“You wanted the best and you got the best, the hottest band in the world … KISS!”
That’s right, those fire-breathing monsters of metal, KISS, a band known as much for their electrifying stage shows as their thundering music. Today, however, your going to see a much softer side of KISS.
In 1980 the band decided to make a much more mature sounding album after the fiasco of the prior years Dynasty album and tour in which flashy costumes and on-stage stunts was quickly transforming the band into their comic book and movie counterparts, at least from a visual and promotional standpoint.
Yes, after all the folly, KISS decided to make a pop album to try to steady the ship and right the wrongs of the past couple of years. It was time to remake KISS as a legit vocal group who could turn out hit songs in the changing musical landscape of the 1980s.
In the sense that they wanted the album ‘Unmasked’ to be something different, the band accomplished just that,. KISS recorded an almost perfect pop/rock album with strong tracks.
Unfortunately, there were a couple of things working against the group. First, after a bad movie and all the theatrics, nobody was ready to take the band seriously. And secondly the die-hard fans who had grown up listening to the classic KISS sound expected more of the same … and didn’t get it.
Ultimately ‘Unmasked’ charted only as far as number 35 on the Billboard Album Chart here in the USA. The worst such album performance since ‘Hotter Than Hell’ in the early 1970s. The albums lukewarm reception here in the states was not echoed overseas however where in some select European and Asian countries the release went all the way to the top ten, even number one in Norway and New Zealand respectively.
On the basis of these lackluster results KISS only performed one concert in support of the album in America opting on a massive world-wide tour instead. Likewise tracks from the album were never performed live in any subsequent US show and only rarely in shows around the world.
This brings us to today’s video for the first single from ‘Unmasked’, Shandi, which again is a straight forward pop song. It should be noted that this was the last time that the four original members of KISS would appear together until their 1995 reunion. Though drummer Peter Criss was credited on the album he actually had nothing to do with any of the recordings (session drummer Anton Fig was used in his place). After the video was shot Criss left the band.
Here is the rarely seen video for Shandi:
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