Does KISS have the worst catalog of any rock artist with that level of fame?

[SchenkerFan]

From the get-go, they were all about putting out a bunch of good singles and a ton of filler on every album. The only great album start to finish is Creatures of the Night. Maybe the debut.

Discuss.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

As long as there is Motley Crue, there is no way Kiss has the worst catalog...

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

They're definitely near the top.

[HueyRamone]

Absolutely not. Good songs on all the first 7 albums, plus COTN and LIU.

Plus Ace 78, and side 4 of AliveII.

Thats at least 50 good songs right there. Someone like me would put it more at 60+. I would struggle to count 50-60 good songs by almost all other artists.

Do they have the worst catalog from Animalize to Monster? Absolutely.

[Demon Kogure]

Define "fame." Album sales? Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Bon Jovi, U2 have all sold more than KISS. I'd take KISS' catalog over any of those, any day of the week

[DonJuanDeMarco]

Agreed that many of the albums are weak, but had great singles. The 80’s stuff especially.

What surprises me more though is that they didn’t have that many top 40 hits! Again..a lot of the 80’s singles were not as big on the charts as I thought they were.

Motley…yeah, they had a ton of filler but I can listen to those 5 80’s albums all the way through. They each have their own identity.

[pieceofme]

From the get-go, they were all about putting out a bunch of good singles and a ton of filler on every album. The only great album start to finish is Creatures of the Night. Maybe the debut.

Discuss.

You made this exact same thread not that long ago. The answer is still no.

[Mister Freeze]

I knew someone would immediately bring up Motley Crue. The fans' self-hate for the genre is strong on this board.

As for Kiss, they're somehow the world's most overrated and underrated band at the same time. They have semi-forgotten songs ("I Want You" in the '70s, "Who Wants To Be Lonely" in the '80s) that are big hits in some parallel universe out there.

The albums are hit and miss, but never boring. At least not until Monster was released.

[Kerry67]

Listen to KISS Alive and tell me what song is bad.

[pieceofme]

I knew someone would immediately bring up Motley Crue. The fans' self-hate for the genre is strong on this board.

As for Kiss, they're somehow the world's most overrated and underrated band at the same time. They have semi-forgotten songs ("I Want You" in the '70s, "Who Wants To Be Lonely" in the '80s) that are big hits in some parallel universe out there.

The albums are hit and miss, but never boring. At least not until Monster was released.

Yeah Motley Crue is a ridiculous answer as well.

[AlexVonHaig]

Does any other band have a "<band> is shite friday"?

[tooth]

I would listen to a bad KISS song because it's KISS. I would not listen to a bad Motley Crue song because it's Motley Crue.

[ijwthstd]

They were putting out a lot of product even by 1970's standards. A lot of garbage and filler but still totals up to 50-60 good songs.

[MetalSludgeCEO]

Judging by 50 years of dedicated fans, followers and sales... it's FAR from the worst!

Adding... Gene & Paul are 2 of the richest men in Rock n' Roll... clearly they didn't get that way based off of "worst" anything.

$tEvil

[LAglamrocker]

Love Hate first 3 > Kiss career

Love Hate has sold 4 CDs since 1995..doesn’t matter
First 3 Love Hate shows > any Kiss show I’ve seen and way way more fun

Best lifelong catalog could be Testament- definitely not Bon Jovi

[Tommy]

Judging by 50 years of dedicated fans, followers and sales... it's FAR from the worst!

Adding... Gene & Paul are 2 of the richest men in Rock n' Roll... clearly they didn't get that way based off of "worst" anything.

$tEvil

You must love Beyonce.

[Tommy]

Nah, KISS isn't the worst. Plenty of good songs in the makeup days and a handful after.


I'm a GNR nutswinger, love all of their stuff. But they're selling out stadiums with 3 studio albums (CD is shit and a solo album), an EP and a covers album? Yeah, output vs fame it just might be them.

[LAglamrocker]

Whats wrong with Beyoncé ?
She is good not great..maybe she is Tuff?

Best Kiss cd song for song is Sonic Boom- lead single is horrible 2/10

[SterileEyes1]

I was tempted to disagree with this even though I’m not the biggest Kiss fan.

I guess on the one hand I’d cut them a bit of a break just because they’ve released so many albums compared to most rock bands at their level (20 or 30 compared to Motley’s 10-12, for example), but, yeah, they definitely have quite the collection of garbage filler tunes at this point so they might win because of that.

[Velvis]

I also think KISS' primary market is diehard KISS fans who are probably more likely to enjoy their entire catalog rather than the just the "hits." So, what might be considered filler to casual fans isn't to KISS fans.

Like back in the day KISS would sell between 500k-1M records to their dedicated fanbase and not much beyond that. Where someone like Motley would sell 4 million of GGGs to casual fans and that album is loaded with filler. (Everything past Shout has a ton of filler on it.)

As a KISS fan I am biased, but besides Gene's absolute drivel on Animalize and the unnecessary 5-6 songs on Hot in The Shade I think KISS has a pretty solid catalog.

I also think a lot of their fame is from the makeup/concert part of the equation. I bet a large percentage of their live audience owns very little of their catalog.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I knew someone would immediately bring up Motley Crue. The fans' self-hate for the genre is strong on this board.

As for Kiss, they're somehow the world's most overrated and underrated band at the same time. They have semi-forgotten songs ("I Want You" in the '70s, "Who Wants To Be Lonely" in the '80s) that are big hits in some parallel universe out there.

The albums are hit and miss, but never boring. At least not until Monster was released.

Yeah Motley Crue is a ridiculous answer as well.

Why? Only 5 albums worth mentioning, and 2 of them are 2 singles+filler.

[FreddyFender]

If you're not saying they don't have any good songs, you're just talking about the sheer volume of BAD songs?

Then yeah, Kiss probably reigns supreme.

They recorded a fuckton of music over 50 years, and I think all but the most obsessive of fans will tell you most of it is filler. I don't think any band looked at their music as just a product to sell like Kiss did.

Pound for pound, Motlley Crue is right there with them. Again, they have a ton of songs that people love, but most of their shit is the most low-effort filler you'll ever hear.

But neither of them have anything on QR. They have perhaps 10 good songs across howevermany albums. But they aint on that level of fame.

[pieceofme]

I knew someone would immediately bring up Motley Crue. The fans' self-hate for the genre is strong on this board.

As for Kiss, they're somehow the world's most overrated and underrated band at the same time. They have semi-forgotten songs ("I Want You" in the '70s, "Who Wants To Be Lonely" in the '80s) that are big hits in some parallel universe out there.

The albums are hit and miss, but never boring. At least not until Monster was released.

Yeah Motley Crue is a ridiculous answer as well.

Why? Only 5 albums worth mentioning, and 2 of them are 2 singles+filler.

I love all 5 of their 80s albums. After that, hard pass. But those 80s albums take them out of the conversation for me.

[MetalSludgeCEO]

Judging by 50 years of dedicated fans, followers and sales... it's FAR from the worst!

Adding... Gene & Paul are 2 of the richest men in Rock n' Roll... clearly they didn't get that way based off of "worst" anything.

$tEvil

You must love Beyonce.

No... but it's obvi that millions of others do!

$tEvil

[Gibsonite]

Does any other band have a "<band> is shite friday"?

"Kiss are shite every day, but especially on Fridays!©"

I miss those days

[Gibsonite]

They were putting out a lot of product even by 1970's standards. A lot of garbage and filler but still totals up to 50-60 good songs.

They're right up there with Cheap Trick in the "some killer, mostly filler" category, but they've released so many albums they still managed to crank out a shitload of good songs, and probably a dozen or so honest to goodness all-timers. I hate what they turned into in the "80s and goof on them now as much as anyone, but ya gotta give them their due.

[pieceofme]

Even a KISS filler song like say Love's a Slap in the Face is better than 95% of Foo Fighters catalogue for example.

[Tyketto Meniketti]

Sure there's plenty of filler. But Motley has more. And, frankly, a band like Iron Maiden. Not a whole lot I enjoy from them.

To each their own.

[greengoblinrulz]

no need to reply due to the musical intellect of the poster

[kytepunches]

For me the answer would be U2 … almost all filler garbage or just plain shit. They peaked with album one.