Henry Rollins once remarked in his concert recording Talk is Cheap, Volume 2, about the rock band KISS… either you love them, or you don’t. Rollins, a punk rocker from way back was not a big fan of KISS. Begrudgingly, he accompanied the rest of the members of his band Rollins Band to a 2000 KISS concert. It was the reunion tour…and Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter won over Rollins like he had never been won over before.
I was the same way.
As a squirrel out in the street, I obviously never got a chance to listen to much music. Most of the time what I did hear came from open car windows as they sped past me. When I adopted Frank, I started listening to entire songs for the first time in my life. I found KISS.
The songs were good. But they weren’t great. Then, Frank showed me why they were so great…a video of one of their live shows.
Boom. I was converted. The lights, the explosions, the spitting of red syrup, the flying…wow. The music was just one part of the overall show. These guys aren’t the best musicians in the world, they don’t write songs that will change the world. They do something better… they make you forget the world for a while. That’s not something you can just learn how to do.
I also wish I had 1/1,000,000th of the confidence these guys exude. If you only know four chords, but play them like you know 400 you are something that many wish to be. Confidence isn’t learned either. It is either there or not there.
I’m gonna go listen to Love Gun now. You should too.
