The Contrarians Panel: Dark Horse Album #9 - KISS Animalize
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- The Contrarians continue with the format of Dark Horse Albums to bring you another classic discussion! This time the crew breaks down KISS Animalize!
The Contrarians is a show where one of us jumps in the hot seat picks a dark horse album from a band as that band's best album. The guest host will argue against them with facts, stats and all around truth, subjective and objective!
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C'mon " I want to put my log in your fireplace " is pure poetry, Gene is a great lyricist.
Lol. 💯 agreed. GENE makes William Shakespeare seem like a “ babbling idiot”. GOTTA keep my tail between my 🦵 legs. Your cutting off your 👃 nose, to spite your face, OOH babe, gonna put you in your place. Pure classic poetry. lol.
"When I go through her, it's just like a hot knife...🎶through butter..🎶...it must be love, fits like a glove🎶"😂Sheer poetry!
@@jockmctodger 💯. Tremendous. Funny sh…tttt
Linguistic wizardry that cements Simmons as a wordsmith of the highest caliber! LOL
@@StephenZimmer Lol. I love it 👍💯
Lick it Up was definitely the way better album but I like Animalize a bit more than their following '80s albums, "Thrills in the Night" is a classic gem and Paul's production is good.
ANIMALIZE. 8️⃣4️⃣. I like the EIGHTies KISS. First concert I ever went to. MADISON square GARDEN 12-16-7️⃣7️⃣. NYC. PIPER( billy squier) opened. Under THE GUN , Thrills in the NIGHT. Burn 🔥 BITCH burn. Tremendous. Just my opinion. Tragic death for Mark St JOHN. Glad you guys did this episode. 👍💯
thanks Gary!! 🙏
Are you a fan of 80's KISS? Where does Animalize rank in your KISS fandom?
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80s Kiss was an interesting time. This was one of the first Kiss albums I ever heard and at the time I thought I like the Paul songs but Gene, not so much. I've Had Enough might be one of the heaviest and best songs they ever put out. As always, it's great hearing everyone's different opinions.
I have a soft spot for all of kiss albums up to revenge. I like some of all of them
Big fan of Lick it up but not the biggest fan of 80’s Kiss in general. I like the comments at 36:50 about someone else producing other than Paul Stanely and the background too! Great stuff!!
8 out of 10 for me. In my opinion, Animalize is the last really strong Kiss album. I feel this is the best non-makeup album after Lick It Up. If you like heavy riffs, this is the Kiss album for you. When this was released, Paul Stanley said that Animalize had more balls than the World Series and that is not hyperbole. Paul has always been known as the pop guy and the ballad guy. Well, one listen to "Under the Gun", "I've Had Enough (Into the Fire)", and "Get All You Can Take" renders those opinions mute. "Heaven's on Fire" is the catchy as sin single and the video was all over MTV at the time. "Thrills in the Night" was the second single that should have been bigger. As for Gene, his best tracks are the closers "While the City Sleeps" and "Murder in High Heels" and these really kick tail. Mark St. John's solos work better on the heavier tracks and Eric Carr is nearly the monster here that he was on Creatures of the Night. Kiss' run from 1982 to 1984 was killer (pun clearly intended) and Animalize deserves more love than it gets.
Very cool episode, love the 80's KISS era! For me, it's sometimes a bit unfair that the diversity of these albums is often unappreciated and it's generally assumed that they were focused on the flavour of the month. That's certainly not entirely wrong, but it's also a fact that KISS put their very own stamp on 80's Hardrock and every album of this era sounds unique and overall they sounded like NO other band throughout the entire period! Well, for me "Animalize" has always been an above-average album with rough edges, but in terms of the songs as a whole it doesn't come close to "Creatures" and "Asylum", but I agree with Martin, it's a bit more edgy and overall better than "Lick it up". Contrary to the opinion of many other KISS fans, I was never a friend of Mark St. John's (RIP) guitar style and sound, here for me personally Bruce Kulick is just the perfect fit, because unlike St. John Kulick had a more balanced, tasteful, well-rounded style. For me, KISS just wasn't a band that a shredder player could fit into even especially Paul was forcing a Van Halen clone at that time.
Yes, Bruce was the perfect fit for them, love his playing
Wish I could have been on this one! Huge kiss fan! Great episode!
you can join us!!
I’m not a huge fan of this album. It’s not bad, but I feel it pales in comparison to Lick It Up and Asylum. I’m going contrarian here saying that I like Burn Bitch Burn. It is just a solid steady rock song. My favorites on the album are Heaven’s On Fire and Under The Gun. Not a fan of Thrills In The Night. It’s ok, but I like other songs much more. I’d give the album a 6.5.
Willie Nelson actually put out a reggae country album. It’s called Countryman. If Pavarotti would have made a guest appearance it would have been Country, Reggae, Opera.
Fantastic episode! Have really came to love this album in the last 10yrs. I probably listen to it the most of all the "unmasked" 80's KISS albums. Even the Gene songs I like for the most part, maybe with the exception of Lonely Is The Hunter but I still enjoy it regardless. Thrills In The Night is arguably my favorite KISS song of the 80's honestly and is easily in my top 20 if not top 10 KISS songs period. Don't get tired of that one for some reason. Would have loved to be on this one (or an Alice Cooper one in the future maybe since I'm an Alice fan as well equal to be a KISS fan) since I'm a total hardcore KISS fan and love discussing their albums, especially the 80's albums. Love this episode though, it's be cool to see Dynasty, Asylum or Hot In The Shade get discussed one day too!
How can anyone not like “Heaven’s On Fire? It’s one of Kiss’s best!
I have to chuckle at the irony. We’re taking about Gene’s misogynistic lyrics less than a week after the Super Bowl halftime show where several hip hop “artists” with a combined net worth of a billion dollars were given a world stage. Read Snoop’s lyrics. Puts “Fits Like A Glove” into perspective.
From a non-Kiss fan, I enjoyed this chat, gents!
Lick it up was there best 80 s album by far…the rest have a couple good tracks and tons of filler….burn bitch burn is a guilty pleasure song..love the riff ..hate the whoo,who,whooo
My favourite Kiss albums are their Creatures of the Night, Kick it Up & Animalize trilogy. Thank you for a fantastic episeode. Nothing beats Kiss 1982 -1988 output. Love how they sounded during that era.
12:45
Maybe Thrills and City Sleeps are unofficially "conceptually linked", hence the similarities and putting them back-to-back?
I never really thought much about it until I began to discover more and more how seemingly unrelated songs are in fact connected by either concept or theme, even if they are albums apart.
Proving I suppose there are no rules in rock & roll.
I personally like similar-sounding/similar-themed songs arranged together. Essentially making pseudo-concept albums out of non-concept albums, and keeping common topics together rather than all mixed up. I almost always rearrange tracks into a BETTER sequence than originally appears on the album (except in the case of actual concept albums). For example, I hate when gentle ballads go into heavy hard-hitting rockers, and vice-versa. Musical transition is important, in addition to lyrical/topical grouping.
Just my preference.
Animalize is my all-time fave KISS album...
Perhaps it's cos it was my first official KISS album (Love Gun and Destroyer ranking a very close 2nd-place).
Perhaps cos it was released in 1984, which was in my opinion (for purely personal reasons) was the BEST year (of the 80s at least) for music and in general.
As a KISS fan from the 1970s I found your roundtable a fun listen. I walked away from the band after buying Unmasked and didn't rediscover them until 1985 when I heard the Tears Are Falling single. At that time I made a point of catching up; listened to Lick It Up, Creatures, and Animalize. Aside from Paul's voice there was very little that I could really identify with. I liked that they had apparently given up on trying to appeal to the mainstream pop market. But then it became Paul and Gene pandering, trying too hard to fit into the Mtv marketing mold of "heavy metal". It's not that I didn't like a good portion of their 80s material, but they seemed like a different band.
Jorn IS fantastic. wish he'd put out something and tour the states. looking forward to the 40th anniversary WASP tour too.
This is one of my favorite KISS albums ever, its a 9.5 out of 10 for me, love every song except thrills in the night such a weak song from Paul imo. Gene's songs have always had horrible lyrics go listen to deuce if you disagree. I was 15 not quite 16 when Animalize came out and i still remember the bigass smile i got on my face the first time i heard Heaven's on fire. This is the album Kiss needed to make in 1984 they were competing with Ratt, Dokken, Motley Crue, Scorpions, its a solid rock album for 1984. It sold well and it allowed them to continue.
It's a good album, not great, at least for me anyway. It has some good songs on it, Under The Gun, Thrills in the Night, Into The Fire, don't need to hear Heaven's on Fire anymore but there is some good stuff on there. I prefer Lick it Up & Asylum but I will crank this one, every now and then. I'd give it maybe a 6/10? Good episode fellas. \m/ \m/
Mark St John also played with KISS in Hammond, IN on Easter Sunday that year.
Mark St. John's guitar style is like a slew of notes falling down a long staircase.
I was at the Baltimore Civic Center show, and Mark St. John came out for just a song or two I believe.
Definitely needed a producer! It’s a thin sounding album to me! Eric carr was great on this album! I personally think Mark St. John has a very unique sound and different choice of notes! I’d give the album a 5.5 out of 10!
5.5 is pretty fair actually, i always think this album is higher in my list until and i go and listen to it
@@thecontrarians2438 ikr🤪! Needed vinnie 😉!
@@leswadley6792 Agreed!
Mark St John was a good fit for the band at the time shame he didn’t continue his tenure with the band any longer
It definitely would have been cool to see how he would have approached Asylum and to see how that album would have been formed with his influence
It’s a pretty good album, the start of their slick 80’s sound. It has a similar feel to lick it up. Probably their last time releasing more than one good album in a row (creatures, lick, animalize). Asylum a bit forgettable and not quite as good as this. Only a couple of albums since animalize have been good albums. 7/10.
Asylum is way better in my opinion
@@JCStorm76 It was a tough period for kiss I think, hitting the pits with hot in the shade to finish the 80’s.
I truly hated the record back then, but it just grew up on me over the years.
I love the whole album, including Burn Bitch Burn.
Not bad but it has some filler especially the last two Gene songs. Funny enough Burn Bitch Burn is my favourite of his on this album.The underrated Asylum is better in my opinion. Genes songs especially are much better than on this album.
One of their weaker albums.
6/10
I’m way on board for Asylum my favorite of the 80s kiss albums and even non makeup 90s albums including revenge
@@thecontrarians2438 Same here.
I really don’t dig the generic lyrics but, damn-Mark St John’s TONE! I think this lone 80s Kiss album contains their best sounding guitar work since 70s Ace.
As I’m listening to this I keep thinking of comments to Mike the guy just talked about how they don’t know which solos Mark St. John played and then discusses how he plays too fast and memorable ones or Bruce’s so I’m confused how they think they know which one is which maybe they clarify this later in the discussion I’ll have to finish listening to this but everything I’ve ever heard about animalizes that Mark St. John didn’t really play that much on it maybe he did I don’t know I wish somebody would clarify that you would think Bruce would know
Again the guy saying that Jean is a terrible lyricist doesn’t get the whole gene Simmons thing I think it’s largely an act but regardless if he really believes this stuff or not the guy does not get the point Jean Simmons is a misogynist that’s what makes him Jean Simmons if he was polite all the time he wouldn’t be Jean Simmons And I know that’s not how you spell Simmons his name but I’m talking to my phone rather than Type in It’s faster
I Like This Album
Jorn !!! Nuff said
I love asylum. I don’t like animalizeze.
Asylum is better
6/10 for me. The Paul Stanley-songs range from terrific (I've Had Enough, Heaven's On Fire, Thrills) to good (Under the Gun, Get All You Can Take). The Gene-songs are totally unremarkable. The production is not bad, but not stellar either.
"Animalize" is better than "Crazy Nights" and "Hot In the Shade", but that's not saying much. I definitely liked this album more back in the day. "Animalize" has not aged well at all. I love the opening track and can still stomach "Heaven's On Fire", and though "Burn Bitch Burn" is lyrically ridiculous, I do really like the main riff in this song. I'll give "Animalize" a 5/10.
As far as Christian goes, I love to see the younger fans on these shows, but I'll be honest, as it pertains to him speaking, it's not good. If I have a nightmare tonight, it will probably be of him saying "um". I don't know if anybody got the "um" count while watching, but don't ask me to go back and listen to find out. It was nails on a chalkboard, but 100X worse.
I love animalized
This comes out when I'm 11 so "Burn Bitch Burn" was very cheesy cool. KISS has NEVER been great song writers and Animalize is no worse for it so if you put Elder higher than Animalize, you're stoned. Maybe this hot take isn't for KISS purests but being a fan of much heavier bands I'll say 'I've Had Enough (into the fire) is one of their best. I don't really care about the politics of the album at the time, only the finished product. 80's KISS is my favorite era.
Animalize has a solid production and some very heavy tunes. Paul's songs are great and most of Genes are pretty good as well. The exception being "Murder In High Heels" which is plodding and lazy sounding IMO. That one should have been replaced with a different track or just dropped for an 8 song release instead. I give Animalize an 8/10. P.S. I always really liked "While The City Sleeps".
It’s top tier 80s KISS for me. Slightly worse than Creatures and Lick It Up, but better than what came after. I’ve always favoured Paul songs overGenes.
Not a fan of 80s Kiss after Creatures Of The Night. I like the song Lick It Up but that's about it. Wasn't until Revenge that I liked a Kiss album again.
A bit harsh on the gene songs some of you haha. Burn and lonely are great, city sleeps is pretty good, murder is terrible yes. Thanks
Shocking, critics didn't like a KISS album
Didn’t grow up listening to make up Kiss. Older sister gave me Gene’s solo album once… 👎👎. Enjoy a lot of the heavy early stuff now. Lick it up and Animalize was Kiss to me growing up. Thoroughly enjoyed them.
Animalize is one of my least favorites haha, I like the first 3 tracks and Murder in High Heels but imo its not a very cohesive album and it's best moments are mostly just zeppelin ripoffs. Also an observation I made was that Murder in High Heels riff sorta sounds like Rage Against the Machine's People of the Sun
I don’t know if the comment previous to this comment is a joke or not as a young hormonal Girl crazy boy I thought that was the best line of any song read heard in years and hilarious having said that as a grown-up with daughters I probably wouldn’t put that in the song but I say all this to say I love burn bitch burn I don’t quite understand the heat that song gets other than the juvenile lyrics which are absolutely hilarious anyway but no more tongue-in-cheek than lots of Jean songs again why this song gets so much hate I don’t get it
the band i buy whatever of is Metallica
Best argument here: Don't diss that album, most of the others are just as bad. :D
I'm more of a kiss fan now than I was back than, but this album is awful, aside from the 1st 2 tracks, and I listened to burn bitch, omg that's awful haha, speaking of awful, how about an episode on Triumph Surveillance , I was a huge Triumph fan as a kid, I watched that new documentary on them and loved it so I went on a Triumph kick this week, but surveillance is pitiful, if u thought burn bitch is bad check out rock you down haha its hilarious
Burn b**** burn is the theme song of the 2016 election 🐵
I hated the production on this album... It was a shocker...
Half the album is pretty darn good and the other half is pretty darn bad. That’s usually my definition of a 5/10. However, the good songs are really good (Paul’s), so I would therefore give Animalize a 6/10.
A lot of these reviews sounded as if they have a lady they are scared of...JFC
dont even know what that means but thanks for watching!
I watched this episode just to see what the draw to this band is and especially this era, interesting conversation, it still hasn’t changed my mind about this band though, I still think they are awful and to say the best songs on this album are the ones written by Desmond Child says it all, that guy is responsible for some of the worst songs ever written and recorded during this era. He made tons of money though with a good amount of crappy songs because of timing. This era in much of hard rock is very dated and pretty awful. KISS survived in this era by morphing into hair metal and I just remember working in a record/cd shop in the late 80’s and the Kiss albums we would see people selling most was from this era and after. Still don’t get the draw to true band and I never will. Lol.
the Gene songs ARE weak
Its a 4 for me. MSJs lead playing was trash. Not a single memorable solo. Horrible weak production. 3 good songs