Gene Simmons hated it.

Paul Stanley called it wimpy.

Ace Frehley didn’t get the memo that the album was meant to be a pop rock album.

Peter Criss, well he just didn’t participate.

And I was confused why Paul Stanley didn’t use Desmond Child again, since their hit from “Dynasty” was co-written with him.

Instead Vini Poncia, who produced the album, co-wrote most of the tracks.

In case you are confused, I’m writing about “Unmasked” released in 1980.

It didn’t meet commercial expectations in the North American market however it did very good business in Northern Europe.

And in Australia, it sold more than 110,000 copies on the first day of its release and 3,000 more were stolen from a truck on the way to stores. Well, this is according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

You see “Kissmania” or “Kissteria” in Australia was about 4 years behind their U.S. peak.

It didn’t sound like past Kiss, but this record definitely gave the power pop / melodic rock scene a good kick in the ass. You had bands like The Raspberries and Small Faces, but suddenly you could mention Kiss in the same sentence.

Its influence on the Scandinavian market is large and it’s no surprise that a lot of melodic pop and rock artists and songwriters have come from these markets.

Is That You?

The opening track and it’s not even written by a Kiss member.

But it is the parent to “Lick It Up”.

Listen to the verse riffs in both. The feel and groove is the same. The layered backing vocals are also great, something which Def Leppard mastered with Mutt Lange.

And Stanley always challenged himself vocally, the falsettos on the pre-chorus are braver than the ball tearers on “I Was Made Lovin You”.

On a side note, as a solo artist, McMahon’s 15 minutes of fame came with “Cry Little Sister” from “The Lost Boys” movie, 7 years later.

Shandi

Australia was also going through a “disco ABBA mania craze”, so it’s no surprise that a crossover disco/rock pop ballad went huge here.

And if ABBA wasnt doing music like this anymore, fans would always look to others to fill the void.

If you want to hear what inspired it, press play on the song “Tomorrow” from Joe Walsh. Paul basically lifted the first 60 seconds from it. And Joe Walsh is far from wimpy.

Talk To Me

Ace steps up with a rocker, which did good business as a single in Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and Australia.

It has an intro riff that sounds like it was influenced by Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”.

The major key riffage in the Chorus reminds me of “Do Ya” from ELO.

Naked City

My favorite song on the album and one of Gene Simmons best, giving melodic rock music some grit.

It’s written by a committee involving Simmons, Poncia, Bob Kulick and Peppy Castro.

Ace even contributed a solo, while Anton Fig and Bob Kulick did the drums and guitars.

But it all started with Bob Kulick who had the guitar riff and he demoed the song with Peppy Castro.

But the final recorded version didn’t make Bob happy and he has said that “Kiss ruined “Naked City”.

Ruined or not, it’s my favorite. And if the demo is available anywhere, please share it.

What Makes The World Go Round

I always like it when artists take influences from different styles of music.

In this case, Paul is taking inspiration from soul act, The Spinners and fusing hard rock, pop, soul and R&B into a unique style that still sounds like a rock song.

How good is the Chorus?

Tomorrow

My second favorite.

The power pop of 2000’s acts like Wheatus, Good Charlotte and the like is right here.

It might sound light on the rock, but inside the song you’ll hear a feel and vibe from “Coming Home”.

It’s also influenced by “Tonight” from The Raspberries along with Rick Springfield.

And even the most hardened rocker cannot resist singing along to the Chorus.

Two Sides Of The Coin

More ELO meets Free from the Spaceman.

I forgot to mention on “Talk To Me” that Ace employs an Open G tuning, a tuning popular with slide players because with one finger they can play a chord instead of fretting the chord. He also employs this Open G tuning here.

Keith Richards was a well known user of this tuning, however many believed that Keith used this tuning because of how wasted he was. It’s easier to play with one finger than four. And that same view point was held for Ace, however if you look at interviews during this period you cannot see or hear Ace sounding wasted.

The lyrics are dumb but then again Kiss weren’t scholars when it came to lyrics, so that’s what makes their music fun.

She’s So European

Press play for the intro. That’s all you need to listen to here.

Then again Gene Simmons does a good job on the lyrics and melodies as well, about a girl with a glass of pink champagne and well you can read the rest.

Easy As It Seems

Another favorite.

Paul is the star of the song. His bass riff is sinister, yet groovy and his sense of melody elevates the track.

I’m also a fan of The Pretenders and it looks like Paul was influenced by them as their song “Mystery Achievement” came out in January, 1980 and Kiss released their album in May 1980.

Check em out, they are both great songs.

Torpedo Girl

Press play for that rhythm and blues swing drum groove and stick around to hear Ace summon Joe Walsh for the verse riff and The Beach Boys for the Chorus.

You’re All That I Want

It has that feel of early Kiss musically. And somehow it gets no love.

The Wrap Up

They didn’t tour the North American market, but they did hit Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It kept em in business.

On Australian TV they also got a lot of press and interviews.

They appeared on the Australian “60 Minutes”. The segment is on YouTube if you want to see it. Bill Aucion was also interviewed, telling the interviewer how Kiss was turning over $120 million a year, and how he was looking to get the band into movies and comic books.

We sort of know how that turned out with “The Elder”.

A few things to note for 1980.

AC/DC dropped “Back In Black”, a slab of hard and bluesy rock that proved you can be commercially successful during this period playing that style of music.

The NWOBHM was also gaining momentum. This was even harder sounding and more abrasive than AC/DC and it also had an audience that was growing.

Most of the acts who had success in the 70s were either broken up, or on their last legs with the original members and looking to bring in new members.

So I understand the “wimpy” and “not sound like Kiss” comments, but this album has aged well because so many of the songs are so well written.

For a band that was just not functioning anymore they still found a way to deliver a great album.