"I Love It Loud" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
. It was released on their 1982 album ''
Creatures of the Night
''Creatures of the Night'' is the tenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1982. It was the band's last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to that point. The album was dedicated to the memor ...
''. It has proven to be a staple of the band's live show, being performed on almost every tour the band has done aside from the
Reunion
Reunion may refer to:
* Class reunion
* Family reunion
Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to:
Places
* Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean
* Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...
and
Psycho Circus tours.
Background
The track was written by bassist/vocalist
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 ...
and guitarist
Vinnie Vincent
Vincent John Cusano (born August 6, 1952), better known by his stage name Vinnie Vincent, is an American guitarist. He is a former member of the rock band Kiss from 1982 until mid-1984 during the band's transition out of their 1973–1983 make ...
, although some versions of the album mistakenly credit Paul Stanley and Vincent. The latter had been working with songwriter Adam Mitchell when he discovered that Mitchell had connections to Kiss, and Vincent made it a point to meet Simmons through Mitchell. After meeting and exchanging phone numbers with Simmons, the two got together and wrote "I Love It Loud" in addition to another song called "
Killer
A killer is someone or something that kills, such as a murderer or a serial killer.
Killer may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Killer (''Home and Away''), a character from ''Home and Away''
* Killer Kane, ...
", which appeared on the ''Creatures'' album during the same writing session.
The song fades out, only to come back even louder, and then fades out a second time. This idea was taken from
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' songs "
Helter Skelter" and "
Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". It represented a departur ...
".
Released as a single in 1982, it was only the second Kiss single to feature a picture sleeve and marked the final Kiss single released on the
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
label. As a single, the song did not fare particularly well, failing to crack the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, although it did "bubble under" at No. 102. The song hit #45 on the RPM Singles Chart in Canada in March 1983. Musician and musicologist
Julian Cope
Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...
, calling it the "sole classic" from ''Creatures of the Night'', described its "
J. Bonham-as-
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
drum fundament" as "one of thee most colossal pounded in many a year." He continued: "Even the video was damned fine for its time, but those drum stops still sound like
Ragnarok to me every time."
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' said that "Eric Carr’s primitive drum throbs, the group's tribal cries and co-writer Gene Simmons’ fierce lead vocal set a scene where 'the Jungle is the only rule.'"
Music video
A video was filmed which featured the band, then officially consisting of Simmons, guitarist/vocalist
Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular ...
, drummer
Eric Carr
Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known professionally as Eric Carr, was an American musician who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after ...
and guitarist
Ace Frehley
Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...
, on stage performing the song while teenagers, watching them perform on television, are being hypnotized (or inspired) by their performance. As the song progresses, the father's newspaper catches fire, the telephone melts, a teacup explodes, stuff pours out of the refrigerator behind the mother (who just stares at the mess) and a large crack appears in the wall near the television. Howard Marks, KISS' business manager from 1976 to 1988, stars as the father in the video.
The video was directed by Paul Davey and produced by John Weaver for Keefco. It also marked the final video for which Kiss wore their famous make-up before unmasking in 1983. Although the lead guitarist who recorded the song really was the unofficial member
Vinnie Vincent
Vincent John Cusano (born August 6, 1952), better known by his stage name Vinnie Vincent, is an American guitarist. He is a former member of the rock band Kiss from 1982 until mid-1984 during the band's transition out of their 1973–1983 make ...
, the music video features performing Ace Frehley due to contractual reasons, being the last Kiss video to include him (excluding various television appearances Frehley did with the group in support for ''Creatures of the Night'') before his departure later that year.
"I Love It Loud" was the last Kiss single to feature Simmons on lead vocals until "
God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II
"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" is a 1973 song by the British band Argent and covered by Kiss as "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II" in 1991, with modified lyrics.
Argent
Argent recorded the song in 1971 during the sessions for their album '' A ...
" in 1991, and the last to feature Simmons as the sole lead vocalist until "
Unholy
''Profanum'' is the Latin word for "profane". The state of being profane, or "profanity," refers to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred, which implies anything inspiring or deserving of reverence, as well as behaviour show ...
" in 1992.
Alternative versions and covers
This song also appears on other releases such as 1993's ''
Alive III
''Alive III'' is a live album released by the American hard rock band Kiss in 1993. It is the third installment of the ''Alive'' series. The recording of ''Alive III'' took place over multiple dates (in Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis) d ...
'' and on Kiss' ''
The Box Set'' in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. The single of the live version reached number 22 on ''
Billboard'''s
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
. A remixed version of the track appears on Kiss's
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
greatest hits album, ''
Smashes, Thrashes & Hits
''Smashes, Thrashes & Hits'' is a compilation album by the American hard rock band Kiss. It was the fourth hits album overall but the second hits album released by the band in the United States ('' Killers'' and '' Chikara'' were not released t ...
'', that features a notably different drum sound and is missing the fade out in the middle of the song.
The
Phunk Junkeez
The Phunk Junkeez are an American rap rock band from Phoenix, Arizona that formed in 1991. The group's original lineup consisted of vocalists Joe Valiente (Soulman) and Kirk Reznik (K-Tel Disco) and rotated through various other members over the ...
reworked the song and covered it on their 1995 ''Injected'' album, retitled "I Love It Loud" (Injected Mix). The song was later included in the soundtrack for the 1995 comedy film, ''
Tommy Boy
''Tommy Boy'' is a 1995 American buddy adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former ''Saturday Night Live'' castmates and close friends Chris Farley and Davi ...
'' (starring
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...
and
David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
); a music video for the song was made that featured Farley and Spade (in their film character roles) come upon and take part in a concert held by the Phunk Junkeez while clips from the film were interspersed. The song reached number 88 on the Australian
ARIA 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 ...
.
In 1999,
Snow
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
recorded a dancehall
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
cover of the song, entitled simply ''Loud'', on his ''
Cooler Conditions
''Cooler Conditions'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian reggae musician Snow. Released only in Japan, many of the tracks later appeared on the more widely released '' Mind on the Moon'' album. The tracks ''Someday Somehow'', " Everybody Wa ...
'' album.
[See production notes in cd insert: ''Cooler Conditions'' (Tokyo: JVC Japan).]
For many years, when the band performs the song in concert the second verse is shortened.
Personnel
*
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 ...
– lead vocals, bass
*
Eric Carr
Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known professionally as Eric Carr, was an American musician who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after ...
– drums, percussion, backing vocals
*
Vincent Cusano – guitar
*Dave Wittman – backing vocals
References
{{authority control
Kiss (band) songs
1982 singles
Songs written by Gene Simmons
Casablanca Records singles
Live singles
Songs written by Vinnie Vincent
1982 songs