DVD - Kissology, Vol. 1, 1974-1977

As KISSology - Vol. 1 (1974-1977) announces loudly, all the chutzpah and bombast that made KISS so huge--the fire-breathing, the blood-dripping, the kabuki-mask make-up and platform shoes, the synchronized head-bobs--were in place from the very beginning. KISS's 1974 concert in San Francisco is virtually identical to their 1977 concerts in Japan and Houston, at the peak of their popularity. For hardcore fans, this opportunity to bask in the nuances of five performances of "Black Diamond" and six performances of "Firehouse" is essential viewing, but for the less committed the pleasures of KISSology lie in the bizarre collisions pop culture is heir to: Gene Simmons, in full costume, declaring himself "evil incarnate" on The Mike Douglas Show; Margaret Hamilton, done up in her Wizard of Oz Wicked Witch of the West garb, introducing KISS to the ever-cackling Paul Lynde on Lynde's 1976 Halloween special (the footage from this special doesn't include the tender ballad "Beth", undoubtedly due to the estrangement of drummer Peter Criss, who sang the band's highest charting U.S. single); and the truly surreal incident where KISS went to Cadillac, Michigan, and had breakfast with the entire city council wearing full KISS makeup before the band made a spectacular exit by helicopter. Rock & roll is full of strange phenomena, but KISS is one of the most inexplicable: An adolescent fever dream of superheroic hedonism that somehow achieved world-wide stardom and kept its career alive for over 30 years. KISS started as a deliberate cartoon, became a bad joke, and have re-emerged as a fond memory, still cranking out pyrotechnic spectacle. Three volumes of KISSology is probably excessive, but why stop the excess now? --Bret Fetzer

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