KISS albums ranked from worst to best 

Kiss albums ranked from worst to best

Classic Rock presents the complete list of Kiss' 29 albums, each ranked from worst to best

They were not the first rock’n’roll band with a strong visual identity: The Beatles had their mop-tops and dandyish suits. They were not the trailblazers in rock theatre: Bowie and Alice Cooper went before them. But if there is one band that has understood and exploited the power of image in rock’n’roll, and the importance of putting on a show, it\'s Kiss.

With painted faces, outlandish costumes and seven-inch stack-heeled boots, Kiss arrived in the 70s like superheroes straight out of a comic. They had superhero names: rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist Paul Stanley was The Starchild; bassist Gene Simmons, The Demon; lead guitarist Ace Frehley, The Space Ace; drummer Peter Criss, The Catman. What they presented in concert was the greatest show on Earth, with explosions, blood, fire-breathing, a rocket-launching guitar… At a Kiss concert, it was possible to believe a man could fly.

And at the heart of it was a great all-American rock band. While derided by serious music fans (and, of course, critics) as nothing more than a circus act, Kiss didn\'t sell 100 million records by fluke. In the band’s vast catalogue are some of the greatest and most influential rock albums of all time.

In the 42 years since the release of the first Kiss album, there have been 19 more studio albums, numerous live albums and compilations, and – most ambitious of all – four solo albums from the original band members, released on the same date: September 18, 1978.

Much of the classic Kiss material dates from the 70s, but in the following decade – without Frehley and Criss, and more importantly, without the make-up – Kiss rode the glam-metal wave they had done so much to inspire.

When Stanley and Simmons founded Kiss in New York City in early 1973, their primary influences were British, from The Beatles and the Stones through to Led Zeppelin, The Who and Slade. In turn, Kiss influenced a generation of rock musicians, especially in America. Their music was an inspiration for such diverse acts as Mötley Crüe, Anthrax, Pantera and Stone Temple Pilots.

and both Kiss and Nirvana were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at a the same ceremony in New York in 2014, where the Kiss story began so many years ago.

It wasn’t the worst solo album ever made by a drummer – that was Keith Moon’s risible

. But this was undoubtedly the worst of the Kiss solo albums.

A fan of pop and soul music, Criss turned MOR crooner on lightweight toe-tapping tunes such as

, written by long-time band associate Sean Delaney, and perfectly suited to Peter’s raspy voice.

To the horror of Kiss fans, this was music that their parents would like. As Paul Stanley said: “Peter’s album was ghastly.”

In the 90s, after Nirvana changed pretty much everything as far as rock music was concerned, a few stars of the hair metal era tried their hand at The Grunge Album. Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard had a go. And so did Kiss with

, on which they ditched the party anthems for a heavy, downbeat style similar to Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. It was a strange turnaround for a band that had been cited as a major influence by so many grunge stars, including Kurt Cobain, the Melvins and Stone Temple Pilots. Moreover, the notion of Kiss as an alternative rock band was ludicrous. But in the end, a potential disaster was averted. In 1996, the release of

was shelved when the original line-up of Kiss reunited, in make-up. This album eventually snuck out a year later as a kind of ‘official bootleg’ deal.

, they were milking that thing dry. The USP – as sold in the album title – was that Kiss were performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra when the album was recorded at the city’s Telstra Dome stadium on February 28, 2003. The result, however, was a mess. There was no real cohesion between band and orchestra. And while a version of Paul’s wonderfully camp pop number

The title was classic Kiss; the album, less so. The band had sounded revitalized on

, they lost that spark. Ahead of the album’s release, Paul Stanley had hyped it in typically overblown fashion: “A sensory overload,” he said. “Powerful, heavy, melodic and epic.” But really, there wasn’t much to shout about. There were flashes of brilliance in Paul’s daft rock’n’roll sermon

In 1996, the prayers of Kiss fans were answered. The band’s original line-up reunited, put the slap back on, and toured to huge success. Two years later came

, the first Kiss album since ’79 to feature Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. But all was not as it seemed. Criss played on only one track, Frehley on two. Paul Stanley later admitted: “There was no real band.”

was just an advertising jingle. For the original Kiss, this was a miserable swansong.

was certified platinum in the US, the band’s biggest seller since

. It was also the only Kiss album to feature lead guitarist Mark St. John, who joined as replacement for Vinnie Vincent but was forced to withdraw from the band during the

tour after contracting Reiter’s Syndrome, a form of arthritis. The best songs on the album were Paul Stanley’s – the exultant

. Gene’s were phoned in, although he did contribute a memorable double entendre in

.\' Sadly for Mark St. John, this was his one brief moment of fame. He died in 2007, aged 51.

Some 14 years after Kiss had their biggest hit single in America with

. For the only time in their career, Kiss used additional writers on every track on this album. Paul Stanley wrote

with Desmond Child and Holly Knight. An AOR classic,

But among the 15 tracks were some clunkers, including two tracks written by Simmons with future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer. The band’s lengthiest studio album proved that size isn’t everything – even for Kiss.

At the height of glam metal, Kiss were in competition with bands on which they’d had a huge influence, such as Mötley Crüe and Poison. The classic make-up was gone, but Paul Stanley especially was still plastering on the lipstick and eyeliner. And under his control,

was as flashy and trashy as anything that was coming out of the Sunset Strip scene – as illustrated by the album’s priapic and preposterous final track,

, an AOR anthem powered by a heavy, chugging riff. Gene was still coasting on half-baked numbers such as

. This album also marked the debut of lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, whose brother Bob had auditioned for Kiss back in 1973, and had played an uncredited role, filling in for Ace Frehley, on

and other Kiss albums. Bruce Kulick would stay with Kiss for ten years.

On August 9, 1995 came the moment that every Kiss fan had dreamed of: when Ace Frehley and Peter Criss joined Paul and Gene onstage for the first time since 1979. It was the climax to the band’s acoustic performance for MTV Unplugged – the only time that Frehley and Criss played alongside Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick, and most significant of all, the only time that the four original members of Kiss performed together without make-up. From this came the impetus for a full-scale reunion with Ace and Peter. Which was great for the Kiss Army, if not for Singer and Kulick. And on a purely musical level,

was a triumph. The band’s songs worked brilliantly in the acoustic format – from lesser-known album tracks such as

for pure rock’n’roll excitement and cultural impact. But this third instalment of the franchise-within-a-franchise proved that Kiss were still a great live act, even without the make-up that had been so much a part of the magic. Recorded in 1992 on the

featured most of the band’s greatest songs from the years after

, that could never be dropped from the band’s set.

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For much of the 80s, Paul Stanley carried Kiss, while Gene Simmons was busy acting in movies and producing and managing other artists. The success of

(the only Kiss album to feature guitarist Mark St. John) and 1986’s

(on which St. John’s replacement Bruce Kulick made his debut),

had a lighter sound, with keyboards high in the mix.

Stanley delivered three strong singles: power ballad

The band disowned it. The critics panned it. Most Kiss fans hated it. And few bought it. For all that,

is cherished among a small minority of diehard Kiss fanatics who consider it the band’s lost classic. This grandiose concept album was, by his own admission, Gene Simmons’ folly – based on a fantasy tale he’d written, and conceived as the soundtrack to a Hollywood movie. As Simmons told

: “We were convinced that we were making our

.” The movie was never made, and the album bombed. But in terms of artistry and ambition, there has never been a Kiss album to equal it, before or since. Produced by Bob Ezrin – who had worked on the classic Kiss album

was as close as this band ever got to art rock. It has great songs, including

, all of which were co-written with rock legend Lou Reed. And while Simmons now describes this album as the product of “temporary insanity”, there was, in that madness, something approaching genius.

Where Stanley and Frehley took the route-one approach to their solo albums, Simmons went completely off-piste. He enlisted an all-star cast of backing musicians, including Joe Perry, Bob Seger, Donna Summer and his then girlfriend Cher. Others on his wish list were unavailable: Lennon and McCartney, and the world’s most famous dog, Lassie.

Simmons later said his album was “disjointed”, but it includes some of the best songs he’s ever written:

is a fantastic pop-rock album, although Paul Stanley has a different assessment: “We lost our balls,” he said. The producer on

was Vini Poncia, who had worked with Ringo Starr and Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, and also on Peter Criss’ solo album.

In hindsight, Stanley felt that Poncia “sanitised” Kiss. But there are great songs on

The album featured Criss on the cover, but was recorded with drummer Anton Fig. By the time

Timing is everything. In 1979, rock fans launched the protest campaign ‘Disco Sucks!’ At a baseball game in Chicago, a crate filled with offending records, mostly by the Bee Gees, was blown up on the pitch. And in the same year, Kiss put out a disco song.

was a brilliant synthesis of disco and hard rock, and a US Top 20 hit. Parent album

reached the Top 10. But this one song alienated many Kiss fans, and precipitated the band’s decline in America.

is a good album, with genius pop-rock songs, alongside Frehley’s grittily autobiographical

Of the four solo albums, Paul Stanley’s sounded the most like Kiss. Essentially, it was an extension of his role as the band’s primary songwriter and lead vocalist – with, in his words, “my personality magnified”.

is a sensational song with an intense emotional charge – rated by Stanley as one of his best. Similarly,

is pure kick-ass Kiss. But on two tracks, he pushed the envelope.

Hold Me, Touch Me (Think Of Me When We’re Apart)

is the height of camp. Ultimately, it’s the best Kiss album Kiss never made.

Kiss’ most underappreciated record. The band’s 16th studio album was dedicated to the memory Eric Carr, the drummer who had served Kiss for 10 years before succumbing to cancer on November 24, 1991, the day that Freddie Mercury also died.

But with former Black Sabbath drummer Eric Singer in place of Carr, and producer Bob Ezrin back for a third time,

was a shrewd repositioning of Kiss at a time when grunge was king.

A heavier sound was established with Simmons’s sinister opening track

, an update of an old Argent song, supersized in classic Kiss style.

It had been 11 years since Kiss had made a new studio record, and Paul Stanley was determined that they should come back with a bang. “Sonic Boom is the perfect title for this album,” he said. “It’s earth-shaking and deafening!”

Guitarist Tommy Thayer made his debut on Sonic Boom. He even sang lead on one track, as did Eric Singer. But it was Stanley who hit the home runs with the Zeppelin-influenced

joked: “What ugly bastards they turned out to be.”

The reinvention of Kiss was Stanley’s idea, and it worked. Beginning in 1983, the new-look Kiss achieved a remarkable comeback. Having already used the perfect title for this album –

after a song that was classically Kiss. The tone was fast, flashy heavy metal, typified by Simmons’s

Guitarist Vinnie Vincent would be fired after the

tour, but the album sold well – proof Kiss could survive on their music alone.

The second Kiss album was, like the first one, a flop.

peaked at No.100 in the US. Even so, it’s one of their most influential records.

Producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise, who cut the band’s debut, gave this album the rawness and hard edge of garage rock. The heaviest song,

, was later recorded by Anthrax, and Gene Simmons’ twisted ballad

(‘I’m 93, you’re 16’) was covered by grunge oddballs The Melvins.

, one of the band’s loosest and coolest numbers, and the thumping title track, which was inspired by Free’s

The band’s sixth studio album was the first to feature all four members singing lead vocals. It was also the last Kiss album to feature the full original line-up on every track.

Ace Frehley would be absent for most of the studio tracks on

, and Peter Criss would appear on just one song on

The album’s title track is the ultimate expression of Paul Stanley’s oversexed persona, and an all-time classic Kiss song. On

, Frehley sings lead for the first time, sounding effortlessly cool – or maybe just pissed. And on

had been considered a sell-out. “The fans hated it,” Simmons said.

The band responded by ditching all the fancy stuff to recreate what Stanley called the “primitive quality” of

was recorded at the disused Star Theatre in Nanuet, New York, with Eddie Kramer, the producer of

The theatre’s ambience was perfectly suited to crunchy, no-frills rock songs such as

with Rod Stewart in mind. With Peter Criss singing it like Rod, it was another huge hit.

The band’s third album is their purest rock’n’roll record, with a stripped-down sound and a spontaneous feel typified by its most famous song,

. Neil Bogart, the head of Casablanca Records, took a hands-on approach with

, co-producing the album with the group. It sounded much cleaner and punchier than the preceding album,

. As Ace Frehley said: “There’s a lot of energy in this record.”

. And the album’s cover is a classic too, with the guys posing in suits borrowed from manager Bill Aucoin.

There was a joke about the Kiss solo albums that became received wisdom: they shipped platinum and returned double platinum. Gene Simmons put the record straight, telling

The surprise – and a kick in the balls for Simmons and Paul Stanley – was that Ace Frehley’s album was the most successful. The wayward guitarist scored a Top 20 hit with a breezy version of the Russ Ballard song

. What Ace delivered was a smoking, balls-out, hard-rock record with flashes of his goofball humour. And without Gene and Paul around, he could sing on Ozone:

is the heaviest Kiss album. More complex is the story of its creation.

By 1982, Ace Frehley had quit. His appearance on this album’s cover was purely to reassure fans as the band’s popularity waned. Behind the scenes, several guitarists auditioned. Amazingly, Eddie Van Halen was briefly in the frame. In the end, the job went to Vinnie Vincent, who co-wrote and recorded three tracks.

Somehow, Kiss pulled it off. Although the album wasn’t a hit, it restored their credibility via thunderous songs –

and the title track – with a drum sound bigger than John Bonham’s.

When the first Kiss album was released on February 18, 1974, the band’s make-up design was not yet perfected – but the music was fully formed. From the start, Kiss wrote anthems. Seven songs from the album would become Kiss standards:

but lacked the bottle to sing it. Instead, the staunchly teetotal Simmons did.

Kiss was not a hit at the time – US chart peak: No.87 – but it stands alongside Aerosmith, Montrose and Van Halen as one of the classic debut albums that built American hard rock in the 1970s.

Two years later came the sequel, and it was another blockbuster. Recorded on the

reached No.7 on the US chart, two places higher than

It was also a better representation of the Kiss live experience. The band sounded more powerful on tracks such as

. The audiences were more hysterical. And the original vinyl-issue gatefold cover opened to reveal the full OTT splendour of Kiss on stage.

Also included were five new studio tracks. The best of them, Frehley’s

The title screamed for attention, and it came. This double-live album turned Kiss into superstars.

Their first two studio records had bombed. The third reached the US Top 40 but had no hit single. A live album was a no-brainer for a band that had built its reputation on stage, but a double album was costly, a high‑stakes gamble. It paid off when

The album was a tour de force and a coming of age for Kiss as an arena-rock behemoth – as illustrated by the band’s definitive, crowd-pleasing anthem

, which became, at last, their first hit single.

With their fourth album, Kiss reached for the stars and created their masterpiece. Their first three studio records were simplistic rock’n’roll, banged out fast. For

, they hired Bob Ezrin, producer of Alice Cooper and Lou Reed. As a result, Kiss sounded bigger, better and smarter.

is an epic befitting its title – written by Stanley but sung by Simmons on Ezrin’s orders, it became the bassist’s signature song. And Ezrin transformed a soppy love song by Peter Criss into the orchestrated hit ballad

. “It’s an ambitious album,” Stanley said, “and it stands the test of time.”

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