Fav era of Kiss?

Of all the "eras" of Kiss, which one was your favorite? While all eras have merit, my favorite is 1982-85 (The Creatures of the Night through Asylum) era, as thats when they were at their heaviest and had their most "metal" albums IMO.

WildWorld wrote:Of all the "eras" of Kiss, which one was your favorite? While all eras have merit, my favorite is 1982-85 (The Creatures of the Night through Asylum) era, as thats when they were at their heaviest and had their most "metal" albums IMO.

Agreed!

The years with Vinnie Vincent (whatever those were) - "Creatures Of The Night" and "Lick It Up"

Other than that, I like the Destroyer album and a few of the earlier songs.

Constantine wrote:The years with Vinnie Vincent (whatever those were).

That would be 1982-83 (he also helped write a couple of songs on Revenge).

WildWorld wrote:Of all the "eras" of Kiss, which one was your favorite? While all eras have merit, my favorite is 1982-85 (The Creatures of the Night through Asylum) era, as thats when they were at their heaviest and had their most "metal" albums IMO.

I would have to agree with this, but they also managed to bring back this level of power with Revenge.  While they aren't as much of a favorite as the era for which you spoke, I also think that Psycho Circus and Sonic Boom came close to these releases.

To be honest, I like most everything from KISS except for their album Music From The Elder.  That was just a mistake caught on tape.

The early years, KISS (debut album) => Destroyer. That's my idea of KISS.

alldatndensum wrote:

WildWorld wrote:Of all the "eras" of Kiss, which one was your favorite? While all eras have merit, my favorite is 1982-85 (The Creatures of the Night through Asylum) era, as thats when they were at their heaviest and had their most "metal" albums IMO.

I would have to agree with this, but they also managed to bring back this level of power with Revenge.  While they aren't as much of a favorite as the era for which you spoke, I also think that Psycho Circus and Sonic Boom came close to these releases.

To be honest, I like most everything from KISS except for their album Music From The Elder.  That was just a mistake caught on tape.

I actually really like Music From The Elder. Especially The Oath, which was one of their best metal songs IMHO.

UltraMagnus wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

WildWorld wrote:Of all the "eras" of Kiss, which one was your favorite? While all eras have merit, my favorite is 1982-85 (The Creatures of the Night through Asylum) era, as thats when they were at their heaviest and had their most "metal" albums IMO.

I would have to agree with this, but they also managed to bring back this level of power with Revenge.  While they aren't as much of a favorite as the era for which you spoke, I also think that Psycho Circus and Sonic Boom came close to these releases.

To be honest, I like most everything from KISS except for their album Music From The Elder.  That was just a mistake caught on tape.

I actually really like Music From The Elder. Especially The Oath, which was one of their best metal songs IMHO

Music From The Elder had about three decent songs.  The rest of it just wasn't KISS and should never have been made.  They almost didn't recover from that mistake.

70's

70s easily, everything through Love Gun and Ace's solo album. I also like Creatures of the Night a lot.

This is a tough question but I tend to agree with original poster. The 70’s albums had too much filler material. I would backtrack the best era to the import Killers album which featured the ultimate Kiss song, “Nowhere to Run”. It is Paul Stanley at his vocal and songwriting best.

Creatures is hands down my favorite Kiss album. All killer no filler. After that they took the makeup off and seriously ramped up their musical chops. Going from Vinnie to St. John to Kulick also gave us some variety going into Asylum but by then the filler material resurfaced. Crazy Nights was too poppy for me and Hot in the Shade didnt have much outside the top three songs.

Which leads me to what musically may be the best Kiss era: Revenge and the unplugged MTV concert. Revenge was so awesome top to bottom. Its the ultimate Kiss album full of rock, raunch, killer songs including a killer ballad and a killer anthem. Even the Gene songs kicked butt. And Kiss never sounded better than in that unplugged concert. All the songs chosen translated so well to acoustic interpretation, the vocals were spot on, the songmanship was evident, and the reappearance of Ace and Peter reminded everyone who Kiss is. For me, I’ll take that concert over any Kiss show before or after where the music played second fiddle to the visuals. That was the best era and it was way too short, ruined by Crappo Circus.

Unpopular opinion: I really like Carnival Of Souls.

Actually the only KISS albums I don't really care for are Crazy Nights and Monster.

Carnival has some killer songs actually like Hate, Jungle, and Childhood's End. I was also thinking that you could probably make a pretty good album if you combined the "best" songs from Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade:

1. Crazy Crazy Nights
2. I'll Fight Hell to Hold You
3. My Way
4. Reason to Live
5. Turn on the Night
6. Rise To It
7. Betrayed
8. Hide Your Heart
9. Forever
10. Silver Spoon
11. King of Hearts

(hmm,,combining two middling albums to make a good one, there's a good idea for a future thread)

Revenge is my favorite Kiss record, but for the overall best era would the 70's albums up until Dynasty.

Recently got into Kiss, because of their New Years live stream coincidentally

I dug some of their stuff so I rushed out online and bought the majority of their discography on vinyl
I already owned Destroyer and Kiss but had never spun them (I know what was I thinking?)

I just got copies of Hotter than Hell, Dressed to Kill, and Love Gun in the mail yesterday
I bought Rock and Roll Over and Creatures of The Night at my local record store
And then I ordered Animalize and Lick It Up off of Kiss's website

I spent probably a little too much money on vinyl in the last 10 days

Anyway, my favorite era so far is the classic era, just something about the Kiss to Love Gun lineup that had the magic for sure
Hotter Than Hell is a beast of an album that would be epic with a remaster, super ahead of its time riffs on that one
My other go-to would definitely be Rock And Roll Over

I have a question or two for everyone and I am willing to sit back and listen.

How much of your favorite era of KISS or any other band has to do more with nostalgia/original lineup of the band?

How much is graded by the overall quality of music?

alldatndensum wrote:I have a question or two for everyone and I am willing to sit back and listen.

How much of your favorite era of KISS or any other band has to do more with nostalgia/original lineup of the band?

How much is graded by the overall quality of music?

I didn't get into them until a few years ago. My first album was Creatures. Still love that one, but it ended up being the early stuff that grabbed me (although I'll admit I think Destroyer is overrated with a few less than stellar tracks).

alldatndensum wrote:I have a question or two for everyone and I am willing to sit back and listen.

How much of your favorite era of KISS or any other band has to do more with nostalgia/original lineup of the band?

How much is graded by the overall quality of music?

Considering I got into Kiss last week, I cannot say its driven by nostalgia, as far as the original lineup goes I think Ace is my overall favorite member so maybe that's why I enjoy the classics more
(Still really like Creatures of the Night and Animalize)

I got hooked on Hotter Than Hell because of Parasite being the heaviest song ever  
But I can admit that that album is definitely lacking the most as far as production quality goes

alldatndensum wrote:How much of your favorite era of KISS or any other band has to do more with nostalgia/original lineup of the band?

How much is graded by the overall quality of music?

With Kiss, it is based on musical quality.  I have no nostalgia for them.

With other bands it might be different.   Depends on the band.

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Edit:   How weird that someone downvoted / disliked this comment! 

I have some nostalgia for their 70's albums like Hotter Than Hell, Destroyer, Love Gun, and Alive II (I became a fan when I was 8, and my friends and I would get together after school and listen for hours).

Some of my favorite tracks are on their 70's albums, but I think for overall album satisfaction, I prefer the Lick It Up to Revenge era.

I also love Sonic Boom and I don't think it gets anywhere near enough love. Monster is really underrated too, IMO

KISS never has “connected” with me, musically.  I absolutely LOVE the song the had on Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack, but I suspect that it is just because of how much I love Bill and Ted.  

Looking at Wikipedia, it seems like my favorite KISS era is the “Revenge” era, where they were in a lot of turmoil because of Eric Carr’s cancer battle....

I only like a few songs here and there but Creatures is probably my favorite album.

Bought4Life wrote:I have some nostalgia for their 70's albums like Hotter Than Hell, Destroyer, Love Gun, and Alive II (I became a fan when I was 8, and my friends and I would get together after school and listen for hours).

Some of my favorite tracks are on their 70's albums, but I think for overall album satisfaction, I prefer the Lick It Up to Revenge era.

I also love Sonic Boom and I don't think it gets anywhere near enough love. Monster is really underrated too, IMO

I played Sonic Boom yesterday.  It is amazing and does a great job mixing their 70s and 80s sounds.