This is an awesome documentary. I'm a lifelong KISS Freak. I got to see them in 1979 just months before Peter left the band. Thank You for making this video. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. Take care and God Bless You!
Double Platinum was the first album I ever purchased new. It had all been used and barters before that. Still happy with the purchase. Really looking forward to episodes 2 and 3.
I just loved the fact that Ace's solo album was a huge hit. But that's what happens when your other band mates 'control freaks' choke a key core member of Kiss. Gene & Paul's biggest mistakes was constantly choosing their own songs for final cut on Kiss songs. Ace often lifts up other classic rock songs. His version of Do Ya by ELO is amazing. The way Paul just ignores Ace's solo album to me says it all.
I'm just being pedantic here, don't mind me - ELO was a spinoff band of The Move, who recorded Do Ya before re-recording it as ELO. Do Ya is actually a Move cover, Ace was a Move fan. Check em out!! 👍🏻
And who owns all the songs to that solo album KISS INC because Ace sold everything back songs makeup its all in the Kiss INC trademark catalog .Also brags how he QUIT twice then always wants back in when broke and bankrupt.
The thing you are all overlooking is, Paul and Gene were terrible delusional narcissistic greedy jealous assholes!!! Peter and Ace were amazing and the real talent and heart and soul of the original lineup, and treated like stepchildren!!! Disgusting!!! Team Peter and Ace always
I didn’t know I needed a 2 and a half hour video essay of a catboy vtuber going over the history of my favorite band. But here it is. And I’m here for it.
I don't get the whole catboy-avatar thing (probably because I'm old), but this is some of the best KISS content I've seen anywhere. The writing is well-researched and clever, without trying to be TOO clever, and the footage and editing are outstanding.
Your parents probably didn't understand why Peter Criss painted himself up as The Catman, that's pretty safe to assume right?? Same concept here maybe.I'm with you on the overall sentiment (and probably age!) though.
I am now 62 years old. We used to do Kiss concerts in abandoned buildings. I was Gene because I could blow flames using a butane lighter. It may sound lame but they would go about 6 feet high. We saw Kiss in Sudbury Ontario about this time. Cheap Trick opened for them. This was around the time of Cheap Trick's first album. No bubblegum rock back then. Pretty damn good show.
Really. I just looked up the Love Gun tour dates to see when the Sudbury date was. Is that you’re home town? I would have been too young but I can only imagine what the concert would have like. Man I would have loved it, was a huge Cheap trick fan too. Glad to hear you thought it was a good show. What was the attendance like? For some reason it’s not listed. Cheers.
@@stevejohnston8543 I'm from North Bay. One of our fathers drove us to Sudbury. We waited at the doors hours before they opened as it was general admission. We stood in front of Ace. There were about 5,000 people in attendance. It was at Sudbury arena where they shoot "Shoresy".
@@MickLoud999 Funny I’m not sure I knew Kiss was coming at the time. I remember really wishing someone would take me to see Cheap Trick, I loved them. Thanks, figured the Elgin street barn would have been packed. I know the building only too well. Been watching hockey there for around forty years. There’s a game tonight 👍🏒 My first concert was Triumph, April Wine. Then Sabbath, Maiden and Metallica to name the notable shows. I could laugh, thé Metallica show wasn’t even that well attended. Only us metal heads were over the moon. Love to go back and look at the tour dates and think, man that was awhile ago. Time for is relative though, 10 even twenty years for me just doesn’t seem that removed for me. In the grand scheme of things it is but a speck of time. Anyway I’ve been jamming Kiss songs. I have this grin on my face the whole time while cranking my Marshall and playing my starburst (like the spaceman). Really don’t find any of them hard to play at all and I found Ace’s style fun to imitate, like his bending technique and vibrato. He may not have been technical but he had his own style for sure. As far as the songs, I think they’re undeniably good, catchy rock numbers that are so much fun to play. Its like what’s next and just play along without the more lengthy process of learning more complex stuff. 70’s Kiss was cool but they kind of lost me after that. Didn’t care for them in the eighties at all, it was more hard edged rock for me by then. Anyway it’s nice to look back with nostalgia to a time when all was right with them and keep that immortalized in my mind.
@@stevejohnston8543 Yeah we used to spend are fair bit of time in Sudbury. My grandmother lived there and my grandfather died in a mining accident in the 60s. I also had cousins and friends of the family but we drifted apart these years. My friend had a band in Toronto and put an ad looking for people with a "Northern Ontario" mentality. A couple of brothers from an Italian community used to be called Gatcho (probably spelled that wrong). I think it's out near Copper Cliff. They actually joined his band though. When we saw Kiss Cheap Trick was unknown to us. We all bought their first album though. That was, in my estimation their best. It was RAW!! Songs about pedos and serial killers!! It's funny that I watched a documentary about Sudbury last night. It was about the mining industry. I didn't know Thomas Edison tried to mine nickel there. Pretty interesting stuff.
I don’t even like (or dislike) KISS and I found this fascinating - such an in-depth study of a downward spiral, well put together, great clips and quotes and a studied, well spoken narrative. This is the stuff that makes RU-vid awesome
I did NOT want this to end. You always think there’s nothing left to learn about original KISS. I’ve been scooping out every little KISS crevice I could find since I was a kid. You did fantastic! This is so good.
Ditto! Pretty good voice imitations! And the somewhat morose cartoon cat bit is funny because it's true! So many of us teenage KISS fans back then were hoping for much better sounds from the solo albums,.and likewise disappointed with Double Platinum and other not so great KISS things of that era.
@@pierce_13 It's amazing how some of KISS's best songs have been totally ignored by the band. They have several "deep cuts" that I KNOW would be MASSIVE hits.
@@deelux5519 "Rocket Ride" was another song that should be better known. Ace should have kept it for his solo album instead of letting them bury it on side 4 of Alive II.
Yeah i agree as a ex- Kiss fan that actually seen these guys back in 1976 live this vid was very well done. By 78 i was getting fed up with them. once i heard Dynasty i was no longer a fan. good thing because the very next record was even worse! 🤣
I agree, definitely well worth the time. This guy did a great job on his research. And he does a good job of walking the line between being a fan and a critic.
wtf!!! shame on you, youtube! after all the kiss footage and content i've consumed - what took you so long to recommend this to me!! aarrrgg!!!! this is great. as a 53 year old teenager i can't tell you how much i enjoyed this. some facts this old kiss fan never knew, and some amazing pics i've never seen. this was fantastic - thanks for doing it! can't wait to dig more into what you've done.
Stellar!!!, As a huge KISS fan it's so appreciated to see that someone has done his homework and thoroughly enjoyed your critiques. Thank you so much for such a well done mini documented episode 1, Can't wait for 2 and 3. Thanks again!
I saw it 5 times at the cinema in Australia. It was KISS in the Attack of the Phantoms. Before it they would show the 2 videos from Dynasty which was brand new at the time. They were great to see on the big screen.
I remember this in Australia as well. I Was Made for Loving You and Sure Know Something were shown before the movie. I am pretty sure me and a few school mates went to see it more than once.
My advice to you bro is to keep heading in this direction, you will see such huge growth doing content like this. This is executed beautifully and I know that if you’re heading in this direction I will stick around and subscribe
Excellent work, Catboy. Another reminder that Ace's solo album was not only the best of the bunch by a mile, but still holds up to this day as a ferocious, blistering, hook-laden hard rock album that still sounds fresh and exciting 44 years later.
Very true. I still listen to the album in its entirety every now and then on Spotify and it's still fresh and exciting. Had a debate a few weeks ago with a couple of Gene fans as to whose solo album was the best. Being Gene fans, of course they HATE Ace so they rated his as the WORST of the bunch. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I find most of Gene's LAUGHABLY bad. I mean..." When You Wish Upon A Star"...r u friggin kidding me lol
In reference to Gene's solo album. I think When You Wish Upon A Star would've been perfect if the rest of the album would've been a solid rock, bare bones album. That song at the end would've taken a back the listener.
The COTN album and tour was poorly promoted, it lacked the paid-media hype which preceded the Love Gun and Dynasty tours. COTN is arguably their heaviest album of all time, and the COTN show and setlist is now regarded as one of the most regrettably missed by KISS fans worldwide.
I saw that tour, you didn't miss anything. It was promoted as though Ace was still in the band. Imagine our supreme disappointment when saw and heard that clown Vincent instead.
This was awesome, even my 8 year old daughter was cracking up at the quote accents & hilarious Phantom plot-synopsis. Dead on! Even learned a couple of interesting bits of info I didn't already know, bonus! Great work, a refreshing & genuine take on Kisstory, looking forward to part 2 for sure
Man, I really enjoyed this! Eddie Trunk talked about it today, so I watched it tonight. I’m a KISS fanatic and I enjoyed this a ton. I’m in my 40s, so I discovered KISS in the 80s. Everything in the 70s has been a “go back and discover” era for my and is my favorite era. Can’t wait for the next 2!
Looking back to ‘78 from ‘22 with decades of reflection and revisions on history there is one clear, and important, key missing ingredient and that is the, in the moment experience of what it was like as a fan. We didn’t have access to RU-vid or anything besides a teen/music magazine or the occasional newspaper article and the mystique of the band meant we took the image and the music to super heights.
If KISS and Parliament/Funkadelic had toured as a double headliners in ‘78-‘79 that might have been amazing. I’d definitely pay top dollar to see that at that time.
Honestly, the highlight of this video for me is the impressions of everyone for the interviews. That aside, this video is absolutely fascinating and really well made and I’m hyped for the other parts.
Hey, man, it's all good - with a career as varied and storied as KISS', everyone's bound to have a different view of their work! Appreciate you for sticking around regardless 😀
To me, Gene's "See You Tonite" and "Radioactive", Paul's "It's Alright" and "Hold Me Touch Me", Ace's "New York Groove" and "Speeding Back To My Baby", and Peter's "Easy Thing" are the best songs from the 1978 solo albums. Gene's was and is my big favorite, despite most people's scorn of it.
WOW!!! This is a masterpiece dude. Your filmmaking and editing skills are top notch. You took a story that has grown stale over the years and put a new, fresh perspective to it. This is just fantastic.
I think Peters album suffers from the same problem as The Elder in that they do not sound like Kiss at all. I like both those albums for at least daring to try something different, good or bad. And Peter always had the best voice by far anyway.
I watched Phantom of the Park when it aired with my little brother (I was 7, he was 6). Because my brother loved Kiss, I hated them! I remember telling him "They're not really superheroes - they just want your money!" which still makes me laugh!😂
I'm a big KISS fan, first record ever given to me was RnR Over so KISS WAS...a big deal. Your dive gave some knowledge I did not have which is cool. Your take on the solo albums isn't wrong, Paul had a decent album but Aces was insanely great. The movie was iffy at best and your Scooby-Doo reference nailed it.. I shall wait for part 2.
The blood that was supposed to be printed in the first issue of the KISS comic didnt end up there! There was some delay in printing and the blood-ink ended up in an issue of Sports Illustrated if I remember correctly 😂
Best documentation I've seen to date. A lot of new info delivered in a very honest and unbiased way. 5 star 🌟 rating. I agree about the band doing a live weird concert movie based on how awesome they were at that time.. They were on fire as a live band and it probably would have motivated them to capture some great footage. 👍
Nailed it. Having grown up in the 60's and 70's, I can attest 1978 was the year KISS started rebranding themselves. There was a huge social divide between what kids liked and what their older brother or sister would like when it came to music. KISS was always that band that fought for legitimacy because of their outfits. What helped early was it gave them a very edgy look. The musical breakthrough gave them cred for a short period of time. But as soon as they hugged the commercial side of their image that catered to toys, dolls, and superhero like images, they were completely exposed and their expiration date was sealed. No one in the industry took them serious again. And like most bands that live in a bubble of people telling them what they want to hear, they were the last ones to figure that out. That's why they continued to make more and more bad choices.
13:32 MC5, The Who, Humble Pie, Grand Funk had all put out live albums. None of them were metal, but these albums captured them at their most hard rocking, and metal was hardly a thing in the 70s until the NWOBHM.
I really enjoyed this! I am a music junkie and love watching and learning about bands. Not a huge Kiss fan but I dig Ace really bad and I love rock n roll history 😂👽. Well done. I also have enjoyed reading the comments, I learned a lot from them as well. It’s making laying around recovering from surgery rather enjoyable.
Gene’s solo was a total disappointment. This is his biggest problem. He has this bad azz demon character that writes bad cream puff songs. You wanted some dark heavy stuff but never got it.
Unbelievable work you have done here about kiss in 1978… I first saw them and put Michigan September 1975. My 1978 I had long move past them… Those first three years were excellent…
Great video man - I subscribed to your channel so I will get to watch the next installment of THE FALL OF KISS as soon as it's posted - I know how much work it takes to make such a long and in-depth video like this - can't wait for the next one - My band mates and I are all huge KISS fans and I had them all watch it cause I was so impressed - keep up the great work!!!!
I saw them in high school when they toured for Hot in the Shade. They had this cool sphinx thing on stage. The opening acts were Slaughter and a forgotten band called Little Ceaser . Even without makeup they still put on a good show
Wow this was a fun adventure and it brought back some awesome memories. When I was a kid I loved Kiss then the solo albums pissed me off .Of course my first solo album was Peter's , a Christmas gift a big flop and lost interest for a year until Dynasty was released. Loved that album and still do. Awesome show bro
Very, very insightful. Great job, man. Especially how they repackaged previous product into “Double Platinum.” As a 60 year old kiss fan I found this to be very accurate! Kudos!
i remember seeing the solo albums in shrink-wrap in the variety store up until 1983. i bought a good amount of my first LPs there and there'd always be a KISS solo album or two in the bin
I watched this a couple times and somehow I missed this: “You know Firehouse right, Woohoo Yeah!!”😂😂. That should be this channels rallying cry! As soon as I see your next video in my feed I’m gonna yell out “WOHOOO YEAHHH!!”
Problem with Peter is like is solo album when he left KISS, he had no one to write hits he could sing. Peter was not a writer or knew what it took. His big hits were spoon fed from Bob and Paul.
I just had to stop by and say that I feel like these videos you made have spoiled me. I want there to be, like, 8 more Fall of Kiss videos because nothing else is scratching the itch. Just another testament to how good the work is.
Lol oh my God you have me laughing my ass off 🤣🤣 but great documentary on kiss the early kiss will always be the best from 1974 to 1977 see that's where Gene has made his biggest mistake ever buy wanting to market the band when the other three at the time were not cool with that but that's what he wanted Gene was just in it to get rich this was one very very very detailed documentary on kiss I truly truly enjoy this 2 👍👍 up !
Im so addicted to these. I generally listen to audio on my walks and I've listened to all 3 of these at least 6 times now. It's great history. I would love it if u would do the entire history of kiss deep dive style :) please please please
I absolutely loved this series. Seriously, fantastic job. Thank you, Catboy, for putting this all together. You nailed it. The catnip intermission was gold 😂❤
I gotta say in 92 I had Ace Autograph a Copy of Phantom Of The Park. He didn't know people could still get it he loved that I brought it. Only time ive ever met a member of KISS that was enjoyable
I watched, for some reason, part2 first and now I'm watching part1. I love it so much how you created this video essay! It's informative (and I thought I knew it all, but no), fascinating and very funny! The joke-timing (music in the background, pauzed silence, screenshot, etc) is just perfect! I can't wait to watch part3!
I learned a lot and laughed a lot, thanks for all the hard work. Looking forward to the next installment. (Why can't 2 hour+ movies breeze by this quickly & enjoyably? 🤔)
I’m watching a little bit each night bro. I’m about 1/5 into it. I wasn’t alive in ‘78 yet but it seems to me the movie is what started the fatigue and decent of kiss. Lmao, Peter criss album was such shite. I’d never heard that family guy reference before. That was hilarious.
Glixman did his best but Paul Stanley is NOT Kerry Livgren. You can only do so much with what you’ve got to work with. Kansas was an AWESOME band. Kiss was a rock band like The Rolling Stones. Kansas was one of the most talented bands in the same mold as ELP, Yes, or King Crimson. Kiss just couldn’t hang with Kansas - sorry. 😂🤪😂
Enjoyed the Frehley solo album review. It's just really, really great!! 237th thumbs up from me. Peace out from the Southern Tip of Vancouver Island, B.C. CANADA
51:55 I love how Gene wanted John Lennon on his solo album and had to clarify that JLennon was still alive at the time wtf.. "lennon, who was still alive at the time.." no shit, Gene?
I felt, at 14 years old mind you, that double platinum was an attempt to “rebrand” Kiss as a Pop or Disco act. I thought it took Kiss away - immediately - from the hard rocking cook Led Zep sounding Alive. The Destroyer was good but very Alice Cooper and RNR Over and Love Gun brought things back around. The Solo albums was where they lost me. I loved Ace’s solo but Gene’s and Pete’s just plain sucked. Paul’s was “ok” but not even as good as any of the Kiss studio LPs. Ace was the only member of that band that truly knew how to Rock. After the solo albums I had no interest. I didn’t buy Dynasty or anything after. I got pulled back in briefly for the Reunion tours. There has to be millions like me. Great job on this man
I wanna try and have it out by November, but I'm about to go back into another semester of grad school and maybe get a real life job so time might be limited for me to work on it! I've been hard at work scripting it, at least, for the past week, so rest assured, it's comin'
@@reziorenji Take your time, do it right. The first installment was so good that you've set your own bar pretty high. We need another 2 hour MEGA KISS BOMB !!!
Fantastic video! It popped up on my feed and was an instant subscribe! Given that I only have snippets of knowledge about KISS, what I love about this video is that it showed the band as more than just a brand, more than just a commercial entity and a touring franchise. Nice work!
Loved this!! Learned a lot of things I never knew and the explanation of the plot of Phantom had me rolling. I almost didn't watch but I'm so glad I did. Can't wait to watch the following parts. Will definitely be sharing with my Kiss friends!! Thanks for all your efforts making this. Highly entertaining.
The solo albums were one of their reasons the RIAA changed the rules on sales figures. You could essentially cheat by “shipping platinum”. Ship a million copies and you had a platinum album.
