Kiss entered the CD era of music, a period stuffed full of over bloated albums for no other reason than to take advantage of the formats length capacity, with their longest album released up to that time, the fifty-eight minute thirty-nine second, Hot In The Shade. Despite its length, cost savings were the name of the game, which resulted in Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons opting to use overdub methods on their previously recorded demo tracks, versus re-recording them.
Please with Eric Carr's rendition of the Peter Criss penned Beth on their previously released greatest hits album, the band also allowed the drummer to take on the vocals of the song, Little Caesar. It would be his only other lead vocal opportunity.
With the release of Hot In The Shade, Kiss ushered in their highest charting non-make-up era hit, Forever. The tune was a powerful rock ballad penned by both Stanley and Michael Bolton. By April 1990, it would peak at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Future bandmate, Tommy Thayer, would also contribute in writing tracks for the album.
Continuing to embrace the MTV era, Kiss released three music videos for the album. These included, Forever, Rise To It, and Hide Your Heart. Forever would go on to be voted number one on the show, Dial MTV, and reach number forty-seven on MTV's top 100 videos for 1990.
Despite these receptions, at the time, Hot In The Shade would be the first Kiss album since 1982's Creatures Of The Night to not reach platinum status, stalling at gold. Sales of their albums have since fluctuated, with some eventually reaching platinum status. However, despite this, one thing is for sure. Overall, sales for Kiss was on a steady decline. While some of their future albums managed to reach gold status, the majority didn't receive any sales accreditations.
Okay, I can still work with this. I'm not too keen on the overall running time of the album, but it sounds like the record has potential. So, let's dive in.
Things kick off with the heavy tongue in check, Rise To It. Not only was the song not very good from its heavy innuendoes, but for some reason midway through the guitar solo, the lead guitar seems to get softer and softer, as if improperly mixed.
Fortunately, things did pick up from there, and I found some good tunes to add to my shuffle list. These included, Betrayed, Hide Your Heart, Forever, King Of Hearts, You Love Me To Hate You, and Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell. However, I couldn't help this nagging feeling in my head.
Between 1987 and 1989, several big names were working with Desmond Child. These included Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and so on. Under his tutelage, they were churning out massive hits, and decade defining records. However, this wasn't the same case with Kiss, who also worked with him. It's both odd and disappointing at the same time.
Overall, Hot In The Shade was decent, but it carries on the tradition of Kiss, which frankly is consistent mediocrity. It's neither a ceremonious bookend to the 80's, nor a noteworthy footnote in their storied career. It still leaves me asking the question, "How did Kiss get so popular?"
There's so much more history within the period of 1990 through today, and to go into would be a massive undertaking. With that said, there are definitely key points worth noting, such as the unfortunate and untimely death of Eric Carr in 1991, the reuniting of all four original members for the 1996 MTV Unplugged episode, the long awaited reunion tour of said classic members between 1996 and 1997, which also included the bands return to make-up. Then there was the departure of Frehley and Criss again, the hiring of Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, a farewell concert, and eventual selling of the entire Kiss legacy to Pophouse Entertainment Group in 2024. Mind you, all of this is just the very tip of the iceberg.
In hindsight, it amazes me that between 1974 and 1989 that Kiss released thirteen studio albums, seventeen if you count the four solo efforts under the bands banner. Yet between 1992 and 2012, they only released five more records before embarking on their over extended farewell tour which ended in 2023. Despite retiring, and selling their legacy, believe it or not, Kiss continue to make appearances and perform shows.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS October 21, 1989 |
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