Subject:
Shouting Out Loud to the whole band (past and present!)
From:
metalwulf on 05/31/2008
Where to begin...
This is kinda hard, guys. My life as a KISS fan goes back almost to the beginning, probably around late 1975 or so.
Here\'s the deal: I was in third grade, and not exactly what you\'d call popular with anybody to begin with. I was in the school library when I noticed some of the few classmates who accepted me listening to something on one of the record players. I was kinda curious, so I asked them what they were listening to, and one of them just handed me a pair of headphones and plugged me in to one of the jacks.
That was my first dose of KISS. Specifically, the live version of Black Diamond from Alive!
Yeah...
Needless to say, that day changed my life.
Not that listening to KISS increased my popularity, \'cuz there were plenty of kids in my class who just had to use that against me. I can\'t begin to tell you how many times I heard \"KISS Sucks!\" over the years. Not that it changed anything.
Anyhoo, that particular day began a long and arduous process of getting my parents to let me purchase a KISS album of any kind.
Let\'s put it this way. Christmas 1975, I asked for a KISS album, ANY KISS album.
I got something like Happy Days presents Fonzie\'s Greatest Hits of the Fifties...
Yeah, just a little off the mark on that one...
Christmas 1976, still asking for ANYTHING by you guys.
That year I got Frampton Comes Alive!
Okay, not too bad, but come on...
Finally, my parents cut me a deal. Fourth grade had actually gone pretty well for me academically, and I was told if I finished the year off with the same grades I\'d started with, they\'d buy me a KISS album.
So, it wasn\'t until June of 1977 that I got my first copy of Destroyer.
However, Christmas of 1977 brought me copies of Hotter Than Hell, Alive II, and Alive!
Now we were talkin\'...
Didn\'t take too long for me to catch up, and for a few years KISS was pretty much all I\'d listen to.
The only disappointing part of all of that at the time was that I was just a tad too young to be going to shows, otherwise life would have been pretty much perfect!
Sure there was some disappointment along the way. I was pretty bummed when Peter left the band, and even more so when Ace left. I thought I\'d never get a chance to see the original lineup...
But Eric Carr was amazing, and I bawled like a baby when I\'d heard of his passing in \'91.
And let\'s face it, the guys who took Ace\'s spot over the years haven\'t exactly been slouches. Loads of love and respect to them as well.
Eric Singer, well, I\'ve had the good fortune to catch him on tour with Alice Cooper a couple of times. Great shows! He\'s an amazing talent. Definitely can\'t take anything away from him!
Eventually I started listening to other stuff, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Ozzy, Sabbath, Aerosmith, the list goes on. The only band that ever surpassed you guys in my book was AC/DC. Yeah, guilty confession time. The running joke is that while you guys were my first great rock n\' roll love affair, AC/DC was the dirty little mistress that lured me away.
Anyhow, not trying to write a book here, but when the original lineup got back together in the late Nineties I was beyond thrilled.
I finally got to see you guys live in November of 1998 when you came to Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY on the Psycho Circus tour. Best show I\'ve ever seen, and I\'ve been to more than a few, believe me! That night made all the crap I\'d taken for being a KISS fan worthwhile, and I got to enjoy the experience with my youngest brother, Bill, which more or less made for a perfect evening. Seeing Black Diamond performed live was just earth shattering for me, that\'s the best way I can put it.
In closing, I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for blessing my life with the gift of Rock N\' Roll and all the greatness that it brings! You\'ve definitely got a fan for life!
in Stockholm Sweden
