The Kiss album Paul Stanley was “dead-set against”
In the 1990s, Kiss were teetering into icon status and no longer had to fight for relevancy because of their former glories. They’d already endured two decades of success and built a loyal army of fans who’d dress as the band for their concerts, yet they persisted in their ambition to adapt to the times, much to the frustration of Paul Stanley.
With Kiss, their fans knew what to expect and didn’t wish for the band to deviate from their trademark sound. Stanley also didn’t want Kiss to step out of their comfort zone and follow the trends of contemporary rock, but despite his wishes, the group chose to step into the realm of alternative rock on the 1997 album Carnival of Souls.
Despite having no ties to the grunge movement, Kiss decided to align themselves with the younger generation of rock. However, the scene had all but evaporated by the time Carnival of Souls was finally released in 1997, which made their cynical move look outdated. The LP was initially recorded in 1995 before being pushed back due to touring commitments.
For the entirety of the recording process, Stanley was a reluctant contributor and was dragged across the finishing line by his bandmates. The guitarist didn’t want Kiss to take this direction with Carnival of Souls; the group were a democracy, and he needed to keep his frustrations to himself.
By the band’s own high standards, the album was a failure both from a commercial and artistic level. Most notably, Carnival of Souls felt like Kiss had betrayed themselves to exploit popular trends, and as a result, their integrity mightily suffered.
Only four years on from the release of the album, Stanley began to air his grievances with Carnival of Souls. In the book Kiss: Behind the Mask, he admitted: “I was dead-set against doing that kind of an album. I never believed the world needs a second-rate Soundgarden, Metallica or Alice in Chains.”
However, the single ‘Crazy Nights’ represented one positive note on the album for Stanley, and if it was up to him, the rest of the record would have sounded in a similar vein. Instead, the song stood out like a sore thumb on the downtrodden affair.
During a discussion with Louder Sound about the most pivotal tracks of his career, he said of ‘Crazy Nights’: “It’s a simple, celebratory song. One of my issues with an album like Carnival of Souls was the idea that we needed to do an album that was kinda morose and down: I was thinking ‘What do we have to be morose or down about? We’re wealthy, we’re happy, we’re healthy… we’re in Kiss!'”
Although Gene Simmons was the person responsible for making Kiss go grunge, he later admitted the decision was a mistake, and the group should have left it to the experts rather than creating a poor-quality replica.
When he appeared on UCR in 2021, Simmons said of Carnival of Souls: “Was it as honest and authentic as our other stuff? No. It’s like going to another country. You love the way East Indians dance, and you go, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ Then you get up on the dance floor and you try to do it. Can I dance as well as somebody who has been dancing East Indian dances all of their lives? No.”
Although some of the highest quality art has been created by drawing upon new subcultures, Kiss missed the boat with Carnival of Souls, and they should have stayed loyal to their identity rather than aiming for reinvention.
