The Year Of KISS: Revenge (1992)

“I’ve gotta body built for sin and an appetite for passion!”

With the 1980’s behind them, KISS strolled into the new decade with their name still in the press but at a level that was nowhere near their success in the 1970’s. The band both lost and gained fans throughout the “no makeup” era that featured three different lead guitarists and musical style changes that went from hard rock to glam to pop rock and power ballads. Gene Simmons had strayed from the path of the band hoping to be everything from an actor to a record producer. With 1989’s Hot In The Shade, the band exited the decade with more respect, but also with a ton of questions. To top it all off, the hairband killer called grunge was about to rear its ugly head.

Hoping to reignite their brand once again, KISS returned to the recording studio to crank out what many consider to be their heaviest and purest hard rock album, 1992’s Revenge. After a pleasurable experience with Bob Ezrin recording their cover of Argent’s God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You (with altered lyrics and entitled God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II) for the soundtrack to Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, the band decided to bring him in as the producer for the album that would become Revenge. The group also brought in a number of outside sources to co-write songs and play on the album. Most notably, Vinnie Vincent made his return to the band as a songwriter on three tracks. The relationship was short-lived, however, as Vincent ended up suing the band.

Other problems arose for the band when Eric Carr’s health began to degrade. Suffering from heart cancer, Carr was able to record vocals for God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II, but was unable to play the drums. Eric Singer was brought in to record the drum tracks. Eric Carr appeared in the music video recorded for the song wearing a wig due to the fact that he had lost his hair as a result of chemotherapy. Carr would eventually die of complications from his cancer on November 24, 1991. Sadly, he passed away on the same day as Queen’s Freddie Mercury and as a result, his death was mentioned only in passing on news programs, overshadowed by the extremely popular Freddie Mercury. Carr’s backing vocals, his last recording with KISS, can be heard on Revenge on God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II.

Eric Singer would ultimately become KISS’ permanent drummer. Replacing Carr was tough as he was very popular with the KISS Army, but Singer, who had previously worked with Paul Stanley on a solo tour and was also part of Lita Ford’s band and Black Sabbath as well, slid right into the job and kept the band rolling. His shock of blonde hair also made him stand out amongst his new bandmates, as all of them had black hair and the band had adopted an all black look for the Revenge photoshoot. Singer has the uncanny ability to play multiple music styles at a ridiculously high level. From blues and soul rhythms to skin pounding rock and metal, Singer can play all of it with little effort. He is, in my opinion, KISS’ most technically gifted and multi-faceted drummer.

The album featured a total of twelve tracks. Of those twelve, five were released as singles. The first single, God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II was previously released on the soundtrack for Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey and peaked at #21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Unholy was the second single released promotionally in the United States but charted well in Europe. In peaked at #2 on the Norwegian Singles chart and made the top thirty in four other European charts. Domino was the third single and reached #26 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart followed by I Just Wanna which crawled to #34. The final single, Every Time I Look At You, only charted in Sweden at #31 on that country’s Sverigetopplistan chart. The album itself debuted and peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart making it KISS’ first album to break the Top 10 in the US since Dynasty thirteen years earlier.

Track Listing:

1. Unholy (Single)
2. Take It Off
3. Tough Love
4. Spit
5. God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II (Single)
6. Domino (Single)
7. Heart Of Chrome
8. Thou Shalt Not
9. Every Time I Look At You (Single)
10. Paralyzed
11. I Just Wanna (Single)
12. Carr Jam 1981

Personnel: Paul Stanley (lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar), Eric Singer (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Bruce Kulick (lead guitar, additional bass, backing vocals), Gene Simmons (bass, lead and backing vocals), Eric Carr (backing vocals on God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II and drums on Carr Jam ’91)

Paul Stanley sang lead on five tracks. Gene Simmons sang lead on four tracks. Stanley and Simmons alternated lead vocals together on two tracks (Spit and God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II). Carr Jam 1981 is an instrumental track. Additional musicians on the album include Vinnie Vincent on the guitar intro of Unholy, Kevin Valentine (drums), Dick Wagner (guitars), and Tommy Thayer, Jaime St. James, and Jesse Damon (backing vocals).

The album featured input from a number of writers. Paul Stanley co-wrote seven tracks. Gene Simmons co-wrote six tracks. Eric Carr received credit for writing Carr Jam 1981. Bruce Kulick co-wrote Tough Love. Vinnie Vincent received three co-writing credits. Producer Bob Ezrin co-wrote six tracks. Russ Ballard, Kane Roberts, Scott Van Zen, and Jesse Damon each received one co-writing credit.

Despite being especially popular amongst members of the KISS Army and loved by members of the band itself, Revenge failed to ignite KISS’ popularity amongst mainstream music listeners. The band faced stiff competition from grunge music, which was gaining popularity in the late 1980’s and would explode throughout the 1990’s, effectively wiping out popular hard rock, glam, and heavy metal bands of the time. Hip Hop and rap also proved to be tough competition, as the two styles became popular not only in urban areas, but in the middle class suburbs as well.

Even though it never really found its footing at the time of its release, Revenge was and still is an important album for KISS. It proved that the band did indeed have some serious heavy metal and hard rock chops with tracks like Unholy and Heart Of Chrome. It also reminded fans that KISS still knew how to have fun with tracks like I Just Wanna, Spit, and Take It Off. Of all of the non-makeup era releases, this album is probably the most consistent, featuring an excellent balance of songs and one token power ballad.

In my opinion, this is one of KISS’ best albums overall. Gene Simmons is at his demonic best on Unholy, which happens to be my favorite track off of this album. Just close your eyes and you can visualize the Demon licking up blood and aping across the stage in evil glee while this track plays. I Just Wanna is also a favorite track of mine. It’s just fun to sing along with and if you’re a student of rock n’ roll history, you’ll probably notice that the verses and overall song sound a lot like Summertime Blues by rock pioneer Eddie Cochran (co-written with his manager, Jerry Capehart). You can literally swap the lyrics out of both songs and they fit perfectly. It should be noted that Paul Stanley has stated that Summertime Blues was definitely the inspiration for I Just Wanna. Other songs that really stood out to me on this album are Heart Of Chrome, Tough Love, God Gave Rock N’ Roll To You II, and the somewhat trashy Take It Off. Spit and Domino are my least favorite tracks on the album. There’s something very forced about both of them to me. Every Time I Look At You is very good, but can’t compete with Beth or Forever in my opinion.

KISS could have ended their no-makeup era with Revenge and all would be just fine with me. However, they had one more album up their sleeve before the original members decided to get back together. I’ll cover that album next month along with the first and only studio album of the reunion era.

Thanks for checking out this post. The Year Of KISS is almost over. I hope that you have enjoyed it so far!