KISS is one of the most legendary bands in the history of rock n roll. From their iconic makeup to their bombastic stage shows to the marketing and licensing of every product under the sun, KISS has been a part of popular culture for half a century. The self-titled debut album, KISS, didn't grab everyone's attention out of the gate, however. While they had some killer riffs supplied by original guitarist Ace Frehley, some funky bass from Gene Simmons, swinging drumming from Peter Criss and superstar vocals from Paul Stanley, the band were still forming their sound and identity.

In fact, the sales of the album were so slow that Casablanca Records chief Neil Bogart cajoled the band into recording a 50s cover, Kissin Time, which he thought would help boost sales as a single. Even though Kissin Time was added to every copy of KISS after the first 100,000 or so, it didn't help generate more sales. But their reputation as a great live band had KISS winning fans around the nation. And while KISS wouldn't capture that live sound until ALIVE! a couple of years later, this album has some great tracks which are still KISS classics today like Deuce, Strutter, Cold Gin and Black Diamond. We give it our usual track x track evaluation and throw in lots of KISS tidbits.

As a special bonus, we have included a clip from Space Ace himself, Ace Frehley. As Ace recently spoke with Paul Stephenson of VRP Rocks (a good friend of Ugly American Werewolf in London), Paul asked Ace a question from The Wolf about the timing of his new solo release 10,000 Volts and how it's coming out almost 50 years to the day from the release of KISS. Ace may not answer the question we asked but it's amazing that Paul asked if for us and the audio is included somewhere in the episode - you'll have to listen to hear from Ace!!

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