What the heck is Kix? I've never heard of them. I came across three of their four 80's albums while perusing my local used CD shop, and decided I'd not only pick them up, but eventually grab their fourth off ebay...or was it Discogs? Point being, I picked up all four, knowing nothing about the band, or any of their songs.
The lineup that would become Kix's first iteration came together in Hagerstown, Maryland by Donnie Purnell, Tee, Tunes, and Donnie Spence. While they started with the name, Kix, this was soon changed to Tee and Tunes. Ronnie "10/10" Younkins joined in December of 1976, but immediately thereafter, Tee and Tunes would depart.
In 1978, while known as The Shooze, Steve Whiteman joined, alternating drums and vocals with Spence. However, Spence would relent singing duties to Whiteman, stating he had a higher range.
A chance encounter with Brian "Damage" Forsythe, led to him joining the band. This was followed by Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant, and the departure of Spence, completing the classic lineup of Purnell, Whiteman, Younkins, Forsythe, and Chalfant.
Securing a recording deal with Atlantic Records, the quintet recorded and released their self-titled debut in 1981. Though it featured fan favorites from their live shows, the album failed to chart, nor make much of an impact at all.
It's a fairly generic hard rock / early metal album but not necessarily polished like your massive successors of that same year; AC/DC (For Those About to Rock We Salute You), Def Leppard (High 'n' Dry), Motley Crue (Too Fast For Love), Ozzy Osbourne (Diary of a Madman), Van Halen (Fair Warning), or Black Sabbath (Mob Rules). It's by no means bad, but it's also not the type of debut that necessarily excited me for the things to come.
Of the nine tracks, Heartache was really the only one that stood out to me. Still, it wasn't enough to excite me for future albums, and I started to wonder if I'd gotten myself into another one of those situations where I bought something because it was from the 80's, but not necessarily something worth having.
I suppose only time will tell in that aspect, and I'll only find out by continuing my Kix journey. Tomorrow I'll head into 1983's Cool Kids and see where that one takes me.
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