Former KISS Guitarist BRUCE KULICK Remembers Performing 'A World Without Heroes' Unplugged; Former KISS Business Manager Talks The Elder

November 16, 2012, 11 years ago

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In conjunction with KissFAQ’s month-long NovElder retrospective, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick took fans down memory lane in recalling a performance from one of the more monumental moments in KISStory: 1995's "MTV Unplugged" concert.

Specifically, Kulick recalled the band's acoustic rendition of "A World Without Heroes," an underground KISS classic that had not been performed in more than a decade at that point.

"Here's one of my favorite KISS songs. I was very excited when we decided early on to do this song for the Unplugged performances on the KISS Konvention Tour and then to have it immortalized for the MTV taping," says Kulick. "It's extremely melodic, and easily performed on the acoustics. I felt this performance from Gene, who is not one to sing the 'sweet' songs from KISS, made the Demon more human. Gene's soft side, almost fragile sounding in his singing, was quite a contrast for him. And that makes it very special. The intro solo was mine, but the main solo was taken by Paul Stanley, and I presume he did it for 'The Elder' recording. For me, the fact that we actually performed something from that infamous album, made me smile. I knew that the more we pushed the envelope in our acoustic presentations, the better the reaction would be. And we hit a home run performing this song. Big thumbs up from BK!"

Read the entire feature here.

Also, former vice president of Glickman/Marks Management Christopher K. Lendt recalled the state of the KISS union in 1981. Lendt also discussed how The Elder was an attempt to redefine the band's career and shared details regarding the proposed Elder tour, among other topics.

The following are excerpts from Lendt's interview with KissFAQ's Tim McPhate:

The state of KISS in 1981:

Q: Getting to Music From The Elder, which is the topic we're discussing today. Prior to them even starting recording, how would you describe the overall health of KISS in 1981?

A: "Well, that was coming off of the Australia tour, which was December 1980. That was the most successful tour KISS had done at that time. They were treated like the second coming of THE BEATLES. And I recounted all of that in the book. It was quite an event. They were really puffed up, and I say that without any sarcasm. Their egos were really boosted by such a successful tour. Their popularity was waning in the US, which they were aware of, but a big tour like that, playing stadiums and creating KISS mania, is a real climate to bolster your spirits and put you back in a different mood."

Q: Certainly. What do you recall about their initial studio album plans?

A: "When they approached a new album, they had made a number of efforts going into the studio in 1981, recording different tracks [at] different studios. I don't know if there were other producers involved but I know that they tried a number of different types of records. The consensus that they got from the people in Australia at PolyGram at that time was that they should come back in '81 and do another really hard rock album, because that was the essence of what KISS was and they felt that that was something that that would serve KISS well. You know, the last advice offered that you hear from people who are in a position to have their advice listened to is often the advice that you go with. So that was their inclination: to go back into the studio and record a typical hard rock, heavy metal KISS album, which I think they tried to do, but it never coalesced. And the thinking was that they didn't want to come out with another ordinary KISS hard rock album. Maybe it would have been good and accepted by the fans, but they didn't think it was really big enough. So having their egos boosted by the tremendous success of the Australia tour, and with the influence of Bill Aucoin, they decided to go off in a different direction. And eventually emerged the idea of a "concept" album."

Q: Right, which was a deliberate attempt to steer away from recording a typical KISS album.

A: "Yes, rather than just a recording of 10 or 12 tracks that were all distinct and separate from one another, they decided to do something on a more elevated level creatively. The concept idea became the operating idea."

Read the full interview here.



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