Steve's Post

The third guest post is from Steve over at heavy metal addiction .

My KISSstory
By Steven Angulo

I have been a KISS fan since late 1977. At the time, I was 5 years old. I remember shopping with Mom at a local department store and seeing the most amazing thing ever.....a KISS record. It was Rock'n Roll Over, KISS' fifth studio album, released in 1976. The fact that there was actual music on the record didn't matter to me, what mattered was the album cover. I looked at the other records around it but none looked anything like this one: the bright colors, the faces, the logo, the fire and comets, it all looked so cool. I don't think I actually knew what "cool" was back then but I did know that I had to have that record. I begged Mom to buy it but I didn't get it. I got the cassette! And so the journey began, 29 years of loyal fandom.My old KISS cassette sat proudly in a drawer while I found new ways to defeat Darth Vader and the Empire with my Star Wars action figures. I always had the radio on while I played Star Wars. I was given a small cassette player/radio for some important occasion and I kept it on constantly. When you're given a gift as a child, you play with it, no matter what it is. I had been listening to the radio for a year or so but I never had the desire to actually buy music. Then the day came when a DJ mentioned that KISS was coming to the Providence Civic Center. I immeadiately ran to Mom and told her the good news, we could go see KISS!Didn't happen. Mom wasn't about to take her 10 year old son to a KISS concert. She did take me to the record store and I got to spend my own money on another KISS cassette, Creatures Of The Night. Another mysterious, and cartoonish, album cover. It was dark, it was dangerous, and Mom didn't like it. I finally knew what "cool" was.I started listening to Rock and Heavy Metal. I got into Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, AC/DC, Scorpions and the like but KISS was my favorite band. All the kids at school started going to the record store to buy albums, Hit Parader and Circus and I was no exception. Cassettes were brought to school: AC/DC, Ozzy, Motley Crue, Van Halen. All these bands were the cornerstone of a Catholic school education. I brought my KISS cassettes in and got laughed at. KISS was a joke, they were has beens, there were "better" bands to listen to. No matter how hard I tried no one ever wanted to hear KISS. I defended my heroes as best I could but I couldn't convince anyone to enlist in the KISS Army.Around that time, cable TV came to Pawtucket, and with it, MTV. I still remember that fateful night when KISS unmasked themselves, I couldn't believe that they would take off their makeup and destroy the band. It was over, no more KISS. I didn't understand that the makeup had nothing to do with the guys actually playing their instruments. I didn't realize that this was a gimmick to save the mighty KISS from becoming has beens like my friends said. I didn't know that KISS released Lick It Up.I look back on the non-makeup years of KISS fondly. It was a time of discovery and a time of rebellion. I bought Animalize, Asylum, and Crazy Nights the day they came out and explored the band's earlier albums. I read every article I could on KISS. I bought every button and pin at the flea market. I wore my Animalize t-shirt (white shirt with black 3/4 sleeves and an Animalize iron-on) with pride under my school uniform. If a makeup picture was printed in a Rock magazine, I bought it. The history of KISS, or KISStory, was something sacred and holy. I clamored for everything KISS.I got into fights over who was better, KISS or Motley Crue. Seems Motley Crue fans were everywhere in my school and I hated it. I took great pride that the Crue opened for KISS on tour. Their popularity was eclipsing the KISS legend. I called Dial MTV everyday to vote for 'Tears Are Falling' and I extremely arrogant the day that it knocked the Crue's 'Home Sweet Home' video from the top spot. It lasted one day but KISS had triumphed! I was the lone KISS fan fighting against what everyone else liked. KISS was my band and I was loyal. I took that loyalty to high school, to college, and into adulthood.The KISS Unplugged concert was the event that brought Paul, Ace, Peter, and Gene back together. By this time, 1995, I was 23 and I had subscribed to every KISS newsletter and fanzine I could find. I had seen KISS live twice, in 1987 for Crazy Nights and 1992 for Revenge. I dreamed that I would one day see KISS in makeup but it seemed impossible. When the band appeared at the 1996 Grammy Awards and a tour was announced, I had to have tickets. I stood in line for hours with my friends but we got shut out for both Boston shows.....the dream was over. We got lucky though, my friend's father had a business connection that was able to get us 4 tickets in prime seating.Tuesday, July 30, 1996 - The Fleetcenter - Boston, MAThis is the day and place that my dream finally came true.....I was finally going to see the original KISS on stage, in makeup. The PA played The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and the curtain dropped. The house lights turned off."All right Boston. You wanted the best, you got the best. The hottest band in the world........KISS!"The curtain dropped and the band launched into 'Deuce'. The rest is a blur. I was in a state of euphoria and hysteria. I was screaming at the top of my lungs while tears ran down my face. By the 4th or 5th song (I think it was 'Watchin' You') my voice went but I continued to sing. Everything I had read, everything I had believed in had come true in a two-hour set. By the end of the show, I was spent. There were no emotions left and no voice to speak with.I would go to 3 more shows on that tour but they didn't match the excitement of that first night in Boston. The Reunion Tour was a complete success, the spectacle had sold-out arenas worldwide. The band that was King of the mid to late 1970s had re-conquered the world and I was a tiny part of it. I sit here today, the band a shadow of it's Reunion glory, and I still support them. I have seen KISS in concert 9 times since the end of the Reunion Tour. I have bought all the latest releases and even some of the merchandise. What I have bought the most is the dream, or maybe is it the memories? Either way, I sit here today, at 34 years old, and proudly state....."Yes, I am a KISS fan!"