Calling Dr. Love, Kiss, 1977
I have to preface this post by admitting, I’m a pretty big Kiss fan. I could easily list 10 Kiss songs I consider to be my favorites and another 10 or so that are very significant to me. “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” takes the prize for being the first Kiss song I ever heard. I was 10 years old and this song was on – of all things – a soundtrack my best friend had. Without googling, do you know the soundtrack? My favorite cousin, who was two years older than me, really fell hard for Kiss about that same time. By the time Creatures of the Night came out in the early 80s, my cousin had amassed all the band’s previous albums and had Kiss posters all over his walls. He was definitely part of the Kiss Army and, unbeknownst to my mother, I was his First Lieutenant.
It’s not surprising that Kiss was the first band where I knew the members by name and had a “favorite” member. The change in the original lineup that took place in the 80s was really hard for my cousin and me to take because we had just “discovered” them. But, truthfully, we were already committed to the band and our fandom wasn’t derailed at all by the change. We just had to pretend that we didn’t notice how “the band” became just Gene and Paul with a new line of demarcation.
The music stayed true to the early Kiss sound throughout the 80s and it was a pretty fun bonding era for my cousin and me. We made it through the melodramatic “unmasking” and Animalize was a highpoint of the post Ace and Peter years for me. Being a somewhat rebellious 13-year-old girl hanging out with my older cousin singing “Heaven’s on Fire” made for some really powerful memories.
Now, with some 40+ years of Kiss being part of my life, I mostly gravitate toward old school Kiss. “Calling Dr. Love” is pretty consistent as my favorite Kiss song – I listen to it so often that it’s not even funny. It consumes me and can remedy any bad mood as I channel Gene Simmons with each listen. I am bad ass. Whereas every 80s Kiss song makes me think of my favorite cousin who died about a decade ago in a car accident, every classic Kiss song makes me think of this one guy from my past – Mike. I have fond, fiery memories of Mike ... memories where questionable judgement is the common theme. Ahh, but I digress -- that’s a story for another day.
https://youtu.be/CRMnCRoDguc
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