"You Wanted the Best" is a song by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 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, ...

, released on their eighteenth studio album '' Psycho Circus'' in 1998. The song was written by the band's

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

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 was released as the fourth single off the album on November 23, 1998. The song only charted on

Billboard 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 ...

, reaching number 22. The band never performed the song live. It was the final recording to feature the original lineup and the only one to feature shared lead vocals among them.

Background

, the sole writer of the song, said about the lyrics: "The lyrics talk about a time when everyone in the band was bitching at each other in the press. With family, there's always a mixture of affection and bickering. Listen, we're really servants of the people. Ultimately we have to brush aside our internal differences for the greater of the whole, the greater good, which is the fans. The least we owe them is to shut up, get up on stage and put out." The song is the only one where all band members share lead vocals. At first, the song was titled "Just Give Me Love" and was written in 1977, but Simmons changed the lyrics to make it as a story of the band members. It is one of only three songs from the album where

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 ...

played

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, with the others being "Into the Void" and "In Your Face". Drums were not played by

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. Criss establi ...

, but by

Kevin Valentine Kevin Valentine is an American rock drummer who is best known for being a member of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers. Valentine played drums on all of the band's early albums during the 1980s. Valentine has recorded as a member of Breathless, The ...

, a session drummer who played on every track on the album, except "Into the Void". "You Wanted the Best" was released as fourth single off '' Psycho Circus''. It managed to chart only on

, reaching number 22. Kiss never performed the song live.

Personnel

;Credited personnel *

– bass, co-

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

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 ...

–

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 ...

, co-lead vocals *

–

, co-lead vocals *

– co-lead vocals ;Uncredited personnel *

–

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 ...

Charts

References

{{Kiss singles Kiss (band) songs 1998 singles Mercury Records singles Songs written by Gene Simmons Song recordings produced by Bruce Fairbairn 1998 songs