3/15: MY THOUGHTS ON KISS DESTROYER AT 40
Kiss Destroyer is 40 years old today. To say this was a landmark album for me would be a massive understatement. Up until 1976 I was a young kid into the pop music of the day. In ’75 I had discovered a power pop band called The Raspberries (who I still love to this day). Their edgy power chords over harmonies made me take notice and it was the first real rock band I kind of embraced. But that only set the stage for the day I was walking home from Jr High at the age of 13 with my friend Peter and we passed the record store as we always did. Pete said he was going in to get a new album by a band called Kiss. I never heard of the band and followed him in to the store as he approached the “K” section and pulled out a copy of Rock & Roll Over. That album had just been released. But Peter said to me to get the previous one because that was great and he hadn’t heard R&R Over yet. So I did. And the previous album was of course Destroyer.
I took the album home that day, unwrapped it, dropped the needle and just looked at the cover. Game over! From the open to Detroit Rock City that second my life was changed. I became consumed with Kiss. It was all that mattered to me for a few years. My world was Kiss. Every part of my room was Kiss posters. Any other band was a threat to Kiss (remember, I was a kid! ha). I don’t know if it’s my favorite Kiss album. I get asked that a lot. There is really no one album from the original lineup I can say is a favorite. Too many great songs. But Destroyer was a massive leap forward for them and it is without question the album that set me on my path to discover, love, and support rock and metal my entire life. Happy 40th to an all time classic!
Can’t believe it’s forty years since Destroyer first album I bought after listening to my brothers copy of Kiss Alive open the floodgates for likes of Van Halen Priest Iron maiden and Slayer Metallica Anthrax the list goes on damn getting old
I dishonorably discharged myself from the KISS ARMY at the age of 7.
40 yrs? Holy crap I’m getting old.
I was 15 when a friend of mine introduced me to KISS with their “Lick it Up” album. I know some turn their nose up when someone mentions “Like it Up,” but hey, this album was my gateway (drug) to becoming a KISS fan. When I entered college in 1987, word got around that I was a KISS fan, and people started giving me KISS records. I had an old girlfriend give me “Destroyer” on record. A cassette copy of “Destroyer” does not do the album cover justice. It only comes to life when you see it on a record album jacket. “Destroyer” quickly became one of my favorite KISS records. I had another friend give me “Rock and Roll Over” on record as well. That’s another album cover that a record album does the cover justice. They don’t make record covers like that any more.