KISS Loves You DVD Review by John Harrison [gravetramp.blogspot.com]
The early 1990s were a strange time to be a Kiss fan... It
became clear that Kiss, one of the giants of 70s American
stadium rock, who had even managed to find a degree of
success in the 80s without their trademark kabuki make-
up and studded leather costumes, were going to find the
musical climate of the 1990s a difficult one to survive and
thrive in.
Yet at the same time, the Kiss fan movement was
probably at its most visible. Dozens of different Kiss
fanzines were being self-published (in varying degrees of
quality), and vintage merchandise and other memorabilia
associated with the band was being sold at ever
increasing prices. There were also the Kiss conventions,
where fans (many in make-up and their own home made
costumes) would gather and celebrate the band, watch
vintage video clips on a big screen, see a tribute band
perform, and shop at the dozens of dealers tables. Some
of the bigger conventions would have former members
and associates of the band as special guests, and have
original costumes and artefacts on display.
However, it's actually the moments that involve the
various Kiss tribute bands (who bear names like Strutter,
Dressed to Kill and Hotter Than Hell) that provide some of
the more entertaining and interesting scenes in Kiss
Loves You. Director Jim Heneghan (a Swedish filmmaker
who helmed the acclaimed 2002 Hellacopters
documentary Goodnight, Cleveland) captures a genuine
sense of bitterness, jealousy and backstabbing between
the various bands – in a moment of art imitating life, the
Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley impersonators in Strutter
have a huge ego clash that ends when 'Frehley' leaves to
form his own tribute band. Another member of Strutter
refers to Kiss fans as "goons" who often get lost in the
blurred line between reality and fantasy, with some
treating the impersonators with the same degree of
reverence as the real thing.
To Heneghan's credit, Kiss Loves You manages to
celebrate the Kiss mythology even as it is simultaneously
punching holes in it. Footage of Gene Simmons and Paul
Stanley steamrolling unannounced into a Kiss convention
and taking a collector's exhibition apart to retrieve items
they claim had been stolen from them while fans look on
open-jawed, will not endear the pair to everybody, and
the 100+ dollars which a dad spends to make a plaque
for his ten year-old son to present to Paul Stanley at a
Kiss Convention would have been better spent on beer
and pizza as Paul simply takes the plaque, waves it
around for about a second, before carelessly tossing it
onto the floor behind him, where it is later found dumped.
But it's Bill Baker who comes off looking the most
disillusioned in the film. A lifelong Kiss fan who idolised
Ace Frehley growing up, formed his own Frehley tribute
show, and finally became sometime friend of the Space
Ace himself, Baker gushes in the early segments about
his admiration for Frehley, he plays us some telephone
messages Ace has left him, his mom tells us about the
anniversary card Ace kindly sent to her, and Bill relates
stories of helping Frehley move house, and how he
couldn't have picked a better person to emulate. Cut to
the footage filmed several years later and Baker seems
genuinely hurt that he has not heard a peep out of Ace
since he re-united with Kiss, and he also lets slip that he
frequently lent Frehley money, hinting at some ulterior
motives for the friendship (Frehley filed for bankruptcy
just nine months before the reunion tour). Baker enjoys
something of a last laugh however, when he adopts Elvis
as his new hero, proposes to his girlfriend at Graceland,
then sells his massive collection of Ace Frehley
memorabilia (including original costume pieces and
jewellery) and purchases a house with the proceeds.
At only 72 minutes in length, Kiss Loves You never gets a
chance to bog itself down or outsay its welcome...
From a personal perspective, watching Kiss Loves You hit
me in a strange way. I have never been to a Kiss
convention, never worn Kiss make-up or costume, and
think most of what Kiss has done in the past ten years is
complete rubbish that has irreparably cheapened what it
once was. Luckily, I am able to separate what it is to what
it once had been, and as a kid Kiss were the first band I
ever got into in a big way, as well as being the first
concert I ever attended (VFL Park in Melbourne, 1980) –
so I can see where the enthusiasm and joy displayed by
the die-hard Kiss fans is coming from, even if I struggle to
understand the length and depth of their often blind
devotion.