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Adam Huff
Professor Campbell
University Writing 1101
September 5th, 2014
Genre Analysis: Rock & Roll All Nite by KISS
Turn your car radio on and turn it to the local rock and roll station. 9 times out of 10 they
will have one of the most influential bands of the late 70s playing. If you know anything about
rock music, you will know Im talking about KISS. KISS is a band with four members: Paul
Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. The song I chose particularly to focus on
their hit Rock & Roll All Nite and their music video for it. Some related bands of the time were
Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Poison, and Def Leppard. These bands were part of the era known
as hair bands because of their extremely long hair or wigs they would wear on stage. The genre
of rock and roll usually consist of four members a lead singer, lead guitarist, bass guitarist, and a
drummer. Usually their lifestyles consist of partying and rock and roll. In the actual music bands
tend to have a guitar solo once and a hook or chorus about 3 times. Lyrics wise the music was
made to offend any higher authority and how they do whatever they want. Rock and roll music
has rhythm to it and usually rhymes.
Lets start with Paul Stanley. In this video there are women all over the house and usually
hes not far away from any of the action. Whenever there is a scene with women, you can be sure
to see Paul Stanley there also. I feel like this is how most bands of the time functioned with the
lead singer getting all the women. For example, Vince Neil lead singer of Motley Crue remarried
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times to a playboy bunny and a fashion model/mud wrestler. His face paint also helps play the
part of being starchild. The picture to the right shows the star that was always over his right
eye. I also think that the star plays to the effect the lead singer is the star of the show and they get
all the credit. Another part of his costume was that he was almost always close to being or being
shirtless. I think all these factors play into him being the lady getter of the
group.
Ace Frehley is the lead guitarist for KISS. He is known as the space
man or space ace. The nickname was coined because of his love for science
fiction. At 2:39 in the video he starts doing his signature smoking guitar
effect. This gives off the impression that he is playing so well his guitar is
about to catch on fire. This is during the guitar solo aspect of
the song which is quite common in the genre. Most lead
guitarists at the time also liked to put their own twist.
Gene Simmons is the bass guitarist for KISS. He is
known for being the demon on stage. In this particular video
he has a shot of him with blood coming out of his mouth
while his tongue is out. If that doesnt creep you out then
maybe his appearance may. Gene Simmons was known for
having an exceptionally long tongue and show boating it quite a lot. He is the bassist in most
bands this is the member (as well as the drummer) that tends to be overlooked. KISS happens to
be an exception and I think Gene Simmons seems to act as the hype man. He takes a seemly

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small part and does crazy stunts on stage to add to the frenzy of their live performances. He is a
key aspect of building up the intensity for the audience, whom craved it.
Peter Criss is the drummer for the band KISS. He is known for his stage persona the
Catman. Catman was unique because it was given to him because of his rough upbringing as a
child and going through a lot thus having 9 lives. Like Paul Stanley his face painting shows his
character very well. He has two stripes on each side of his face to resemble whiskers on a cat. He
also rounds off the paint on his nose to look more circular. His musical impact is the biggest on
the band. The simple rhythm of the music is dependent on him. While it is overlooked rhythm is
a large part of any type of music in general.
In the video you could see a lot of comparisons to that of an action movie. They had a lot
of fire, explosions, and smoke. This added to the hype many teenagers those days craved for.
That was the type of performances hard rock bands were like back in the day. For example,
Twisted Sister another very similar band used pyrotechnics in concert (pictured to the right). I
think the main reason and focus of these acts were to add excitement and build up the intensity.
Also the visual aspect of flames gives off a very bright light and
lures your eyes toward the stage (Not that you would be looking
away anyways).
Most of the lyrics in this song have to do with Rock and Roll
and partying. The song is very simple so it is very limited in what
they say. The chorus is actually them repeating I wanna rock and roll all night and party every
day. The repetitive nature of this song probably reflects how often they would party and rock
and roll all night. The party's just begun, we'll let you in you drive us wild, and well drive you
crazy. This lyric states how they would party with anyone and everyone. This is very odd

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because band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have publicly stated recently they are
against the drinking and doing drugs lifestyle. Another aspect of the song is how its directed
toward the ladies. With the lyrics Baby, baby that's quite a lot they are giving the open
interpretation that it could be to any one of their lady friends. This sort of thing would attract a
lot of female fans otherwise known as groupies. When asked in an interview on fox about having
groupies Gene Simmons replied, Let's just say that the male of the species should feel blessed if
the female of the species allows him to come near enough to her. Just one would be heaven,
everything else is cream.
If I had to change the band KISS into a different genre I would choose country. In order
to change the band to country I would have to make some drastic changes. First, I would
consolidate the band into 1 member instead of four. This one member would have to be able to
sing as well as play the guitar. I would switch out the electrical guitars for acoustic guitars.
Singing I would have to stop the amount of screaming and slow the pace of the song down.
Lyrics wise instead of talking about partying and rock and roll I would have them sing about
their lives and pick-up trucks. Instead of the costumes they wear I would switch those out for
denim jeans, a plaid flannel, a cowboy hat, and absolutely no makeup.
I have summed up most of the conventions and constraints of the genre. I analyzed the
lyrics of Rock and Roll All Nite and how they relate to the genre. I gave a basis of how each
band member fit into the genre and used examples from the video to tie into my points. I used the
symbolism of their face paint to connect to their on stage personas. The genre of KISS is odd one
but like Ace Frehley said Once you come and see Kiss, you either love us or you hate us.