NAPSTER Memories

Now y'all did it.

I'm into the Eric Carmen/Raspberries thread, up to my elbows.

 

As everyone here knows, my musical tastes lean almost entirely towards mainstream and I've been skewered endlessly for it. All in good fun. And I like most of Kiss' hits. But their body of work is eminently disposable pop produced by a pair of whores who spent the first 25 years of their careers licking their fingers and trying to adjust to the direction of the wind. Disco? Concept records? No more makeup? Hair metal? Guns n' Roses-like sleaze rock? Grunge? Makeup again? LOOK AT US WE'RE PRESENT AND CURRENT! (Credit to them for "Revenge," which came out just as Nirvana changed the world and actually sounded different from all the other records coming out from hair metal bands in 1992)

The last 25 years have been an unabashed cash grab that's endlessly mocked the fans they insist they love so much. With Ace & Peter squeezed out, it's been a tribute band with backing tracks for the last God knows how many tours. Why should anyone defend Kiss' legacy when Gene & Paul think so little of it? And once the 72nd "farewell" tour ends, they'll start up The Kiss Experience (four randos in the outfits) authorized by Gene & Paul, or some shit. Damn, I should visit those boards and pull some Bubbler-like shit!

 

One of the great sly lines in that episode (I think it was that one) is when Gene's tongue unrolls and a few seconds later you hear Lois moan "Oh Chaim."

Also those guys are fucking 73 and 71. That's wild.

 

I guess that's really a thing.

 

I took a job back in 2000 at this wanna-be online retail outfit strictly because they had a T3 connection and I could burn about 10 music CDs a day. I was burning stuff and selling it to friends for $7/pop. Probably made as much selling CDs as I did at the job.

 

That episode is more than 20 years old and to this day I can't hear "Rock and Roll All Nite" without singing, "And have a wonderful ... time" when the big build-up to the chorus hits.
I love the way those early Family Guy episodes skewered the absurdity of KISS. The one where the Christmas special "KISS Saves Santa" (which I always assumed was a parody of "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park") is playing in the background of the whole episode is awesome as well.

 

Probably been on that thread. Love me some Raspberries.

I was THRILLED when Eric Carmen followed me on Twitter and complimented me on a tweet I made about the Raspberries.

Turns out, he's basically a loon and I have him muted these days, but I'm still pretty thrilled about it.

 

Musically? It's one of their best songs. Hooky as fuck. There's a reason Tone Loc sampled it on "Funky Cold Medina".

Lyrically? Well, you know the rest.

 

Which is NOT the same as the Loc's "Wild Thing."

 

He really is, from the sounds of that thread. Music's king of conspiracy theories.

 

Favorite factoid about KISS -- not sure where I read this, probably in some Klosterman book:

When the boys thought they were hot enough to put out four lame-ass solo albums at one time in 1978 or so, Ace's record sold the most copies (probably because of "New York Groove" being on it). Apparently Gene was so pissed that, over the years, he and his flunkies kept buying copies of the Gene solo KISS record until it officially had sold the most.

That's an anecdote -- true or not -- that needs to be included in Simmons' obituary, it's so on the money.

 

What argument? That's an argument? Seriously?