Today in KISStory - 1994
The tribute album 'KISS My A**' is released worldwide.
Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved is a 1994 tribute album, featuring a variety of artists covering songs by the American rock band Kiss. Released to coincide with Kiss' 20th anniversary, the album was certified gold by the RIAA[1], and spent thirteen weeks on the charts.
"Hard Luck Woman" was performed by Kiss themselves with award-winning country singer Garth Brooks (who had admitted to being a fan of the band during some interviews) on lead vocals.
"Calling Dr. Love" was performed by one-off band Shandi's Addiction, made up of vocalist Maynard James Keenan (Tool), guitarist Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave), bassist Billy Gould (Faith No More), and drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave). The band's name is taken from "Shandi," a song from the 1980 Kiss album Unmasked. It is also a wordplay on Jane's Addiction.
"Strutter", sung by Extreme, is an unusual recording, as it also incoprorates the main riff to "God of Thunder" in the middle section prior to and during Nuno Bettencourt's guitar solo, the vocal opening to "Heaven's on Fire" into the reprisal of the lyric "But when she wants/She'll pass you by", and the chorus of "Shout It Out Loud" sung by the backing vocalist. Also, after the song has ended, one of the band members sings the introductory guitar lick to "Love Gun".
Canadian, Japanese and Australian copies of the album have their respective flags in place of the American Flag of the U.S. version.
The rights to Ace Frehley's makeup were not cleared in time for release of the CD, hence the inclusion of Paul Stanley's "Bandit" design that was briefly used in some early shows and promotional photos.
The album title provided inspiration for another Kiss tribute album, Kiss My Ankh. This album contains only songs written by former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent whose make-up design consisted of a golden ankh across on his face.[2]
Track listing
1. "Deuce" (Gene Simmons) – 4:10
* Performed by Lenny Kravitz featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica
2. "Hard Luck Woman" (Paul Stanley) – 3:14
* Performed by Garth Brooks featuring KISS
3. "She" (Simmons, Stephen Coronel) – 4:53
* Performed by Anthrax
4. "Christine Sixteen" (Simmons) – 3:09
* Performed by Gin Blossoms
5. "Rock and Roll All Nite" (Stanley, Simmons) – 2:54
* Performed by Toad the Wet Sprocket
6. "Calling Dr. Love" (Simmons) – 4:51
* Performed by Shandi's Addiction
7. "Goin' Blind" (Simmons, Coronel) – 3:24
* Performed by Dinosaur Jr
8. "Strutter" (Stanley, Simmons) – 4:39
* Performed by Extreme
9. "Plaster Caster" (Simmons) – 3:02
* Performed by The Lemonheads
10. "Detroit Rock City" (Stanley, Bob Ezrin) – 4:21
* Performed by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
11. "Black Diamond" (Stanley) – 7:07
* Performed by Yoshiki
12. "Unholy" (Simmons, Vinnie Vincent) – 3:30
* Performed by Die Ärzte, international and U.S. vinyl version only
