Of once and future Kiss.

 

 

As covered by every music news medium recently, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have been drumming up attention by claiming that Kiss will continue after they retire. That's right, a band made up completely of replacement players wearing the Kiss make-up. A band with the official brand "Kiss" that has no actual members of the original Kiss.

Question:

Is the Brand "Kiss" bigger then the sum of its players?

Let's face it, if you just put 4 shitty wanna-be dudes in uniform and call it Kiss, its really just a cover band. It wouldn't work. I've already seen that version of Kiss at a corner bar in Erie, Pa. I believe they called themselves "Strutter." It's like Kiss without the pyro. A little sheet metal peppered with 40 watt light bulbs, a little grease paint on your fat face and.... BOOM, you could start this cover band in your home town.

Kiss was founded on mediocre hard rock, a goofy gimmick, and cheesy comic book mystique. The songs got better with Love Gun and Destroyer, the make-up and costumes also got better also, and a combination of the three is what made them sell like Budweiser on a Friday in Ohio. They dubbed themselves "The hottest band in the world," and for a minute, they actually were.

Then it all fell apart... Goodbye Ace and Peter, hello 1980's.

The rebuilding stage is where I came of age. From '84 to '92, Kiss was just another Metal Band of the day. They went from Stadiums to Hockey Arenas, but they survived. They were never reduced to dreaded "opening act," never revisited the bar scene, and always sold records. Like many a hessian, I learned their back catalog from old records and (then) current live VHS. Any shred of the original gimmick was kaput by the time I was a pre-teen. The make-up had long since come off, and they relied on actual good songwriting to carry the band forward.

That was the renaissance age for Kiss. Post make-up/pre acoustic convention shows Kiss. That was one hell of a band in my opinion. Of course I found out later that the band was a band in voice only as so many of the sessions were recorded by studio musicians, but whatever.  None of that seems to be a big deal to the Kiss Army, and how can "a million strong" be wrong? Really, it was a different beast by then, and replacement players were aplenty.

Fast forward another 10 years. The reunion. The band was back. The 4 that started it all. The hottest reunion in the world, Kiss.

The world was ready for Kiss to be a nostalgic act. We all cheered and bought tickets by the buckets, but this is also where the band and relevance part ways. They tried to capture the magic with the Psycho Circus LP (Great song, bad LP), which as it turns out, was recorded by scabs, but the suits and the public had moved on from Kiss as a 1-800-Dial-MTV hit machine. KISS was already in an adjustment phase, so the touring circuit was prime for the latest addition into the dinosaur rock band scene.

And today, to say Kiss is no longer relevant is an understatement so large that if you made a YouTube video out of it, Whitney Thore would look small in comparison. To really love these guys as a teenager means that you are nerdy. It's like loving Rush. There's a bunch of them out there, but its in small, fragmented pockets. None of their friends care, and most people think it's kinda weird.

If Kiss has any chance of making a run at a franchise that is relevant, they have to take some risks. Risk is no stranger to Gene and Paul. They have made a career out of it. Their ability to reinvent is pretty awesome overall, and we should all respect them for it.

So, how do you franchise Kiss without creating another Kiss cover band? Simple... You need to capture the youth. Get today's generation behind you. Put a middle finger in the face of the old school, and make it palatable to a new generation. No one under the age of 40 has heard Firehouse, and even if they did, they'd find it BORING! New material for a new, more in touch, class of kids.

Kiss may already be on to something in the right direction... Kiss vs. Momoiro Clover Z may prove to be the first relevant thing they have done in years. It's a step back toward the cheese that got them here in the first place.

My suggestion to Kiss: Stay with the Japanese Girl thing. Pass the torch to them.

Here's why: The land of the rising sun definitely has some claim to the Kiss image. Their whole gimmick is kinda pre-historic anime with a funky 70's samurai flare anyway. Girls sell records. Japan loves Kiss. Japanese pop is seeping through to Western culture these days, so the iron is hot. My only suggestion is maybe find some girls a tad bit older then this group, but Japan has it's own thing going on culturally. Is the Cat Man really that far off from Hello Kitty?

 

 

Like they say in business, start small and scale fast. Pepper the market with crap like this Momorio mash-up, then do another comic strip. Let the girls kill Gene off and take his essence (or something like that), then get out of the way. Let them create their own legacy and let the old dudes stay behind the scenes.

Make the characters replaceable. Like a Japanese Menudo, or a musical Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The 4 year old in my life, Peyton, has discovered Power Rangers on Netflix. She loves it. The producers continually cycle through actors, the story lines are basically the same, but it still has appeal to the kids. Peyton is a good resource for me to keep in touch with all things pre-school, and I find her Power Ranger stage to be a reminder of when my son, Mocha (now 20), was totally into the same darn thing. I am actively keeping one foot in the toy box, and one fist in the sky....

With that in mind, Gene Simmons should consider a legacy "Kiss" corporation that capitalizes on nostalgia, but is relevant today as well. Be the Disney of music. Fresh blood and new ideas, new music and a new spin your original "characters" idea. It may sound crazy, but I believe it could work for a new crop of fans unwittingly begging for the Kiss of tomorrow. Consider that no kid today gives a flying V about Dumbo, but they all know who Elsa is.

It just might work...

One last thing, why the hell is Kiss in the football business?



Nago

Flopallica - (Through the) Never recoup your Money

Since the release of The Mighty Metallica's 2013 movie Through The Never, I have been wondering how they manage to justify spending their proverbial "Fuck You" money on losing business proposals.

This box office flop was an anticipated follow-up to the monumentally horrible LULU LP. For me, no amount of time will ever shine a decent light on that turd. It is still un-listenable, and, as a blue collar (at heart) music fan, is a step worse then Kiss's "The Elder" experiment. I am sure it didn't mean squat to Lou Reed, who's catalog is filled with awful offerings. RIP Lou, you were a critic's wet dream and every hipster's modern poet, but you kinda sucked... I guess you were ironic? IDK... I put you up there with the Grateful Dead in my list of "I'll never understand the appeal" artists.

As for Through the Never, it's actually pretty good. They did not repeat the Kiss curse (Phantom of the Amusement Park). The plot is a little out there, but the footage is stellar and the sound quality, albeit "fixed" in the studio (we all know Larz can't really pull off magic Live), is very good. I LOVED the Live "Orion" as the credits rolled. I was so stoked to see that. It made me remember how important the band was and is.

Enough fanboy rantings, lets discuss the business end. I have no open window to Metallica's finances, but it was well documented that they funded this movie themselves. I take total liberty in reporting the following numbers based on crappy Internet information, but it is the only real info I have available to me at this juncture.

First, lets start with the movie budget. According to Box Office Mojo, the budget for this film was $18 Million Dollars. the movie grossed the following upon it's release (as according to The-Numbers.com):

Theatrical Performance
Domestic Box Office	$3,422,409
International Box Office	$5,662,939
Worldwide Box Office	$9,085,348
Home Market Performance
Domestic DVD Sales	$153,451
Domestic Blu-ray Sales	$760,605
Total Domestic Video Sales	$914,056

The international DVD sales are not listed, but I do believe that we, as a whole, are an educated population that utilizes YouTube. I also know that the knock-off market is much larger overseas. Is it safe to assume another 2 Million in sales internationally? Lets just go with that figure for shit and giggles. That still leaves a deficit of Approximately $6 Million Dollars!!!

Now the tricky part. Licensing. Breaking down the profit of the streaming services per each movie streamed is probably an advanced calculus formula that would make my eyes roll into the back of my head. Probably even worse for rental services (do they still exist outside of RedBox?).

I guess when you have the kind of money to throw around like Metallica does, you can afford a flop or two. Lets see what Celebrity Net Worth has to say about the money.:

• James Hetfield: $175 Million
• Lars Ulrich: $200 Million
• Kirk Hammett: $70 Million
• Robert Trujillo: $15 Million

Lars is worth more then James? That's crazy, but neither are starving. I don't even pretend to be upset about their riches. If anyone can make and keep money in the music industry, Bless 'em All.

So I guess they can afford a flop or two. Personally I'd take a shitty Metallica LP (Saint Anger) over a good Lou Reed LP (none of them) any day of the week. That's just the Metalhead in me talking. And for the record, Metallica does what Metallica wants, and I respect them for it. Anyone dissin' Re-Load never listened to Low Man's Lyric at midnight during a downswing of a bi-polar episode. Just sayin'.

For whom the nerd tolls,

Nago

Motley Crue... A gateway Drug?

What Vince, where?

Do you know what's great about blogging? I can write about whatever I want without regard to current trends or be forced to wear a hat of criticism for material that I probably am too out of touch to understand and would, sub-consciously, compare to what fired me up about music in the first place.

I do stay somewhat current, but I afford myself the luxury of being current with what I choose to be current with. No force feeding pop culture for me, I decline to care about whoever has the dumbest neck tattoo and screams about some anti-whatever (politics, god, their broken home...etc.), and allow myself to be nerdy with my choices.

Alas, it was not always this way. A pre-teen Nago was as influential as anyone. Like so many an 11 year old, there was a gateway drug for me. I was aware of many styles and bands. I dabbled in AC/DC and Judas Priest. I had a strange fascination of Helix and Krokus, but the real drug that caught me, before Thrash ruled my world, was the one and only Motley Crue.

I know that each generation has their own version of what Crue meant to me at 11 years old, but there is still something about listening to the Shout at the Devil LP that is magical for me. I remember how big of a deal it was to see the video for Too Young To Fall in Love, and how these dudes were like super hero's to me then.

If you think about it, it's not that far of a stretch. A good gimmick was nothing new, Angus, Bowie, Kiss, Cooper and so on all had a gimmick 10+ years before the Crue hit my radar, Arthur Brown had his shtick years before that, and even before theatrics were in vogue, larger then life musicians must have had the same effect on the respective youths of their time. Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, even Clapton and Hendrix to a degree filled this void for many, I'm sure. They weren't human, they were super human, and treated like hero's. In hindsight, its kinda dumb to elevate someone who practiced his ass off in his bedroom to demi-god status, not that practice isn't important, or we shouldn't recognize achievements, but as a society we sometimes take it a little far...

I digress.

The first time I saw Tommy Lee throw rice at the old Chinese man in the TYTFIL video, he immediately became my hero. He was the best drummer ever because to me he was cool. I learned how to twirl a drumstick sorta like he does (a trick I can still pull off 30 years later), and learned some basic 4/4 drum patterns shortly after. Little did I know how disappointed I would be with this band just a few years later. I thought Girls Girls Girls was horrible, and I wont even begin to talk about how much I hated Doctor Feelgood, but by then I had long since graduated to Megadeth and the thrash movement.

Even later, I did not buy into, and have never heard, the self titled Corabi LP in it's entirety, same with Generation Swine and every subsequent release afterward. But secretly, even though I grew out of them, somewhere deep within me, I always rooted for the Crue. I have been embarrassed for Tommy on countless occasions. I have followed Nikki into songwriting endeavors, even saw him with Brides of Destruction. I have laughed at Vince over the years, mostly over his hit or miss singing, but also because of his stint as a fat guy on TV. And Mick? well, I respect that man. He is an unsung hero with a crazy back story, a crazy present story, and a sound that is literally all his own.

The Motley of today is not the Motley of yesterday. No one debates that. But I think that their ongoing success has something to do with the Motley image from 1984. I can't imagine that Tommy Lee is an influence on anyone these days. On his path to independence outside of Crue, he ruined a great drummer's legacy. "Drummer from Motley" is never the first thing I think of when Tommy is brought up, these days it's old wanna-be DJ, which is better then coke headed porno star, or reality TV flunkie, or shitty rap rocker... Pick your poison, Tommy will never be better then he was in '84 in the hearts and minds of millions.

The fact that I care at all to know anything about this dysfunctional group of weirdo's is a testament to the fact I will always hold them in a high regard. When I was 11, they were my gateway drug, MY band, my definition of cool to be grown out of, and for that, I make the following statement.

• Thank you for Too Fast For Love, an LP that is so burned into my DNA, that I can't listen to any one track without verbalizing the riff to the next track. 
• Thank you for making me memorize the words to In The Beginning and forcing me to write them on my book covers in middle school.
• Thank you for Home Sweet Home (and the girl who pulled up her shirt in the video).
• Thank you for Red Hot, the song that I still bring up in "Is Tommy a good drummer" arguments.
• Thank you for reverse power chords.

There are a hundred thank you's I could pen, but why? I think that my love for this band can remain mine without accolades or risking over doing it.

Mostly however, thank you for being the band that grabbed my attention first. I promise that it yielded good things. In case you care, I still have a Shout at the Devil tee in my drawer.

Nago

The Snowman

One of the best melodies I have ever heard is "Walking in the Air" from the 1982 animated short The Snowman.

I won't bog you all down with the history of the movie except to say it won an Oscar and it was based on a very popular children's book from the day.

This is my blog, and as always, I choose to write about my experiences. This movie holds a special place in my life. Please read on:

I remember seeing this at my Grandparents house when I was young. I was probably 7 or 8. It stuck with me for years, but being that young, I couldn't remember what the hell it was or why it was important to me. Around the same time I was discovering the evil melodies of cool stuff like "Peter and the Wolf", so it was not a stretch that this particular flick was destined to stay with me for a while.

Fast-forward a decade and a half. I actually caught a glimpse of this movie on PBS, and was immediately taken back to my Grandpap's living room.  I was pulled in, and sought out some form of playable media so I could share it with my growing extended family.

I eventually found it on VHS, but I can't remember where. I put it in, pressed play and watched every child in the room (at least 4 of them all aged under 10), get just as sucked in as I was. I remember one of them crying at the end, and I have never had the movie far away from me and mine since.

The song itself is a master work. Equal parts sad and beautiful, it takes you on a journey even without the flying sequence of the movie.

 

 

The entire movie played on Sprout this year, to which I am hopeful an entire generation of fresh minds discover it's wonder. It is also available on YouTube, but unfortunately not in heavy store rotation this year. It would get lost in a sea of works like Frozen, to which a 30+ year old grainy animation can't really compete, but it's a shame that it is still somewhat an underground work in comparison to Snoopy and Frosty. 

 

 

My Christmas wish: that this feature finds you and allows you to be drawn in to an innocent child's dream as I was when I was 8, 23 and every year since.

 

Merry Christmas....

 

Nago.

I'd love to change the world.

But I don't know what to do. So I'll leave it up to you...

This blog may go nowhere. Not sure yet. I am sitting in a hotel room in Marquette MI pondering existence. So I write...

I've never really tried to "change the world", I spend too much time making my little world better. Maybe that is selfish. I am starting to think there is more to give.

Now for something completely different...

I am going to do a little shameless self-promotion tonight. I am on a self induced nostalgia trip.

Back in 2008, I was possessed to write and record an acoustic LP. It was a huge step away from the Metal band I cherished for so many years (and still do BTW), but I had to get all of these ideas out of my head and onto tape. Driven is the correct word, I was driven to do it by forces beyond my control.

I had some help, mostly from Dave Watson, who worked his butt off at Soundscape Studios to make me sound good and produce something worth a shit. I also had the brilliant idea to bring Jon Rice (JFAC) in on the project to take the drum throne. In a few hours, he nailed everything better than I could have imagined. Both Dave and Jon are gifted guys, and I was lucky to have them on board.

I always thought of myself as a songwriter first, and a musician second. I can honestly say that after months of work on this project, I became a better musician.

Now, I spend a lot of time criticizing in my blogs, and I know that in putting examples of my own work out there, I am opening up the door to some criticism from others. But that's OK, do better, then we will talk. I have the benefit of the underground to protect me. I can still do what I want.

The following song, Shine, seems to be a favorite based on hits it has gotten over the years. It is a self explanatory love song that took a total of 10 minutes to write and 10 tries to record. I could not get the vocal right no matter how hard I worked. I was guilty of over thinking it. Mr. Watson had already mixed another version of the vocal that I think we both hated and knew was not right. I am sure he was not pleased that I demanded we re-re-record it the day I sang this take. It is still not perfect, but overall it turned out good enough. I am glad we took the extra steps.

One more example, then I will quit this self indulgent study:

freaknotcounted:
I try to not write in heavy metaphor, except when I do. This one was pretty personal in lyrical meaning and I will leave it at that. What is really cool about this version is, well... everything. This was an old Domicile MKII song written in its Metal form back in 2000. I re-vamped it for this project, and I love everything about it. Jon Rice's shuffle is amazing in this song, and I am proud of it. I stretched my then vocal range to it's peak in the bridge (my range is actually better now, go figure). The result is very cool. My broseph, Base says it is one of his favorite songs, period. Believe me, that is all the compliment I need.

OK, I lied... I want to throw up one more:

For me, alone.
This little sleeper is one of my most favorites that I have ever written. It is very auto-biographical. It is simple, and I dig that sometimes. It has to do with my personal struggles through the years, and my tendency to shut down. In a way, it's a "just leave me alone, I'll figure it out myself" tune.

There's more. Find them if you want. I am thinking about giving this entire LP away on Spotify or something. If I get the chance, I will put it up this weekend and see if I can make it a free download.

A.D.H.D. and the Beatles, Part III

I am headed to the airport soon, but instead of thinking about what I need to pack, I am thinking about John Lennon's song "In My Life". So I am taking 5 to jot my thoughts down.

A few years ago, I saw the hand written lyrics to this song hanging on the wall at the Rock and Roll HoF, and I welled up. Yup, I got all emotional.

The words are poetry to me, and my interpretation of his words hit hard. For me, the song is about old stomping grounds and old relationships, and how they are both wonderful things. It's ok to reflect and save your treasures from the past, even though today, you love what you have more.

Funny thing about Love, it doesn't ask permission, and typically doesn't apologize.

I get that.

John lived that.

RIP (you socialist bastard).... Oh, don't get all twisted up about that statement, both are essentially true, and you know it. I love John and it's my blog, so I say what I want, kinda like John did.



Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be, there's a NAGO hanging over me.

Jane's Fantasy

Ok... This has bothered me for years. Why the hell does Aldo Nova's "Fanatsy" sound so much like like Jefferson Starship's "Jane"?

Was there a lawsuit?
Were they collaborators?
Is Aldo Nova even relevant enough to care about this? (I think so).

What would a Blog by Nago be without a history lesson? Let me start from the beginning.

In 1987-ish, my mother briefly dated a guy from DuBois. This dude had a red-headed daughter. She was tall, beautiful and 3 years my elder (17 to my 14).  Like many teenage girls at the time, she was a rocker and I was crushing big time on this lass.

Now, being a young music nerd back then, we had some things we could talk about. We became friends and semi-running buddies for a brief period while the fantasies played out in my mind. She had a car and did not mind hanging with a young long haired rebel with his finger on what was happening then, so it was a beneficial relationship for both of us, I suppose. During a road trip to DuBios, (somehow it was just the 2 of us) I attempted to get her into thrash, but she insisted on putting Aldo Nova's self titled tape into her tape deck. Turns out, Headbangers in DuBois really dug Aldo Nova... Who knew? I think they all dove '78 Ford Grenadas and smoked Marlboro Red's as well.

I have to admit, Aldo Nova was not exactly what I considered to be heavy, but it grew on me over the 2-1/2 hour road trip. Maybe I was just trying to play along, I really can't remember. Regardless, after the short relationship with this family was over (like ships passing in the night), I picked up Aldo's LP and kept it for many years. It was one of those things that was always around.

Fast forward a few years.... Erie did not always have a classic rock station. When Rocket 101 came on the air, I was exposed to the rock from the previous generation, and like so many, had to suffer through it's repetitive play-list during warehouse work hours. I must have heard Jefferson Starship's "Jane" 7,000 times in my blue collar days.

The question was in my head then, and still is today.... WTF. It's the same song!!!! I do not claim to know why, and the Internet had little to offer me today as I started looking into it. Aldo's tune is absolutely the better jam, but Jane came first.

 

 

If there was no lawsuit, I cant imagine why... George Harrison was sued by Motown for much less.

Sorry for wasting your time, NOT!!!


Mike is just a fanatsy, can you let this fanatsy lie?