Destroyer (Kiss Album)
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''Destroyer'' is the fourth studio album by American
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band Kiss, released on March 15, 1976, by Casablanca Records in the US. It was the third successive Kiss album to reach the top 40 in the US, as well as the first to chart in Germany and New Zealand. The album was certified gold by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
on April 22, 1976, and platinum on November 11 of the same year, the first Kiss album to achieve platinum. The album marked a departure from the raw sound of the band's first three albums.


Background

After attaining modest commercial success with their first three studio albums, Kiss achieved a commercial breakthrough with the 1975 concert album '' Alive!'' It was the first album by the band to be certified gold. The success of ''Alive!'', which spent 110 weeks on the charts, benefited not only the struggling band but also their cash-strapped label Casablanca Records. Kiss signed a new contract with Casablanca in late 1975, partly because the label had been very supportive from the start of the band's career. The contract was for two albums, an indication that Casablanca was unsure if the group could duplicate the accomplishments of ''Alive!''


Songwriting and recording

Rehearsals for ''Destroyer'' began in August 1975, while the group was embarked on their supporting tour for ''Alive!'' Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked with Alice Cooper, was brought in to produce the album. The band felt that Ezrin was the right person to help them take their sound to the next level and to maintain the commercial success they had achieved with ''Alive!'' Before meeting with Ezrin, the band had written and recorded a 15-song demo in the Magna Graphics Studio in August 1975. The first demo recorded during the ''Destroyer'' sessions was "Ain't None of Your Business" featuring Peter Criss on vocals. The plodding, heavy song, written by country songwriters Becky Hobbs and Lew Anderson, was rejected by the band and later appeared on the 1977 debut album by Michael Des Barres' band
Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
. Although this song was rejected, other outside songs and suggestions were accepted by the band. In particular,
Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...
and Mark Anthony became important contributors during the songwriting process., bringing in the title and basic structure of the song "King of the Night Time World" from their previous band Hollywood Stars' then-unreleased 1974 album ''Shine Like a Radio'' (which also featured the original version of the Alice Cooper song "Escape" from '' Welcome to My Nightmare''). Ezrin flat out rejected most of the material, as only heavily re-worked versions of "God of Thunder" and "Detroit Rock City" made it to the album, and one song "Mad Dog" was pilfered for lyrics to "Sweet Pain" and a riff for "Flaming Youth". Other songs from this demo were re-worked for the following album '' Rock and Roll Over'' and
Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...
' 1978 solo album while others remained unreleased until the 2021 release of ''Destroyer'' as a 2CD set and Super Deluxe box set. The first recording sessions for the album took place on September 3–6, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, during a brief break between the '' Dressed to Kill'' and ''Alive!'' tours. The basic album tracks were recorded during this time. The majority of the recording sessions for ''Destroyer'' took place in January 1976, after the conclusion of the ''Alive!'' tour. Ezrin introduced to Kiss sound effects, strings, screaming children, reversed drums (on "God of Thunder") and a children's choir. The song "Great Expectations" uses the first phrase of the main theme from the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (known as ''Sonata Pathétique''), but the songwriting is credited to Simmons and Ezrin. During the recording sessions, Ezrin resorted to numerous tactics designed to increase the quality of music Kiss recorded. Because none of the group were trained musicians, Ezrin halted the sessions at one point to provide lessons in basic
music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
. To instill a sense of discipline, he wore a whistle around his neck and exhorted the band with sayings such as, "Campers, we're going to work!" When Simmons stopped playing during the recording of an outro, Ezrin yelled at him, saying, "Don't you ever stop a take unless I tell you!" Paul Stanley later compared the experience of working with Ezrin as "musical
boot camp Boot camp may refer to: Training programs * Boot camp (correctional), a type of correctional facility for adolescents, especially in the U.S. penal system * Boot camp, a training camp for learning various types of skills ** Dev bootcamp, a de ...
" but said that the group "came out a lot smarter for it." Simmons echoed the sentiment by stating, "It was exactly what we needed at the time." ''Destroyer'' is the first Kiss album to prominently feature outside musicians, such as members of the New York Philharmonic. One musician not credited was Dick Wagner, from Alice Cooper's band, replacing Ace Frehley on the track "Sweet Pain". Wagner also played the acoustic guitar found on the song "Beth". The success of ''Alive!'' and ''Destroyer'' enabled the band to embark on their first tour of Europe.


Artwork

The cover art for ''Destroyer'' was painted by fantasy artist Ken Kelly. Kelly was invited to a show and given a
backstage pass A backstage pass is a credential which allows its bearer access to restricted areas at a performance or conference venue, most commonly associated with rock or R&B music groups, though have since become commonplace across many entertainment event ...
. He said of the performance, "It blew me away." Kelly was later commissioned by the band to draw the cover for 1977's ''
Love Gun ''Love Gun'' is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on June 30, 1977. Casablanca Records and FilmWorks shipped one million copies of the album on this date. It was certified platinum and became the band's first top ...
''. Kelly's original version of the album cover was rejected by the record company because they felt the scene was too violent looking with the rubble and flames. Also, the original version had the members of Kiss wearing the ''Alive!'' costumes. The front cover shows the group striding on top of a pile of rubble, and a desolate background spotted with destroyed buildings, some of which are engulfed in flames. The back cover shows a similar scene, but with more buildings on fire. The front of the inner sleeve featured a large Kiss logo and the lyrics to "Detroit Rock City". The other side displayed the lyric "SHOUT IT OUT LOUD", as well as an advertisement for the
Kiss Army The KISS Army is the official fan club for the American rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, as well as the unofficial name used to refer to Kiss fans in general. It was started unofficially in 1975 by Bill Starkey and Jay Evans. The membership form di ...
fan club.


''Destroyer: Resurrected''

In anticipation of the 35th anniversary of the release of ''Destroyer'', producer Bob Ezrin approached Simmons and Stanley about doing a remix and re-release of the original album. With their approval, Ezrin acquired digital copies of the original 16-track analog master tapes. In addition to re-equalizing elements of each song, Ezrin also added in some parts of tracks that had been omitted from the original mix. These include some additional vocals on "Detroit Rock City" and "Beth", and the substitution of a guitar solo by Frehley on "Sweet Pain" for the one from the original that had been performed by Wagner (a version of "Sweet Pain" with Frehley's solo was included as track 6, while the original version with Wagner's solo is appended as a "bonus" track at the end of the new CD). Ezrin also used digital manipulation to fix an incorrect lyric (changing "down 95" to "doin' 95") on "Detroit Rock City". The resulting album, titled ''Destroyer: Resurrected'', was released on August 21, 2012. It featured Ken Kelly's original cover artwork before alteration by Casablanca for the 1976 release. ''Destroyer: Resurrected'' met with mixed critical reception. William Clark of ''Guitar International'' wrote: "Each track sounds crisper, clearer and louder, which are always welcome qualities when you’re listening to a classic album of the likes of ''Destroyer''". However, ''Circus'' magazine in a joint review with
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
's contemporary release of ''
Rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...
'' praised ''Rocks'' while stating that ''Destroyer'' "stinks." The album returned to the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 11 the week after its re-release. In 2019, the record was released in orange translucent vinyl, retailed exclusively by Walmart in the U.S..


Reception

''Destroyer'' sold well upon its release on March 15, 1976, and was certified gold on April 22. Although exact sales figures are not known, Stanley stated that the album initially sold 850,000 copies in the US, well over any of Kiss's first three studio albums.Leaf and Sharp, ''Behind the Mask'', p. 258. After peaking at No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart on May 15, ''Destroyer'' quickly fell and by August was at No. 192. The first three singles—"Shout It Out Loud", "Flaming Youth" and "Detroit Rock City"—failed to ignite sales any further, though "Shout It Out Loud" did give the band their first No. 1 record, in Canada. The band and Ezrin cited fan backlash as the reason ''Destroyer'' did not meet sales expectations. Ezrin also stated that the "grassroots rock press" was particularly critical of the album. '' Rolling Stone'' referred to "bloated ballads", "pedestrian drumming" and "lackluster performances" in its review.
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
, writing in '' The Village Voice'', felt that it was Kiss's "least interesting record" and criticized producer Ezrin for adding "only bombast and melodrama". It was not until radio stations started playing the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
of the "Detroit Rock City" single "
Beth Beth may refer to: Letter and number *Bet (letter), or beth, the second letter of the Semitic abjads (writing systems) *Hebrew word for "house", often used in the name of synagogues and schools (e.g. Beth Israel) Name *Beth (given name) lists p ...
", that the album started to sell as expected. The ballad, which according to Simmons was deliberately put on the B-side to force stations to play "Detroit Rock City", started receiving numerous listener requests and became an unexpected hit. "Beth" (co-written and sung by Peter Criss) was re-released as the fourth single in late August, and it peaked at No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart on September 25. It was the group's first Top 10 song and reignited sales of the album. On November 11, 1976 ''Destroyer'' became the first Kiss album to be certified platinum. The album was re-certified at the double platinum level on September 9, 2011 and is the band's best selling in the post-1991 Soundscan era, selling 726,000 copies in the United States from 1991 to March 4, 2012. The album has received recognition in later years. In 1989, '' Kerrang!'' magazine listed the album at No. 36 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". In '' The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' (2004), Rob Sheffield referred to ''Destroyer'' as "the inevitable arty concept album, from the drink-smoke-drive-die saga 'Detroit Rock City' to the touching 'Do You Love Me?'". The album was also featured in ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''. In 2006, it was placed at No. 60 on ''
Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...
'' magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. Greg Prato of AllMusic described ''Destroyer'' as "one of Kiss' most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting." Pitchfork's Jason Josephes said that it is "easily one of the best albums in the Kiss canon" and credited Ezrin for ushering along "even more of an art/hard rock album than Kiss's previous efforts." Canadian journalist Martin Popoff, described ''Destroyer'' as a "no party album, looming darkly, ponderous, almost haunting at times, basically uncommunicative and puzzling due to its stylistic over-extension" and judged it a "success of early no-chops metal". In 2012, '' Rolling Stone'' ranked it at No. 489 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, calling it "a ridiculously over-the-top party-rock album that just gets better with age".


Track listing


Original release

All credits adapted from the original releases. *Track 6 also known as Rock and Roll Demons, or Rock and Roll Party. It appears as a
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
on the original vinyl pressing. It appears a few seconds after "Do You Love Me?".


''Destroyer: Resurrected'' (2012 remix)


Personnel

;Kiss * Paul Stanleyvocals,
rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
*
Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...
– vocals,
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
* Peter Criss
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
, vocals * Ace Frehleylead guitar, backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Dick Wagner
guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...
on "Sweet Pain", guitar licks on "Flaming Youth",
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
on "Great Expectations" and "Beth" *Brooklyn Boys Chorus – additional vocals on "Great Expectations" *David and Josh Ezrin – voices on "God of Thunder" * New York Philharmonicorchestra on "Beth" ;Production * Bob Ezrin
producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
,
orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
,
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
, piano on "Beth" *H.A. Macmillan – orchestration *Jay Messina, Corky Stasiak – engineers


Charts


Album

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Singles

{, class="wikitable" , - !rowspan="2", Year !rowspan="2" style="width:12em", Song !colspan="6", Chart positions , - !style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;",
Billboard Pop Singles The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming i ...
!style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;",
Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart was a chart compiled by the American-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan, which began publication in November 1996. It was published every Wednesday and also published on Thursday by '' Jam!''/Canoe. I ...
!style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;", German Singles Chart !style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;", Swedish Singles Chart !style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;",
Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
!style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;", New Zealand Singles Chart , - , 1976 , " Shout It Out Loud" , style = "text-align:center;", 31 , style = "text-align:center;", 1 , style = "text-align:center;", 32 , style = "text-align:center;", 16 , style = "text-align:center;", 45 , style = "text-align:center;", 40 , - , 1976 , "
Flaming Youth Flaming Youth can refer to: * ''Flaming Youth'' (novel), a 1923 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams * ''Flaming Youth'' (film), a 1923 film based on the novel starring Colleen Moore and Milton Sills * Flaming Youth (band) Flaming Youth were a Britis ...
" , style = "text-align:center;", 74 , style = "text-align:center;", 73 , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , - , 1976 , " Detroit Rock City" , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", 14 , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , - , 1976 , "
Beth Beth may refer to: Letter and number *Bet (letter), or beth, the second letter of the Semitic abjads (writing systems) *Hebrew word for "house", often used in the name of synagogues and schools (e.g. Beth Israel) Name *Beth (given name) lists p ...
" , style = "text-align:center;", 7 , style = "text-align:center;", 5 , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", – , style = "text-align:center;", 79 , style = "text-align:center;", –


Certifications


Accolades

The following information regarding list placements attributed to ''Destroyer'' is taken from
Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Publication ! Country ! Accolade ! Year ! Rank , - , '' Rolling Stone'' , U.S. , The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 2003 , style = "text-align:center;", 496 , - , '' Blender'' , U.S. , The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time , 2002 , style = "text-align:center;", 50 , - , ''
Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...
'' , U.S. , The 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. , 2006 , style = "text-align:center;", 60


Release history

{, class = "wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - !scope="col", Country !scope="col", Date !scope="col", Label !scope="col", Format !scope="col", Catalogue number , - !scope="row", United States , March 15, 1976 , Casablanca Records , LP , NBLP-7025 , - !scope="row", Canada , 1976 , Casablanca Records , LP , NBLP-7025V , - !scope="row", United States , July 1987 , Casablanca/
PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
, CD , 824 149-2 , - !scope="row", United States , August 12, 1997 , Mercury Records ,
Remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...
ed CD , 532 378-2 , - !scope="row", Worldwide , August 21, 2012 , Universal Music Group , Re-release , — , - !scope="row", Worldwide , 2014 , Universal Music Group ,
Remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...
ed LP , B0019818-01


References

;Bibliography * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyer (Kiss Album) Kiss (band) albums 1976 albums Albums produced by Bob Ezrin Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Albums recorded at Record Plant (New York City) Casablanca Records albums Concept albums Albums with cover art by Ken Kelly (artist)