#strutter

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Kiss - Strutter

[mydadlistenstothis]

New podcast episode is up! This week, do you want to rock and roll all night and party every day? Well only one of us did so strap into one of more contentious episodes as of late as we discuss the music of Kiss

[rolandrockover]

Paul's Balls-in-the-Zipper Voice (Special)

Donington, Monsters of Rock 1988

Kiss' or rather Paul's performance of Strutter at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington in 1988 is regularly spit out in popular polls on fan forums, especially when it comes to determining one's vocal best performance as precisely as possible based on a certain representation of a certain era of the band.

And that's pretty hard stuff, as I would like to point out, because I personally always find such a result a little thought-provoking, as my Paul's Balls-in-the-Zipper column owes its name to precisely this appearance.

I can't remember exactly when I first consciously saw and heard this one version of Strutter in today's context, maybe five or six years ago on Youtube, who can say for sure in this age of the internet. I can only remember being pretty sure that I clicked on a video with the title "Kiss Strutter Live Donington 1988" or something similarly unambiguous (1).

I can also remember just as clearly how the further the video progressed, the more unsure I became as to whether it was actually Kiss I was watching, and not in fact a mis-tagged band like Poison or some other shrill-squealing contemporary hair metal band. You have to understand, the picture quality really wasn't the best (2), but my ears still worked without the slightest problem.

Needless to say these doubts only grew in me after I made sure that I hadn't accidentally switched the video to increased speed replay beforehand.

And only then did I take a closer look at the figures jumping around on the stage. Blurry figures with curly long black hair: Check! A drum kit with a good half meter of swirling curls and a round traffic sign with a Japanese symbol on the bass drum: Check! Gene in all black leather gear trying to hump his staccato McBrown bass in routine leg-spreading rock-it poses: Check! Bruce Kulick confidently and casually immersed in his guitar playing and strolling across the stage with playful ease: Check!

But there was this other figure, dressed in white sporty clothes, armed with one of those not really shapely headless Steinberg guitars of that late 80s period that Paul had been photographed with on one occasion or another (3). And I admit, it could well have been Paul, but, it sounded nothing like him.

Maybe it was just the sound engineers having a nasty little joke that everyone but me had missed, but could that really be the case? And so it actually went on for the entire video, until it gradually but inevitably dawned on me: Yep, that's actually Paul, and not Vince Neil after some hardcore vocal training, or a similar figure in a black wig.

Well, and now you know the whole story.

And should this not be the truth in all truthfulness, and I shout this to the heavens with a raised fist, may I jam my balls in my zipper every day for the rest of my life when I get dressed, or undressed!

As my name is Roland Rockover!

Side Note:

(1) The complete concert of their Monsters of Rock performance in Schweinfurth '88, however, was shown on German cable television a few days before Christmas. My mother spontaneously and secretly recorded it on video and surprised me with it, unsuspectingly, the day before Christmas Eve. God bless her immortal soul.

(2) I think I even managed to find this YouTube video again. It's a good five years old, so that should work.

(3) I think Paul had mentioned at some point that he had played these things for hip health reasons, as they were considerably lighter than the classic models he was used to.

Strutter (Live at Donington, 1988)

[rabid-dog-steve-horn]

Paul Stanley - Strutter

[myimaginaryradio]

Strutter - Kiss

[campbellstruts]

SLACK SLACK SLACK SLACK SLACK

[bonbonburgerpants]

EMELINE'S "STRUT" and KISS' "Strutter" work pretty well ngl

One's from the pov of a guy who slept with the strutting girl, while the other tells how the girl feels about it and I fucking love this combo

[slrmagazine]

KISS CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF THEIR ANTHEM “STRUTTER” WITH ULTRA-RARE “PURE GOLD EDITION” & LIMITED “GOLD-PLATED EDITION” PLAYABLE 24-KARAT GOLD RECORDS

KISS CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF THEIR ANTHEM “STRUTTER” WITH ULTRA-RARE “PURE GOLD EDITION” & LIMITED “GOLD-PLATED EDITION” PLAYABLE 24-KARAT GOLD RECORDS. #kiss @kiss

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® Inductees KISS, proudly present “Strutter” on a limited-edition, playable gold records in honor of 50 years of the single available now. KISS partners with Precious Sound to produce two versions—the ultra-rare Pure Gold Edition and the Gold-Plated Edition. Order, HERE. As the ultimate KISS precious metal collectible, the world’s first-ever Pure Gold Edition playable…

[kenpiercemedia]

KISS Celebrates 50 Years of "Strutter" with Limited Edition Gold/Gold-Plated Playable Collectibles

The Press Release: The #1 most Gold-awarded U.S. artist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame© Inductees KISS, proudly present “Strutter” on a limited-edition, playable gold records in honor of 50 years of the single available now. KISS partners with Precious Sound to produce two versions—the ultra-rare Pure Gold Edition and the Gold-Plated Edition. Order, HERE. As the ultimate KISS precious metal…

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔎𝔦𝔰𝔰 – 𝔖𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯

[juhnkit]

Adult Movie Poster - Strutter (1973)

[rolandrockover]

Hide Your Hard Luck, Strutter!

Have I actually ever written something about Hide Your Heart before?

I don't think so, if only because I've always considered this song something of an anomaly within the Kiss katalog, and ultimately never gave it too much thought.

But as life goes, it can happen that an unexpected and completely unintentional thought suddenly comes to mind, and Poof! it's already too late and you're in the middle of the latest mess. Just think of Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters and how the Marshmallow Man came about. And then you only have one path left, and you have to fight your way out of it with all the means at your disposal.

Yes, that's exactly how it can feel from time to time. Just as it does today, but what don't you do for dramatic effect.

To get back to the anomaly, before I make short work of Hide Your Heart, I'll allude to the romantic gang drama and the third person narrative perspective. There's no I's, or no You's in it, it's always just about this Johnny. And Tito and Rosa. That can only be Desmond Child's doing. You're allowed to call me picky, but I think there's probably no real song more atypical of Kiss than Hide Your Heart (1). and this is coming from someone who recognizes Carnival of Souls as an album packed with klassic Kiss vibes. Whatever you think about it, I can only say that in the case of Hide Your Heart it's primarily down to the lyrics, so you will also look in vain for rockets and fire places.

The icing on the cake would be those Ah-ah-ah, Hey-hey-hey, Doo-doo-doos that emphasize the whole thing even more. As far as I'm aware, those are by Holly Knight and are by no means bad, just blessed with a pretty different feeling. I would see Beth or Hard Luck Woman as more klassik, if only on a lyrical level. But with Hard Luck Woman we're spot on again. All the more so when it comes to Hide Your Heart. On a musical level.

Just listen to the first section of its instrumental introduction and then to the first chords of Hide Your Heart. Do you notice something? If not, listen to the first section of Hard Luck Woman again, the beginning of Strutter minus the short drum intro, and then listen to the beginning of Hide Your Heart again. Strutter and Hard Luck Woman merged into the riff of Hide Your Heart. More or less. But there we finally have the klassik Kiss element. And that can only come from Paul.

I'm afraid from now on I have to consider this song as purified.

Side Note:

(1) Apart from fanfare, and some other Elder stuff of course. But since I consider The Elder a klassik, we could of course also talk about Carnival of Souls in this regard (see above), but if we do, then also about Creatures of the Night, or even Crazy Nights, and half of the band's back catalog.

Hide Your Heart (1989)

Hard Luck Woman (1976)

Strutter (1974)

[theaskew]

[flapperdame16]

strutter kiss 2021 100 followers dance removed from YouTube for copy strike

[colorsdescribeme]

This album is going to kill me I just know it

[christinered]

This is my song!!! ~Red

KISS - Strutter