My goodness! I never expected to receive as much feedback on my purchase of KISS tickets as I’ve gotten. Apparently, my interest in seeing them has confounded those closest to me, so I thought I’d provide a little context here.

My earliest memory of KISS was seeing KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park on television when I was little. I know I was under seven when I saw it, because until fairly recently, the movie was tangled up with episodes of Wonder Woman in my memory.

Since I initially equated them with my favorite super hero, I never saw (and still don’t see) KISS as a rock band or as the devil’s henchmen. I see them as cultural icons– as lingering ephemera from my childhood.

KISS remained in the periphery of my cultural vision, but the next time they really grabbed my attention was when they were the focus of the teen adventure flick, Detroit Rock City.

In this film, KISS is the rough-and-evil rock band the teens want to see, despite their parents’ strong objections. It was in the course of seeing the movie promos that I realized I’d never actually heard much KISS music– I just believed them to be hard, hard rock because of their image. So I listened to some.

Have you ever listened to KISS? If you grew up in the post-KISS era, as I did, you’ve heard harder, faster, louder, and more satanic music than this. Possibly in your grandmother’s car. I was expecting some obvious precursor of the death metal or speed metal I’ve been exposed to, but I felt like I was getting angry Perry Como. I’m still in a state of minor disbelief that these spectacular (literally) stage performers with a flair for pyrotechnics were ever the bane of any parent’s existence. Somehow, their tameness only served to intrigue me further.

And then the merchandising. In my childhood, KISS was on t-shirts and lunch boxes. There were KISS dolls and KISS posters. Have you heard about the KISS coffin? It’s real!

This band has a remarkable knack for selling themselves. They represent (to me) an extreme in being rock stars. This is one model for “making it,” and I think it’s a fascinating one. I want to see what they do, and I want to see it first hand. I want to immerse myself in the KISS Army for a night. And I’m going to. In November. And I’ll tell you all about it afterwards.

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