Kiss' early albums are thin, cruddy-sounding hard rock recorded on the cheap, with only occasional lapses into catchiness: You'd be hard pressed to name another band that wrote all its own songs over such a long period of time without ever learning how.  

 Kiss' early albums are thin, cruddy-sounding hard rock recorded on the cheap, with only occasional lapses into catchiness: You'd be hard pressed to name another band that wrote all its own songs over such a long period of time without ever learning how.  

 When the men of Kiss hit it right, they really hit it (“Rock ’n’ Roll All Nite,” “Strutter,” “Room Service”) and Alive! is a nonstop Kiss-krieg of two-note guitar motifs, fake-sounding audience noise, and inspirational chitchat.  

 Kiss' early albums are thin, cruddy-sounding hard rock recorded on the cheap, with only occasional lapses into catchiness: You'd be hard pressed to name another band that wrote all its own songs over such a long period of time without ever learning how.  

 Destroyer was the inevitable arty concept album, from the drink-smoke-drive-die saga "Detroit Rock City" to the touching "Do You Love Me." 

 Rock and Roll Over offered "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" and "Calling Dr. Love." 

 Love Gun had Ace's star turn "Shock Me."  

 Alive II was the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training of Seventies metal, a well-made sequel that could not possibly deliver the shock of the original. 

 Kiss's greatest-hits collections have all been conspicuously incomplete, as if it hates the idea of anyone buying just one Kiss album, but Double Platinum is the most solid, though not as much fun as Alive!  

 Strictly speaking, Kiss' classic period was now over. But Gene and Paul continued on a humbler commercial scale. On Dynasty they try their hand at disco. 

 Another nostalgia-soaked live album fails to bring the rebirth the "Unplugged" brand lent some others. 

 2009's Sonic Boom was a surprisingly non-sucky studio album that, on tracks like "Stand" and "Never Enough" at least, took you back to the band's sleazy, sweaty Seventies heyday.