''Destroyer'' is the fourth studio album by American hard rock 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 March 15, 1976, by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

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 Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The album was certified gold by the RIAA 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

. 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 Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

, who had previously worked with

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, 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 Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

recorded during the ''Destroyer'' sessions was "Ain't None of Your Business" featuring

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. Criss established The Ca ...

on vocals. The plodding, heavy song, written by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

songwriters Becky Hobbs and Lew Anderson, was rejected by the band and later appeared on the 1977 debut album by

Michael Des Barres Michael Philip Des Barres (born 24 January 1948), the 26th Marquis Des Barres, is an English actor and rock singer. He appeared as Murdoc in the original '' MacGyver'', Nicholas Helman, Murdoc's mentor, on the new reboot of '' MacGyver'' (2016 ...

' band Detective. Although this song was rejected, other outside songs and suggestions were accepted by the band. In particular, Kim Fowley 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 ''Rock and Roll Over'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1976. It was recorded at the Star Theatre in Nanuet, New York. Album information To get the proper drum sound, Peter Criss recorded his tracks in a bathroo ...

'' and Gene Simmons' 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 Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, 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 Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

'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. 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 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 popula ...

later compared the experience of working with Ezrin as "musical boot camp" 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 The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. One musician not credited was

Dick Wagner Richard Allen Wagner (December 14, 1942 – July 30, 2014) was an American rock guitarist, songwriter and author best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, and Kiss. He also fronted his own Michigan-based bands, the Frost and the Bo ...

, from Alice Cooper's band, replacing

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 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Artwork

The cover art for ''Destroyer'' was painted by fantasy artist Ken Kelly. Kelly was invited to a show and given a backstage pass. 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 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's contemporary release of '' Rocks'' 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 Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

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 ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' referred to "bloated ballads", "pedestrian drumming" and "lackluster performances" in its review. Robert Christgau, writing in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', 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 of the "Detroit Rock City" single " Beth", 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! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' magazine listed the album at No. 36 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". In ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004),

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...

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'' magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. Greg Prato of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described ''Destroyer'' as "one of Kiss' most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting."

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'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 Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has additionall ...

, 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, ''

'' ranked it at No. 489 on its list of

the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

, 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 on the original vinyl pressing. It appears a few seconds after "Do You Love Me?".

''Destroyer: Resurrected'' (2012 remix)

Personnel

;Kiss *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, rhythm guitar * Gene Simmons – vocals, bass *

– drums, vocals *

–

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 featu ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

;Additional musicians *

– guitar solo on "Sweet Pain", guitar licks on "Flaming Youth", acoustic guitar on "Great Expectations" and "Beth" *Brooklyn Boys Chorus – additional vocals on "Great Expectations" *David and Josh Ezrin –

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

s on "God of Thunder" *

–

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

on "Beth" ;Production *

– producer, orchestration, keyboards,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

on "Beth" *H.A. Macmillan – orchestration *Jay Messina, Corky Stasiak –

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the ...

Charts

Album

{, {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! scope="col", Chart (2021) ! scope="col", Peak
position , - , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Swiss Albums (

Schweizer Hitparade The Swiss Hitparade (german: link=no, Schweizer Hitparade) is Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland. The Swiss charts include: * Singles Top 7 ...

) , style = "text-align:center;", 13

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 !style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;", Canadian Singles Chart !style="width:6em;font-size:85%;line-height:1.3;vertical-align:top;",

German Singles Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

!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 !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" , 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 "Detroit Rock City" is a song by the American hard rock group Kiss, released on their 1976 album ''Destroyer''. The song was written by Paul Stanley and producer Bob Ezrin. The song is one of the band's most popular and is a classic rock staple ...

" , 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" , 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. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Publication ! Country ! Accolade ! Year ! Rank , - , ''

'' , U.S. , The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 2003 , style = "text-align:center;", 496 , - , ''

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'' , U.S. , The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time , 2002 , style = "text-align:center;", 50 , - , '' Guitar World'' , 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 ,

, LP , NBLP-7025 , - !scope="row", Canada , 1976 , Casablanca Records , LP , NBLP-7025V , - !scope="row", United States , July 1987 , Casablanca/ PolyGram , CD , 824 149-2 , - !scope="row", United States , August 12, 1997 ,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

, Remastered CD , 532 378-2 , - !scope="row", Worldwide , August 21, 2012 ,

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Re-release In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Rec ...

, — , - !scope="row", Worldwide , 2014 ,

, Remastered 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)