Destroyer: Reconsidered

Andrew Jacobs here,

As I've mentioned a few times on the Decibel Geek Facebook page, Destroyer is my least favorite KISS album (yes, it even ranks below Crazy Nights, Asylum and Animalize with me).

While there are, no doubt, some truly excellent KISS klassics on Destroyer (hell, "Detroit Rock City" alone is what pretty much made me a KISS diehard for life), there is also at least one truly lackluster KISS klassic on it as well.  And for me, the most lackluster is, dare I say it, the studio version of "God Of Thunder" (I do absolutely love the live version of it on Alive II though).  Throw in "Great Expectations", "Flaming Youth" & "Sweet Pain" (and NO, it doesn't matter to me if it's Dick Wagner's solo or Ace's solo) as well and that makes almost half of the album pure unadulterated dreck as far as I'm concerned.

Having said all of that though, here are 4 facts about the significance that Destroyer has played in my life:

1. My very first memory of hearing a KISS song was sometime in my second grade class (this would've been around '77) when some kids begged the teacher to let them play a KISS album during playtime.  The album in question?  Destroyer.  Therefore making Destroyer the very first KISS album that I can recall hearing.

2. After receiving the Double Platinum CD in the mail from the BMG Compact Disc Club on 10/18/93 and listening to it a few times (and, of course, falling in love with it), I saw a KISS cassette in my brother's bedroom, so I immediately grabbed it and listened to it.  The album in question?  Destroyer.  Therefore making Destroyer the very first KISS studio album that I listened to from start to finish.

3. As I already mentioned, "Detroit Rock City" alone pretty much made me a KISS diehard for life.  Well, it actually was the Destroyer version of that song, not the Double Platinum version, that did that for me.

4. The combination of "Detroit Rock City" and "King Of The Night Time World" on both Destroyer and Alive II (my favorite KISS album of all time) is BY FAR my favorite song combo of all time.

So even though Destroyer is my least favorite KISS album, it also has the distinction of being the most significant KISS album for me as well.  Funny how that works.