“The template”: The 1975 song Kiss that will be remembered for in the years to come
It was just a small apartment in New York where Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons met, and where they would embark on a journey to become the biggest rock band of all time.
Simmons knew the two had a creative connection from the jump. While they were both playing in separate bands at the time, it was clear to the tongue-flicking bassist that Stanley was the kind of musician he should be working with, although Stanley wasn’t so sure.
The singer contemplated starting a band with Simmons, and was close to turning it down because of his apparent selfishness, noting as he discussed his initial reservations, “I think he thought Lennon, McCartney and Gene were the only three songwriters in the world, and all of a sudden he had to make room for a fourth”.
To his surprise, though, things worked out for the better. Kiss have had plenty of ups and downs, sure, but the highs certainly outweigh the lows. They were arguably at their highest during the early days of the band, when members had agreed on the make-up and flamboyant look, and we’re keen on making a range of music rather than just sticking in one lane.
“We also took pride in having the same freedom The Beatles had,” said Gene Simmons, “Their philosophy was, ‘No matter what kind of music we do, it’s still The Beatles’. That’s what was amazing about them… The Beatles were not trapped in that way. They could do music hall, psychedelia, anything, and they did. Yet somehow it always sounded like The Beatles.”
Of course, when you have a group of good songwriters, and each of them has complete creative freedom, it’s difficult trying to rein in ideas so that things remain cohesive. However, that’s where Paul Stanley really thrived. While working on albums, other band members may have been focused on the look and how things will appeal to the rest of the world, but the frontman was adding layering and structure. He was able to chop and change things to make them more cohesive, and could remodel songs so that they fit the mould of whatever record the band was working on more effectively.
“It kind of goes back to: Anyone can write a song, but that doesn’t make you a songwriter,” said Stanley, before musing about his strength by drawing a rather sweet metaphor: “If we were making a cake, Gene would talk about the frosting and the dressing on the outside. And I would go, ‘But we have to have a cake’.”
It was this kind of thinking that led to the creation of what Stanley would go on to call Kiss’ legacy song, and the one that they will be remembered for. After coming up with the iconic lyrics to ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’, Stanley knew that they would fit perfectly over the chorus for a song that Simmons was already working on called ‘Drive Me Wild’. By having a full eye on the entire album, Stanley was able to come up with what is, without a doubt, one of the biggest rock songs of all time.
“It’s hard not to go with ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’. That song is really the template for a lot of songs that came after it, whether ours or other people’s, because it’s an anthem,” he said. “When I started writing it, there were no ‘anthems’, per se. Our record company president sat us down and very fortuitously told us that we needed an anthem, and we had no idea what that meant. His examples were Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ and ‘Dance to the Music’.”
Stanley, who had seen the group open for Jimi Hendrix at the time of their first album release, was confident about what was needed and so got to the task, finding immense success.
