Arr - Kiss! A band bound to polarise the troops.
I find it interesting that among the male staff at my school (an all girls school so there's only five of us) Kiss is definitely a popular cultural touchstone - particularly with four of us who've considered the fantasy of dressing up as Kiss and miming to this song at school!
Bizarre but true.
If you grew up in the seventies (as the four of us did) there was no avoiding either the band or this song. That meant taking an either pro or anti stance - there was no avoiding it. I didn't like disco and I'm still not a fan but Kiss managed to skirt around that problem at the time. I bought it after all!
It holds up too - that disco-ish sound is just this side of hard rock with Gene Simmons' driving bass sound and Ace Frehley's guitar heroics, although kept largely in check, do add a huge appeal.
Hidden gem: Actually the B side is the equal of the A side but for different reasons. Rather than a quasi disco sound Hard Times is a genuine rock song with a fantastic riff. It's an Ace Frehley song which explains the different, and to my ears - more appealing hard rock edge.
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