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My KISSTORY with the Gods Of Thunder started waaayyy back in 1976 when I was just a young dude living in suburban Swartz Creek Michigan.I was always surrounded by music,my mother played and taught piano,my sisters worn out the grooves in old Elvis 45's,my dad cranked out the polka music from an old stereo in the basement,and my choice in musical faves where usually the bombastic brassy scores to Godzilla films and novelty toonz such as "The Monster Mash" and "The Streak".I picked up a few 45's,but for the most part I was quite unaware of the creature lurking in the groins of youthful rebellion known as Rock & Roll in my safe little suburban world.
I was(and still am)a complete horror movie and comic book geek,spending many hours in school drawing strange creatures or superheroes on my notebooks(to the dismay of my unimaginative teachers),and imagining my life as some offbalanced twisted coming of age afterschool special/movie.
I wasn't aware that "shockrock" existed,it never even crossed my mind,that's how sheltered from the outside world I was(Then again,my parents weren't really aware or into that musical environment either so it never leaked into our homebase).
That is until I learned a whole new lesson in school one day.
I was in artclass,as where my 20 or 30 other fellow students,and the kids would bring in records to play while we were doing our projects.It added a special ambience to the room(an actually pretty cool idea from that teacher-who's name I have since forgotten) and the air was filled with excitement.
So one kid slapped a piece of circular vinyl on the school turntable,put the needle to the groove,and...
I heard something different...
There was the sound of a man getting into his car,turning on the radio and driving along to the news radio.
The newscaster went on about a group of teenagers killed in a car accident on thier way to a concert in Detroit,
Then I heard a screech of tires...
then CARNAGE!!
A GUITAR!!!
DRUMS!!
A groovy thumping BASSLINE!!!
A man singing(or was it screaming?)about
GETTING UP and GETTING DOWN!!!
"YOU GOTTA LOSE YOUR MIND IN DETROIT ROCK CITY!!"
What the heck was that?
I lept up from my chair and went over to the kid that brought the record in,
"What's that record you're playing?"
The kid said "That's KISS"
My mind suddenly went into some sort of screeching halt.KISS?Doesn't sound like kissing to me!
The kid got up and grabbed the album cover and handed it to me.
"What the hell is that?"I thought as I glared at the album cover.There was the image that would superimpose itself into my brain for the rest of my life.There they were,four beings with monsterous faces,one is a cat I think.Is that a girl with the moon boots on?My mind was racing trying to absorb the image as quickly as possible and I wasn't quite understanding it all.
Then as my eyes crept towards the right side of the album cover I was transfixed by the fourth creature in the painting-a demon of some sort encased in armor and THE BOOTS!THOSE KICK ASS BOOTS!Scales wrapped around it's legs,and the feet were heads!
GODZILLA HEADS!!
I stammered back and looked at the kid-
"This is a cool painting"I said
The kid lnew I was confused,and like some younger version of Professor Dark from Ray Bradburys' "Something Wicked This Way Comes"he looks up at me sinisterly and says...
"They really look like that"
I know now,at that very moment puberty hit.All of a sudden I was sucked into the world of Rock & Roll.I was hypnotized by the concept of four men,dressed up like monsters,singing about being young and crazy,and getting chicks.My life would never be the same again.
Before KISS,my heroes were the old monster movie actors like Boris Karloff,Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price,the local horror movie host-The Ghoul-and comic book superheroes such as the X-Men,but the one thing these old icons of mine didn't have were-The CHICKS!
I learned an important lesson in school that day-you can look like a complete freak and still get the chicks!(That is if you're wearing a guitar around your neck too!)
So,within' seconds,my life became a crusade on getting my hands on anything and everything that had to do with KISS.Records,posters,magazines-This went on for months.Then on Halloween night I got to see my heroes in action for the very first time on national TV,when they were guests on "Paul Lynde's Halloween Special"I couldn't believe my eyes.It was true!Monsters really do exist!
My world revolved around KISS.I learned all the words to thier songs(even tho' at the time I had no idea what they meant when they screamed "Love Gun" or "Plaster Caster"),then,as I was looking thru a Detroit newspaper,I came across a giant,full sized ad-
KISS was coming to Detroit!!!
I flipped!
I begged my parents to take me,my dad said he'd do hat he could,but alas,there was no hope.The concert sold out quickly and my dad couldn't get the tickets.I was shattered.My dad felt bad and did get me tickets to see The Electric Light Orchestra-which was pretty cool-it helped to expose me to the wonders of the live concert and broadened my musical tastes(plus they had lasers!)but,it still wasn't KISS.
A half a year went by,catching a glimpse here and there of the masked marvels on TV and in magazines,furthering to add fuel to my rock & roll obssession.
Then,it was my birthday.My father sat down with me on the living room couch and said he's got my birthday present,but I wouldn't actually be able to see it til January.I said ok,not quite understanding what he meant by that.
He reached into his pocket and handed me tickets.
Printed in black on yellow paper read "Belkin Productions presents KISS-OLYMPIA STADIUM.JAN.20,1978!
I can't remember if I freaked or not(even tho' I may have appeared calm,on the inside I was shaking!)It was the single greatest gift I ever got(Well,not counting the suprise gifts I have gotten over the years by girlfriends,which I really won't go into here at the moment).
Anyways,to make a long story into a long story,but not as long as a long story could be,it lead to the first KISS concert of my life.
So,that was the beginning of my long journey with KISS.I've seen them many,many times since.I've met them and said goodbye to them as they played thier final show here in Las Vegas in August.I have many KISS memories to share-there will be more.
So til then-do yourself a favor-slip "DESTROYER" into your cd player,set it to track one,and take that trip back in time to Detroit Rock City with me-
....Ragz Dandelion
PS.I wanna thank my father for kickin' ass for me and enjoying the whole KISS experience with me.I love ya pops!
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