Artists You Have To Like (Or Else)

[NogbadTheBad]

Here's the thing though -- you don't have to like him. My initial response regarding him was with regard to his perceived "arrogance", just to hopefully shed more light on the subject. There is no "or else".

But if his musical worth called into question (e.g. "just another shredder"), well yeah I'm gonna comment on that. Why not?

Anyone who has listened to enough of his musical output can attest that he had many talents, not just limited to guitar playing, but also including musical arrangements and studio wizardry. Like I said, suit yourself.

This I 100% agree with.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Back in the mid-'70s you couldn't say anything bad about Elton John or Fleetwood Mac without risking the disdain of your fellow teenagers...

No offense, but this thread is just giving people "permission" to shit over stuff they don't like. Nobody on this board likes the exact same stuff, so who cares what YOU don't like? Normally I would just stay out of this but as long as everyone is tossing around opinions, there is mine. No one has to like anything, period.

While I realize this comment probably wasn't specifically directed at me, it came right after my remark, so let me add: I like Elton John and have grown to at least not hate mega-hit period Mac.

[progmatist]

Back in the mid-'70s you couldn't say anything bad about Elton John or Fleetwood Mac without risking the disdain of your fellow teenagers...

That was even more true with Pink Floyd in the 1979/80 time frame. That's why it was a big effing deal when Johnny Rotten wrote "I Hate" on top of his Pink Floyd t-shirt.

Yeah, Disco Sucks, I know. We rockers also had our stuff we treated with disdain, and of course the people who liked it. I remember one guy who wasn't invited to some school-parties, because he liked disco. Nonetheless he invited all of us for a party at his house, which should have been a kind of wake-up call. (But hey, since when are 16 year olds open for something they don't like.) Even Queen was looked a bit down on (and that was in 1976 I think) around the time they had a big hit with Killer queen.

Hell, even KISS went disco, causing me to totally lose respect for them. Up to that point, I was a huge KISS fan.

[GuitarGeek]

Hell, even KISS went disco, causing me to totally lose respect for them. Up to that point, I was a huge KISS fan.

THey did one frelling disco (or as Ace Frehley called it "rock disco) song, and everyone's ready to throw them under the bus.

But I think that was the point of the whole "disco sucks" thing. I remember seeing something on VH-1 once about disco, and when they get to that part of the story, they've got someone...I think it was Gloria Gaynor saying something stupid, like "If you don't like disco, don't listen to it" which I think completely misses the point. My impression is rock music fans were getting sick of disco being rammed down their throats. Rock radio stations were switching over disco format, rock groups like Kiss, The Stones, Rod Stewart, etc were making disco singles, etc. People weren't being given a choice to "not listen to it" and that's what led to that whole thing.

Now, having said, Disco Demolition Night was an ill conceived and pretty stupid maneuver. And yeah, there were probably some very ugly components besides that came into play, be it racist or homophobic. I just think it's bizarre when you see people like Gloria Gaynor or the people from Chic or whichever group whining about how that whole thing came down, and quite obviously not understanding what it was actually about. Maybe they didn't realize how omnipresent they had become, but when that backlash hit, it hit hard. Remember the bit in Airplane, where the plane is coming for landing in Chicago, and clip the broadcast antenna of the "disco lives forever" radio station? That was a comment. And I also remember reading somewhere that in The Blues Brothers, the actual "mission from God" was "kill disco".

And the way all the disco artists sort of became persona non grata (I recall Nile Rogers using that phrase, even though I seem to recall he had a pretty healthy career as a producer during the 80's, as did Bernard Edwards), that's exactly what I think Mr. Elvis Aaron Presley was trying to avoid (successfully I might add) for drifting into that more sort of MOR direction after he had been on RCA for awhile. He was worried rock n roll was gonna be "just a fad" and he'd be pigeonholed as being connected to something that was old hat and his career would be over. Hey, I may have wished had made more records like the stuff he did on Sun, but I can understand why he wanted to go in another direction.

[GuitarGeek]

^^ Ah yes... the "Love Symbol". I remember when that happened.

A result of a disagreement with the record label actually, so he "changed his name" as a way to continue making and releasing his own music throughout the 90s without their involvement. If I understand it correctly.

Yeah, he was basically exploiting a legal loophole in the contract. Presumably, his lawyer told him if he changed his name, he'd be free of that contract (and apparently, it worked). He could have changed his name to anything, he could have become Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler or whatever. All the talk of "spiritual rebirth" or whatever was just a PR smokescreen. Note that once the new century began, he started calling himself Prince again.

[SunRunner2]

That was even more true with Pink Floyd in the 1979/80 time frame. That's why it was a big effing deal when Johnny Rotten wrote "I Hate" on top of his Pink Floyd t-shirt.



Hell, even KISS went disco, causing me to totally lose respect for them. Up to that point, I was a huge KISS fan.

I suppose you are referring to the disco song "I Was Made For Loving You", from Dynasty. This write-up calls it a brilliant synthesis of Disco and Hard Rock:

Dynasty (1979)
Timing is everything. In 1979, rock fans launched the protest campaign ‘Disco Sucks!’ At a baseball game in Chicago, a crate filled with offending records, mostly by the Bee Gees, was blown up on the pitch. And in the same year, Kiss put out a disco song. I Was Made For Loving You was a brilliant synthesis of disco and hard rock, and a US Top 20 hit. Parent album Dynasty reached the Top 10. But this one song alienated many Kiss fans, and precipitated the band’s decline in America.

For all that, Dynasty is a good album, with genius pop-rock songs, alongside Frehley’s grittily autobiographical Hard Times.

[Rick L.]

#nerds

[GuitarGeek]

I suppose you are referring to the disco song "I Was Made For Loving You", from Dynasty. This write-up calls it a brilliant synthesis of Disco and Hard Rock:

Dynasty (1979)
Timing is everything. In 1979, rock fans launched the protest campaign ‘Disco Sucks!’ At a baseball game in Chicago, a crate filled with offending records, mostly by the Bee Gees, was blown up on the pitch. And in the same year, Kiss put out a disco song. I Was Made For Loving You was a brilliant synthesis of disco and hard rock, and a US Top 20 hit. Parent album Dynasty reached the Top 10. But this one song alienated many Kiss fans, and precipitated the band’s decline in America.

For all that, Dynasty is a good album, with genius pop-rock songs, alongside Frehley’s grittily autobiographical Hard Times.

Well, the decline was the result of a lot of things. There's the plain simple over-saturation of the public consciousness on Kiss. A lot of that was down to marketing: everywhere you look there was Kiss dren everywhere. At least, there was Stateside. There was a Kiss pinball machine, a Kiss comic book (allegedly printed with "real Kiss blood"), Kiss puzzles, Kiss posters, Kiss belt buckles, Kiss t-shirts, Kiss Halloween costumes, etc, etc, ad nauseum. I remember there were even notebooks and things like that with various Kiss variations. I mean, they were just ordinary notebooks, ya know notebook paper, but the front would have a picture of Peter Criss with a black panther or whatever.

Then you had the four solo albums, all released on the same day! Oh, and let's not forget Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, produced by none other than Hanna-Barbera Productions. They were playing to the wrong audience, let's say, not exactly a "rock music" audience, as much as a "family entertainment" crowd.

All of that was a stiff breeze on the house of cards that was Kiss-dom at the time, and that was all before I Was Made For Loving You came out. But you had to figure out, given that they were on Casablanca Records (which was like disco central at the time, I mean what rock groups were signed to Casablanca besides Kiss and Angel?!), they were gonna up doing something in that direction. And have you ever heard Paul's original demo for Detroit Rock City? Let's just say I Was Made For Loving You wasn't his first attempt and doing something for the dance floor.

Then you had Unmasked, which a lot of people didn't like either, because wanted something "heavy" (though really, except for two or three songs, Kiss were never that "heavy" to begin with). Then they let a coked up Bob Ezrin talk them into Music From The Elder. Oh yeah, and Ace left the band.

So there was more to it than just I Was Made For Loving You.

[moecurlythanu]

Don't forget the Kiss lunch boxes. Very sporty.

[GuitarGeek]

Don't forget the Kiss lunch boxes. Very sporty.

There was even a Kiss transistor radio. Yes, that's right, you could buy an ordinary transistor radio (probably at a 10% premium) which just happened to have a picture of Kiss on it.

[Rarebird]

Well, the decline was the result of a lot of things. There's the plain simple over-saturation of the public consciousness on Kiss. A lot of that was down to marketing: everywhere you look there was Kiss dren everywhere. At least, there was Stateside. There was a Kiss pinball machine, a Kiss comic book (allegedly printed with "real Kiss blood"), Kiss puzzles, Kiss posters, Kiss belt buckles, Kiss t-shirts, Kiss Halloween costumes, etc, etc, ad nauseum. I remember there were even notebooks and things like that with various Kiss variations. I mean, they were just ordinary notebooks, ya know notebook paper, but the front would have a picture of Peter Criss with a black panther or whatever.

Then you had the four solo albums, all released on the same day! Oh, and let's not forget Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, produced by none other than Hanna-Barbera Productions. They were playing to the wrong audience, let's say, not exactly a "rock music" audience, as much as a "family entertainment" crowd.

All of that was a stiff breeze on the house of cards that was Kiss-dom at the time, and that was all before I Was Made For Loving You came out. But you had to figure out, given that they were on Casablanca Records (which was like disco central at the time, I mean what rock groups were signed to Casablanca besides Kiss and Angel?!), they were gonna up doing something in that direction. And have you ever heard Paul's original demo for Detroit Rock City? Let's just say I Was Made For Loving You wasn't his first attempt and doing something for the dance floor.

Then you had Unmasked, which a lot of people didn't like either, because wanted something "heavy" (though really, except for two or three songs, Kiss were never that "heavy" to begin with). Then they let a coked up Bob Ezrin talk them into Music From The Elder. Oh yeah, and Ace left the band.

So there was more to it than just I Was Made For Loving You.

And then there was 'My dad the rockstar'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Dad_the_Rock_Star

[SunRunner2]

^^^

Okay, GuitarGeek, I certainly buy your synopsis above, however I have one question for Kiss and former Kiss fans: Is Destroyer a stone cold classic Rock album or just another example of over-hype Kiss indulgence? (rated by various sites as their best album, ever)

[Gruno]

^^^

Okay, GuitarGeek, I certainly buy your synopsis above, however I have one question for Kiss and former Kiss fans: Is Destroyer a stone cold classic Rock album or just another example of over-hype Kiss indulgence? (rated by various sites as their best album, ever)

Bloated hype. A few good songs only on Destroyer.

[Sputnik]

#nerds

You better like fucking Tamandua. OR ELSE!!!

[progmatist]

RE: disco. What made Blondie famous was their disco song Heart of Glass. The song couldn't have been more far removed from their usual fare.

[Mister Triscuits]

What made Blondie famous was their disco song Heart of Glass. The song couldn't have been more far removed from their usual fare.

I'm not sure Blondie had usual fare by that time. Look at what else is on that album: a '50s rock 'n' roll cover, a couple of '60s girl group type songs, a Bruce Springsteen pastiche, a spaced-out bit of weirdness with Robert Fripp on guitar, and of course the disco track. Plenty of punky power pop too, for sure, but they were definitely branching out a lot.

[Rick L.]

You better like fucking Tamandua. OR ELSE!!!

Ha! Bill, you are probably one of the five or seven (because odd numbers are very "progressive") people on Earth who even know about Tamandua.

FUN FACT: 9/8 of the creatures on Uranus are Tamandua fans.

[Sputnik]

Ha! Bill, you are probably one of the five or seven (because odd numbers are very "progressive") people on Earth who even know about Tamandua.

FUN FACT: 9/8 of the creatures on Uranus are Tamandua fans.

The next Tamandua epic... By Air Express to Uranus. Very Prog. For this track only, the line-up will be three bass players. The whole thing will be in 5/7 time. I'm in, but you have to write it, it's your band.

[NogbadTheBad]

Ha! Bill, you are probably one of the five or seven (because odd numbers are very "progressive") people on Earth who even know about Tamandua.

FUN FACT: 9/8 of the creatures on Uranus are Tamandua fans.

Me, me, me!

[GuitarGeek]

And then there was 'My dad the rockstar'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Dad_the_Rock_Star

Wow, I literally never heard of that. Interesting, though, that it was produced by Nelvana, the same animation house that gave us the brilliant early 80's cult classic Rock & Rule, which was the first animated feature film produced entirely in Canada.

kay, GuitarGeek, I certainly buy your synopsis above, however I have one question for Kiss and former Kiss fans: Is Destroyer a stone cold classic Rock album or just another example of over-hype Kiss indulgence? (rated by various sites as their best album, ever)

I would fall on the "stone cold classic side". Some very solid songs. Yes, it has Beth (which you may or may not like, for whichever reason), but it also has Do You Love Me, God Of Thunder, King Of The Night Time World, Flaming Youth, Shout It Out Loud and Great Expectations.

Their best album? Maybe, again that might depend on your opinion. I happen to think the first three albums and Unmasked were the best, but I like every album up through and including Creatures Of The Night, and Animalize, to one extent or another.

[Rarebird]

Wow, I literally never heard of that. Interesting, though, that it was produced by Nelvana, the same animation house that gave us the brilliant early 80's cult classic Rock & Rule, which was the first animated feature film produced entirely in Canada.

It was broadcasted in the Netherlands on some childrens channel, either Nickelodeon or Disney. Barry Hay (from Golden Earring) did the voice of Rock Zilla. I have to admit, I watched it.

[simon moon]

Petty much anything Blues related.

I risk bringing disdain down upon myself even mentioning this. I just never bought into the whole, "2 chords and the truth" crap.

And here's one that I am really in danger of bringing up, especially here.

F'n Pink Floyd!

Don't get me started on how overrated I think they are...

It's not that I don't like them at all, they are an ok band.

[Rarebird]

Petty much anything Blues related.

I risk bringing disdain down upon myself even mentioning this. I just never bought into the whole, "2 chords and the truth" crap.

It's 3 chords.

[simon moon]

It's 3 chords.

Yeah, typo.

Either way, my sentiments are the same.

[hFx]

It's 3 chords.

Ouch... getting overly complicated...