My best fried in middle school was this kid Jim (his dad was a cartoonist, I think for Mad magazine). After school we would run over to his place and sit in his loft and listen to Kiss over over and over and over. Alive II was our record of choice. Jim had a white Fender Telecaster and a mini amp and he would try to play along. He also had an old white t shirt that six months earlier was somehow doused in maple syrup; by the time Alive II came out he had taken to putting the ragged old shirt up to his nose and sniffing the leftover syrup smell every few minutes. We listened to Alive II, Alive, then Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill, Love Gun.
METAL MONDAY: Love Gun by Kiss - Making a return appearance on Metal Monday, I had to post some Kiss today. There are a lot of songs I could post and that I actually prefer, but there is a good reason Love Gun is the one that first plays in my mind when the topic turns to Kiss.
My best friend in middle school was learning guitar solos when he roped me in one day. His father had a part-time gig as a guitarist for a local covers band, and had a pretty extensive LP collection full of 70’s arena rock, including every Kiss record and bootleg to date. My buddy was already getting pretty good playing many of the hits by Aerosmith, AC/DC, Kiss, Motley Crue and others. What he needed though was someone to play rhythm as he proceeded to channel Ace Frehley. Love Gun was one of the very first songs I learned to play (somewhat successfully) and led me to take up guitar on my own a few years later. I will never forget those first, rather frustrating weeks killing my hands and fingers to learn bar chords on a cheap electric guitar, and the exhilaration when I finally played a song all the way through.
