GIBSON: Destoyer Turns 40

On March 15 it’s been forty years since Kiss released their fourth studio album, Destroyer. The album came on the heels of Kiss' breakthrough live album Alive, and it solidified the band's status as one of the biggest rock acts in the world. But that was not the case initially. Many fans were disappointed with the band's new polished sound, feeling they’d lost the raw spontaneity of their first three releases.

Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley enlisted the help of Canadian producer Bob Ezrin to help out in the writing and recording of Destroyer. Ezrin played an integral part in shaping their song ideas in to rock classics, as well as instilling a work ethic that Paul and Gene in particular has held on to for their entire career.

“The thing I always loved about Destroyer is it pushed the envelope and pushed the parameters of what we could do. It pushed us to the limit and yet everything stayed true to us because it was all comfortable, there was nothing forced or contrived,” Stanley said in Kiss' authorized biography Kiss: Behind The Mask (p. 114).

Ezrin share writing credits on eight of the album’s ten songs. Bringing Ezrin on board helped push the band members to new levels both as musicians and songwriters. “Every one of them were punching above their weight class on Destroyer. This was really a huge leap forward for all of them. Gene's bass playing was so impressive on Destroyer; it was really reaching beyond what he had ever played before. And he practiced and practiced. And Ace's guitar playing was so much more controlled and lyrical. And Paul's [guitar playing] too -- you know, I think Paul always had a lyrical style, he just didn't have as much of an outlet in some of the older stuff. Paul's vocals - I think he grew up as a singer at the moment we were doing Destroyer, said Ezrin during an interview with KissFAQ.

Destroyer contain some of Kiss’ biggest songs and live favorites. The Stanley-penned but Simmons-sung “God of Thunder” is certainly the one song I wait for every time I go to a Kiss show! An anecdote about that song is that the kids you hear in the intro are actually Ezrin’s sons.

Ezrin was able to experiment quite a bit in the studio, helping the band create some of their most ambitious songs ever, like for example “Great Expectations.” The song, which Gene Simmons says was written on bass, uses orchestrations borrowed from Beethoven, and a children’s choir (the Brooklyn Boys Choir).

Continue Reading at Gibson.com >>