paul is jumping and shaking his thing, absolutely certain that he is a sexy rockstar. Gene looks like he isn't quite sure how to stand, or how to look into the camera.
Paul Stanley had the advantage of being attractive/sexy with or without the makeup. Gene's major schtick was sticking out his tongue, which looked appropriately scary when wearing the bat-lizard costume. Unmasked, however, he looked like a grown man making silly faces, while Paul looked like a traditional rock & roll front man.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:52 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Paul Stanley had the advantage of being attractive/sexy with or without the makeup. Gene's major schtick was sticking out his tongue, which looked appropriately scary when wearing the bat-lizard costume. Unmasked, however, he looked like a grown man making silly faces, while Paul looked like a traditional rock & roll front man.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:52 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wow. The makeup. That hair. Frightened me when I was a kid but now I kind of miss Tom Snyder.
posted by hal9k at 11:19 AM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by hal9k at 11:19 AM on January 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Paul Stanley had the advantage of being attractive/sexy with or without the makeup.
Paul Stanley without the makeup.
posted by zippy at 11:24 AM on January 10, 2010
Paul Stanley without the makeup.
posted by zippy at 11:24 AM on January 10, 2010
Zippy, I was referring to circa 1983 Paul Stanley, when the band first removed the makeup. Although even with the effects of gravity some 20+ years later, he's still not too shabby.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:45 AM on January 10, 2010
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:45 AM on January 10, 2010
I have no idea what he was trying to prove by being on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, but I almost turned it off because I just didn't really care. And then he got nasty. And She just let him go. And I sat there wondering why she would do that - and then I realized that she was just letting him hang himself.
Previously I had been pretty meh on Ms Gross. But that day, I grew a little respect for her.
posted by greekphilosophy at 12:48 PM on January 10, 2010
Previously I had been pretty meh on Ms Gross. But that day, I grew a little respect for her.
posted by greekphilosophy at 12:48 PM on January 10, 2010
Gene's major schtick was sticking out his tongue, which looked appropriately scary when wearing the bat-lizard costume.
Nah, it was more than that. In makeup, he played a demon, a big mean menacing ogre with a streak of comically maniacal insanity. Without the makeup, you can see he's still playing the same character - tough with a touch of exaggeratedly crazy mugging - but now he only comes off as your typical bar bouncer. If Gene ever looked "uncomfortable", that's because he was always playing the role with a bit of self-aware irony, which definitely comes through in the first few minutes of the Douglas interview. As Totie said, he really is just a nice Jewish boy, dressing as a demon and doing whatever he thinks will get a rise out of people.
posted by scrowdid at 3:06 PM on January 10, 2010
Nah, it was more than that. In makeup, he played a demon, a big mean menacing ogre with a streak of comically maniacal insanity. Without the makeup, you can see he's still playing the same character - tough with a touch of exaggeratedly crazy mugging - but now he only comes off as your typical bar bouncer. If Gene ever looked "uncomfortable", that's because he was always playing the role with a bit of self-aware irony, which definitely comes through in the first few minutes of the Douglas interview. As Totie said, he really is just a nice Jewish boy, dressing as a demon and doing whatever he thinks will get a rise out of people.
posted by scrowdid at 3:06 PM on January 10, 2010
That said, I do believe Gene is on record (somewhere) as not having felt particularly comfortable during the unmasked years - he always preferred to play the character he'd created.
posted by scrowdid at 3:07 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by scrowdid at 3:07 PM on January 10, 2010
I loved KISS as a kid. They were the first band I ever truly loved (My 7-year-old self begged my mother to buy Dynasty when it came out). Unfortunately, the vile trash that is Gene Simmons in the present tense has trashed those past experiences for me just as much as Orson Scott Card did for the Ender books. Blech.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 3:23 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 3:23 PM on January 10, 2010
I am relieved to see that somebody's still using WWJ.
Man, if I had one of those three-letter callsigns, you'd have to steal it from my heirs.
posted by box at 5:40 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Man, if I had one of those three-letter callsigns, you'd have to steal it from my heirs.
posted by box at 5:40 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think it is bad form to say "your favorite band sucks" or even that band sucks. With Kiss, I think that rule fails to apply, and then there is the issue with Gene Simmons who is perhaps the most selfishly vile person to walk the planet today. I say these things with a heavy heart because Meatbomb is the best of metafilter, and we should have another 10,000 like him. Nevertheless, I have the hate on for Kiss. This comment makes me a bad person, I know.
posted by caddis at 6:40 PM on January 10, 2010
posted by caddis at 6:40 PM on January 10, 2010
No problem, I'll say it...
Gene Simmons is the most selfishly vile person to walk the planet.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:13 PM on January 10, 2010
Gene Simmons is the most selfishly vile person to walk the planet.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:13 PM on January 10, 2010
And, from what I hear, he is evil incarnate.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:24 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Meatbomb at 8:24 PM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by Meatbomb at 5:59 AM on January 10, 2010