Is Dynasty...Disco?

It’s disco night on American Idol! Naturally, my mind immediately went to Kiss and the album Dynasty. The big hit from Dynasty is "I Was Made for Lovin' You" - and it sure sounds disco to me! After all, the album did come out in 1979 - and the 70s were all about the platform shoes and leisure suits.

Now, I'll be honest, "I Was Made for Lovin' You" is one of my favorite Kiss songs - but I like disco. I can see how some members of the Kiss Army might be turned off by Dynasty. It's true many of the album's other tracks never get performed live...and none are nearly as strong as "I Was Made for Lovin' You."

Ok, I'll come clean...*takes deep breath.* Dynasty is my favorite Kiss album after Lick It Up. Yep. 'Tis true. I like my Kiss Glammy, with a side of cheese.

You know, I'm sure Kiss took a lot of criticism for experimenting with disco, but I've got to give them credit: at least back in the day the band was willing to take risks to gain new fans. After all, new fans = more money. Gene Simmons does love money.

A very big part of me hopes Adam Lambert sings "I Was Made for Lovin' You" tonight on American Idol, but the song probably isn't technically challenging enough for a singing competition (and some spoiler site says he's singing Blondie). Oh well. A Glam girl can dream.

Comments

[Rita]

I'm biased because I pretty much love every KISS album but I wouldn't call the whole album disco. I Was Made For Lovin' You, definitely disco. But most of the other stuff on that album isn't. Definitely a disco influence and I'm ok with that. Like she said, it was 1979. Gotta go with the times (a little).

[RyoVie]

I Was Made For Loving You is definitely a disco-beat tune, as is Dirty Living. But Ace's version of 2,000 Man, the always overlooked Charisma (one of the best Gene songs ever) and X-Ray Eyes, are rocking songs that I wish Kiss would pull out and play. At least one of them on their upcoming tour would make this lifelong Kiss fan stand up and salute the band!

Ryo
http://rockandrollguru.blogspot.com

[Joss]

I like my kiss glammy too! =) And they finally had came to Brazil this April, I saw them xD

[Bob]

Let's not forget that Kiss was on the Casa Blanca label which was a huge disco label back then. I often wondered if the label didn't have something to do with pushing them toward a disco-sounding single?

I actually think Dynasty is a really disjointed record. the four band members were drifting apart and the overall sound of the record is indicative of this. Peter didn't even play drums on Charisma. I thought Ace's contributions to the album were the strongest. hard times is a great tune, and I love his take on 2000 Man.

I saw Kiss on the Dynasty tour, (My first concert ever), and although I loved the show at the time, listening to bootlegs of that tour now reveals that they really weren't very good live then. they drastically sped up all of their old songs as if to get them over with, and they maybe sang every other word most of the time.

Looking back, this was actually a really sad period for the band. the original lineup was falling apart, and their massive renaissance was still a few years away.

[Jack]

Dynasty is my second favorite KISS album too, right after The Elder, so I can definitely relate to this topic.

[Christian]

Gene was not taking a music risk, he was going where the money was. Paul hated this song.

My favourite KISS album is Revenge, but I do like Dynasty, and this song in particular.

[Rhodeislandrock - Heavy Metal Addiction]

I'm a KISS diehard and DYNASTY is not a full disco record but there are disco tunes like 'I Was Made For Lovin' You & 'Dirty Livin'. There's more Pop in 'Sure Know Something' and 'X-Ray Eyes'.....KISS-lite. The best tracks are the Frehley songs, especially 'Save Your Love' & 'Hard Times'.

If you want a more disco/pop record try UNMASKED.

Steve
Heavy Metal Addiction
http://hardrockheavymetal.wordpress.com/

[Rockin' Ray]

Great Album Cool Cover What More Do You Need This Album Rocks Start To Finish

[Rick]

IWMFLY definitly sounded disco-ish, but thats all they tried to do, is make a dance-able song, but it still had great guitar work in it. Dirty Livin' was a useless piece of crap that sounded more disco. All the Ace tunes rocked, and Charisma was just cool as hell. Not disco, just different for KISS