Forty Years Ago, Today

With the report of yet another Florida shooting that will likely be defended under the "White Guys Can Shoot Unarmed Black Kids, Just Because" "Stand Your Ground" law, your Uncle PC is putting off his pending "Christianist Gun Nuts" post for, at least, one more night.

Besides, The Blog is still under the influence of "The Lego Movie."

So, everything is still awesome.

                                                                   Best segue ever.

Instead, The blog will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the first album by KISS.

Your PC loves KISS.

They aren't the greatest rock band, ever.

Musically, they may not even rank in The Blog's top 10.

But, I have rarely missed a KISS concert.

                                                                  Because, seriously.

KISS is everything that a hard rocking nerd loves.

Pyrotechnics. Comic book super hero costumes. Cranium crushing loudness and the occasional pretentious power ballad.

To honor this 40th anniversary, I could post a bunch of YouTube™ videos of past performances.

But, you can find them anywhere.

Instead, I'm going to point you in the direction of SoundCloud.com where a user named Christopher Armes put together 45 solid minutes of KISS front-man Paul Stanley's trademark stage banter.

If you actually have 45 minutes to listen to the whole thing, you should get out more, more power to you.

Even a diehard fan like The Blog realized, after the first few concerts he attended, that The Starchild's shtick was the weirdest part of a KISS concert. Paul was the original "hype man" before the rappers and DJs and hip-hoppers made it a thing.

And, as time went on, Paul's banter became as familiar and predictable as their playlists.

"I know... You like to take a taste of ALCOHOOOOOOOLLLLLLL!!!!!!" is Paul's very own "Freebird."

Which is especially weird when one understands that Paul and Gene are tea-totalers, whose intolerance for drug and alcohol abuse eventually led to the firing of original bandmates (and notorious substance abusers) Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. 

But, back to the SoundCloud file...

If you can actually make it through the whole thing, you might notice that it starts out funny and kitschy. But, as it goes on, thanks to repetition and the lack of musical context, it seems to devolve into a study of a dark, existential crisis.

But, do not cry for the aging rocker.

Forty years later, the band (in one form or another) is still going strong.

Which is more than you can say for The Beatles.

And the KISS™ brand keeps expanding.

                                                               From miniature golf...

                                                                      To restaurants...

                                            To the Los Angeles area's only football team...

KISS is rocking all the way to the bank.

And we fans love it.

Here's to 40 more years.