Discus amongst yourselves
Kiss’s formula was “Let’s put on makeup and do these massive stage effects with fire, smoke, fake blood, etc” set to big riffs…but there was never much song going on there.
Slade didn’t really sweat their songs, obviously, but goddamn the genius of essentially setting gooner-faced football chants to metal riffs was just glorious.
Probably kind of a wash…but KISS I guess never had a singer like Noddy Holder. Hell, very few bands playing loud rock EVER had a singer like Noddy Holder.
Slade was sort of a precursor to the Ramones, in that they were the first band (that I can think of) to be intentionally “stupid”, where the Ramones elevated that to an art form.
Of course, it’s a fine line…
Slade also helped fill that market need for guys over the age of 14 who really wanted to dig on those massive riffs from songs like Fox On The Run without being caught buying any Sweet singles with their sisters and gal pals at the local music shop.
I don’t know. In that firs video it looks like Noddy’s been shopping the same store as the Bay City Rollers.
I have to say Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot sounds quite a bit like him. I prefer Quiet Riot’s version of Cum On Feel the Noize. Was my favorite song in my teens for a while.
I think KISS is one of the first bands that treated music as a purely commercial device, rather than some altruistic artistic endeavor. Zeppelin was similar, but at their core they took they music damn seriously. I never got from KISS they took the music as serious as the merchandising.
I like a lot of KISS’s music, and they were one of the first bands I got into in Junior High, and lets face it, the Love Gun album cover is pretty much marketed to kids in Junior High.
Good lard, what next?
Captain Beefheart vs. Radiohead?
The Troggs vs Necrophagist?
ELO vs Richard Hell & The Voidoids?
Snoop Dogg vs Cat Stevens?