Hell yeah I did! I'm listening to
Hot In The Shade right now, because I saw this topic at work today (can't post there, well, I could, but I won't) and I had "Love Is Like A Slap In The Face" stuck in my head.
When I first stumbled upon KISS (keep in mind I was born in '77) they were just about to take off the make-up anyway. I remember seeing them on Solid Gold, which would've been about 1981, and of course CBS was rerunning
KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park around then, and my dad (who has the best LP and 8-tracj collection of the 60's - 80's) had
ALIVE!, so there was my familiarity. I saw these guys, and I flipped. I loved rock, I loved comics, and I like explosives - it all fit. But keep in mind, this was in the early 80's.
The first KISS album I remember getting while it was "new" was
Asylum , and for the record, I love "UH! All Night," and "Tears Are Falling." My first tour
Crazy Nights (which is how I discovered Anthrax, sort of, I paid more attention to them when I heard they would be replacing Ted Nugent on that tour about a month after my show). So 80's KISS was a genuine part of my existence. Gene and Paul were constantly on TV and in magazines, promoting the drug free life style and having lots of sex, so they became my role models! In all seriousness, Gene and Paul are very classy guys, they may be the best role models in rock when it comes to following your dreams and staying healthy.
Does 80's KISS compare with the original. Hell no! Was it that bad? No, it was fun arena rock the same way Cheap Trick, the Ramones, Aerosmith, and AC/DC were doing it. KISS did have some of that glam look from 85-88, and they did hire Ron Nevison to produce, and Micheal Bolton to write, but big fucking deal. Listen to any Poison album or Bon Jovi album, then listen to an 80's KISS album - you can't honestly tell me that BJ or Poison are or were better. One thing about 80's KISS, the songs weren't as good as the 70's, and the chemistry wasn't there, but they had better chops. Paul Stanley continued to grow as a song writer and vocalist, and Bruce Kulick was a solid lead guitar player. Throw in the rhythm section of Simmons and Carr, and you had a helluva band.
I was one of the few who was initially worried about the reunion. I thought
Revenge was a great album, I thought the KISS Convention tour and
Unplugged album were stellar, and I thought KISS were ready to age gracefully on their own terms like Aero or AC/DC. I thought that Peter and Ace were so far gone it would never work ( I had just seen them in the clubs, and they were waxed, I mean waxed.) I thought it would be contrived, and that it would be fake. I got tix to the Dayton show, about one week after Detroit, and I WAS BLOWN AWAY. It was no joke. That was how it was meant to be. I'm still going to shows now