Creatures of the Night

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Creatures of the Night
Studio album by Kiss
Released	October 13, 1982
Recorded	July-September 1982
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	38:47
Label	Casablanca
Producer	Michael James Jackson, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork link
Kiss chronology
Killers (1982) Creatures of the Night (1982) Lick It Up (1983)
Alternate cover
The 1985 re-release cover pictures new lead guitarist Bruce Kulick (bottom right)

Creatures of the Night is a 1982 album from U.S. hard rock/heavy metal band Kiss. It is the band's 14th studio album and the last for Casablanca Records, the only label the group had ever recorded for up to that point. The album was also dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions.

The album represented a conscious effort on Kiss's part to return to the style of hard rock/heavy metal that had helped them achieve commercial success in the 1970s. That success had been in decline since 1979's album Dynasty and 1980s Unmasked. Kiss knew it needed to deliver on their earlier promise of a heavy record if they were to continue as a band. The first key ingredient was songwriter/guitarist Vincent Cusano, with whom the band had recently begun writing and recording, and was soon to replace Frehley as the band's new lead guitarist.

Creatures of the Night was certified Gold on May 9, 1994.

[edit] Album background

As shown on the back of the "I Love It Loud" single, Ace Frehley (bottom left) was still portrayed as a member of Kiss, despite ceasing his active involvement with the group in 1981.

By 1982, Kiss' popularity in the U.S. had plummeted. This was due partly to the changing landscape of popular music, but also due to the fact that Kiss had strayed from the hard rock style that had made them popular in the first place. 1979's Dynasty, while commercially successful, alienated many fans with the disco-flavored track "I Was Made For Lovin' You". 1980's Unmasked fell still further into the 'pop' category and was their first not to achieve platinum status since 1975's Dressed to Kill. The band did not even tour the US behind the album, and was soon faced with its first lineup change - founding member Peter Criss, who had not participated in any of the Unmasked recording sessions, officially left Kiss in 1980. He was replaced by Eric Carr, a drummer much more in the mold of John Bonham than Criss.

Fan hopes were raised in late 1980 when Kiss announced that they were going to record their heaviest record yet. Instead, however, the band released Music From "The Elder" in late 1981, a concept album originally intended to complement a movie called The Elder that was ultimately never filmed. The album was storyline-based and had ballads, a short orchestral piece, and lyrical themes more in common with bands like Rush and Yes than with Kiss. The album failed to achieve gold status and, having cancelled their United States Unmasked tour just a short time before, the band cancelled their planned tour for Elder. Furthermore, original member Ace Frehley soon left the band, expressing his displeasure over the path the band had chosen and having begun to drift into heavy alcoholism.

Kiss' label situation had changed as well. Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart had sold the label to its distributor, PolyGram, and went on to briefly form The Boardwalk Recording Company before being diagnosed with (and later succumbing to) cancer. Using a clause in their Casablanca contract that gave the band an option to leave the label if Bogart did, Kiss became free agents and signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Mercury Records. Ironically, Mercury - a label also owned by PolyGram - reverted the band back to their "old" label, though in name only.

When recording sessions for Creatures of the Night began in July 1982, Kiss was essentially a trio. Frehley still made appearances with the band but had ended his musical involvement with Kiss. Frehley looked completely out of sorts in promotional appearances for the album — in cases where the band was lip synching to recorded tracks, it is obvious that he did not know the material. It was only after the album was released and a short tour of Europe was completed that Frehley officially left Kiss. The lead-guitar replacement for Frehley for the Creatures tour in the U.S. was Cusano, who by then had taken the stage name of Vinnie Vincent and adopted "Ankh Warrior" makeup.

Musically, Creatures of the Night was the band's heaviest recording since Love Gun in 1977, and was matched later only by Revenge in 1992 and Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions in 1997. The progressive rock stylings of Music From "The Elder" and the pop of Dynasty and Unmasked were completely absent from Creatures of the Night – which was, of course, the point. "I Still Love You", the only ballad on Creatures, was still heavier and darker than any ballad Kiss had released in earlier years. The production values contributed to the heaviness - in particular, the drum sound was louder and heavier than on any previous Kiss album.

Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties handled by either Gene Simmons or Paul Stanley exclusively. All previous studio releases, solo albums notwithstanding, contained at least one song with lead vocals by another band member.

The band released a video for "I Love It Loud", which received moderate airplay on MTV. In it was a stage setup that featured Eric Carr's drum kit as a giant, metallic tank (with an exploding turret). Flames and explosions were also in abundance, as Kiss attempted to produce a video that reflected the music on Creatures of the Night. Although Frehley had not played on the album, he did appear in the video as the rhythm guitarist, albeit Stanley is shown playing the seven-note solo.

Despite positive reviews, Creatures of the Night did not return the band to the commercial standing they had held five years previous. Although the album charted higher than "The Elder" (#45 compared to "The Elder"'s #75), it also failed to achieve gold status (until 1994). Even more dramatically, the US tour that followed, the band's first since Dynasty, was essentially a flop – cancelled shows and at-most half-full arenas were the rule, not the exception. In later years, Kiss fans and researchers have come to regard Creatures of the Night as one of the band's best albums, matched only by 1976's Destroyer and 1992's Revenge. However, it is clear that multiple shifts in the band's lineup, image and musical styles from 1979 through 1981 had done severe damage. As a result, though musically rich, Creatures of the Night is still one of the major commercial disappointments for Kiss.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Album notes

• Three different covers of this album exist: the 1982 original issue, the 1985 reissue (featuring Bruce Kulick, and the band without makeup), and the 1997 remastered version (same photo as the original, but with variations in the logo and lettering).
• Beavis and Butthead have been shown to be humming or singing the rhythm of the song "War Machine" and has had the video to "I Love It Loud" featured on an episode with the comment by Butthead, "Pretty cool for a bunch of mimes."
• Professional wrestler Tazz used the song "War Machine" as his entrance music in ECW before changing to a remixed version of the song.
• Some early pressings of the album mistakenly contained one full side of John Cougar's "American Fool". Both Kiss and Cougar were under the umbrella of Mercury Records at the time. Today, those mistake albums are highly sought after by Kiss collectors.
• Canadian '80s rock star Bryan Adams and his writing partner Jim Vallance contributed to the album with Gene Simmons for two songs. The songs are "Rock and Roll Hell" and the concert-favourite,"War Machine".

[edit] Track listing

1. "Creatures of the Night" (Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell) – 4:01
   • Lead vocals - Paul Stanley
2. "Saint and Sinner" (Gene Simmons, Mikel Japp) – 4:50
   • Lead vocals - Gene Simmons
3. "Keep Me Comin'" (Stanley, Mitchell) – 4:00
   • Lead vocals - Paul Stanley
4. "Rock and Roll Hell" (Simmons, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance) – 4:08
   • Lead vocals - Gene Simmons
5. "Danger" (Stanley, Mitchell) – 3:55
   • Lead vocals - Paul Stanley
6. "I Love It Loud" (Simmons, Vinnie Vincent) – 4:12
   • Lead vocals - Gene Simmons
7. "I Still Love You" (Stanley, Vincent) – 6:06
   • Lead vocals - Paul Stanley
8. "Killer" (Simmons, Vincent) – 3:19
   • Lead vocals - Gene Simmons
9. "War Machine" (Simmons, Adams, Vallance) – 4:13
   • Lead vocals - Gene Simmons

[edit] Personnel

• Gene Simmons – bass guitar, lead vocals, rhythm guitar on "War Machine"
• Paul Stanley – rhythm guitar, lead vocals, lead guitar on "I Love It Loud"
• Ace Frehley – lead guitar (credited, but does not appear)
• Eric Carr – drums, bass guitar on "I Still Love You"

[edit] Uncredited musicians

• Vinnie Vincent – lead guitar on "Saint and Sinner", "Keep Me Comin'", "Killer", and "War Machine", backing vocals
• Bob Kulick – lead guitar on "Danger"
• Robben Ford – lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You"
• Adam Mitchell – rhythm guitar on "Creatures of the Night"
• Steve Farris – guitar solo on "Creatures of the Night"
• Jimmy Haslip – bass guitar on "Danger"

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Singles - Billboard (Austria)

Singles - Billboard (United Kingdom)

[edit] References

Sources consulted

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Endnotes

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