“Kiss is not a rock band like others. Kiss is an attitude towards life.” These sentences on the cover of the book “The Best Kiss of My Life” make it clear that the author Stefan Froman did not set himself the task of critically analyzing the band's music. It's about the fans and their “amazing stories.” Froman wrote the funny, exciting, nostalgic, and bizarre experiences of 30 Kiss fans from 16 countries.
Interviews with, among others, “Schlabberzunge” Gene Simmons and Bob Ezrin, producer of Kiss's much-loved and highly controversial album, conclude the book. Not to be missed are the images of male and female fans with or without their idols, themselves masked and unmasked, with or without devotional objects. Last but not least, Froman, a Kiss fan since he was 11, talks about his journey with the band – starting in West Berlin in 1976, when he bought the single “Schaudidautlaut” (he couldn't speak English at the time). . ) until the group's last appearance in New York.
There is a colorful array of people enthusiastic about Kiss's songs and performances: there's Bo Henderson from America, for example, who was one of the lucky 7,000 people who were filming a musical scene for the TV movie Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Garden was allowed to be there. Regarding being a music enthusiast before the advent of the Internet, he says: “Young fans will never know how exciting it is to see a new photo of the band in magazines (…).” Mike Hodson from England has a strange collecting hobby: he has committed himself to Kiss's debut album, of which he owns 167 different copies.
Claudio Spira grew up in Argentina's dark ages, when the army ruled and people disappeared without a trace. For him, rock music was a way out of everyday life: “Kiss gave us a feeling of power,” he says in the book. The fan stories are endearing tales of friendships with each other, but also with the musicians in the band. The author can also be seen comparing Tongues to Simons. Interviews provide fascinating insights, such as a conversation with Kiss Army creator William Strachey: seeing the band in 1983 with their makeup off was “like a religious experience,” he says.
Readers who have nothing to do with the Kiss legend can, after reading it, understand better why Niels Brykke Svensson from Norway made a 36-hour trip to go to “his” concert despite the Hurricane Sandy band traveling to the USA. Or why Darren Morrish from Canada makes Kiss dolls and turns this hobby into a career.
(By Wolfgang Hauptmann/APA)
(Service – Stefan Vromann: “The Best Kiss of My Life”, Köllen Verlag, 284 pages, 204 photos, €31.50. www.thebestkissofmylife.com)
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