The Kiss Album That Made Gene Simmons ‘So Nervous’

In a recent interview, Bruce Kulick remembered the Kiss album that made Gene Simmons nervous.

Speaking to Chaoszine in an interview embedded below, the former Kiss guitarist recalled that Simmons wasn’t convinced the highly polished, keyboard-heavy sound of 1987’s Crazy Nights was the right move for the group to make.

“It was interesting to get [producer] Ron Nevison involved, who was very successful then, he had hits with some big bands,” Kulick recalled. “I know that Paul [Stanley] was very excited to work with him, Gene maybe not as much.”

Prior to working on Crazy Nights, Nevison had helped Heart launch their massive mid-’80s comeback with slick, modern-sounding hits such as “What About Love” and “These Dreams.”

Although the album kept Kiss’ ’80s commercial winning streak intact it didn’t break through to the desired mainstream audience. The also received some blowback from longtime fans accusing them of once again hopping on the latest trends – as they did in the late ’70s with disco and would do in the ’90s with grunge – in an effort to replicate the success of pop-metal superstars such as Bon Jovi.

“Ron had a vision for the album,” Kulick continues. “But I know that even though he added some elements that people argued with – maybe keyboards or some samples on the snare drum, but he always wanted the lead guitar on front, which was important to me. So I was happy about that. I think he did a good job, though I remember watching Gene be so nervous about it.”

Simmons’ concerns about the album’s creative direction may have magnified another problem the group had been facing for a few years. By his own admission, Simmons’ focus was split between the band and his other pursuits – including running his own record label and trying to launch an acting career.

Instead of their usual roughly even split, Simmons wound up singing on only four of Crazy Night‘s 11 songs, most of which are much more guitar-oriented than the rest of the album. In his 2014 memoir Face the Music, Stanley recalls the moment he finally confronted Simmons about the unfair work balance. “This isn’t okay anymore. I’m done with this. You can’t expect to be my partner if you’re not going to hold up your end.”

A few days later, a repentant Simmons offered to buy Stanley a Jaguar, to thank him for the extra responsibilities he taken on in recent years.

“It was a nice move on his part,” Stanley recalled. “But I had my eye on a Porsche. When we shot the video for the second single from Crazy Nights, ‘Reason to Live,” the story line involved a beautiful woman blowing up a car. It was a black Porsche 928. And I drove it home from the video shoot, compliments of Gene.”

Watch Bruce Kulick Break Down His Kiss Discography