On Grantland, Chuck Klosterman goes long on KISS, who enter the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow night.
Chuck says no band enters the Hall with less critical appreciation, or maybe even actual listening, than any other band. But he loves them.
Klosterman mentions an early Nirvana cover of the Kiss song Do You Love Me. Here’s the clip. Nirvana is enshrined tomorrow, too.
The article is good, but long-winded. Better for skimming than reading every word. Most of the album grades are right-on, although he’s more generous than I would be.
The idea that KISS is the least listened-to band in the Hall is preposterous. Let’s start with Heart. Then let’s go on to all the Hall of Fame inductees you’ve never heard of – there are only about 1000 of them. (Influence? Sideman? – this is supposed to be the freakin’ Hall of Fame for God’s sake. Where’s Marc Bolan?)
Let’s put every baseball player from 1860 in the Hall of Fame because he was there.
If KISS is so terrible, why do so many fantastic artists site them as a major influence? I don’t think Cobain was joking either. That’s simply a convenient excuse for the snoots.