What Are the 5 Biggest US Hits by KISS?

It’s been 13 years since the last KISS studio LP and an even decade since their last single. But would we ever put it past Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to rev it up again for another comeback? Of course not. Until that day, however, their legacy as hard rockers who could cross over to the pop charts stands tall. Check out their five biggest US pop hits as evidence.

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“Hard Luck Woman” – No. 15 in 1976

KISS realized the value of slowing things down and letting melody drive the bus after a big ballad hit (still to come on this list) in 1976. For the first single off their album Rock And Roll Over, the band went with a kind of shaggy country-blues-rock vibe on “Hard Luck Woman”. Paul Stanley wrote it as a bit of an homage to Rod Stewart songs like “You Wear It Well” and “Maggie May”. Give credit to Stanley for expertly nailing that vibe, and to drummer Peter Criss, who stood out on lead vocal with a lived-in performance.

“Rock And Roll All Nite” – No. 12 in 1975

They called it Alive! because it supposedly derived from the band’s wild live performances. Many years after the fact, members of KISS admitted that extensive studio overdubbing (right down to the crowd noise) was needed to make it happen. But what does that really matter? The bottom line is that the “live” version of “Rock And Roll All Nite” has it all over the studio version (released on Dressed To Kill). The song has earned its stripes as the ultimate rock-and-roll party song over the years. That wouldn’t have come to pass without the fresh coat of paint they put on it.

“I Was Made For Lovin’ You” – No. 11 in 1979

Considering that they always remained cognizant of doing as well as possible from a commercial standpoint, it’s interesting to note that KISS initially balked at going the disco route. Once they decided on it, however, they pulled it off quite well. Desmond Child, who’d eventually become one of the top song doctors of the 80s and beyond, helped Paul Stanley and producer Vini Poncia write it. Anton Fig, later a staple of David Letterman’s band, handled the four-on-the-floor beat. But KISS’ own Ace Frehley deserves the kudos for the rough-and-ready lead guitar work.

“Forever” – No. 10 in 1990

If every other hard-rock act was cashing in with a power ballad, why not KISS? After all, they possessed in Paul Stanley a lead singer pretty much genetically engineered to take a song to the rafters. Stanley enlisted Michael Bolton, a guy who knows a thing or two about the emotional excess of such songs, to help him write it. Interestingly, Gene Simmons doesn’t appear on the track. Instead, Bruce Kulick handles the heavy lifting on guitar and bass. Not a bad result at all for such a long-running band to once again find themselves in the Top 10.

“Beth” – No. 7 in 1976

To build on the momentum of Alive! Album, KISS needed to step up their studio game. To do that, they called on Bob Ezrin. As producer, Ezrin played a major role in shaping Destroyer in 1976. As one big example, he encouraged Peter Criss to move forward with “Beth”, sensing that the group needed something less about sex and more about love to court the pop charts. Criss, who sang lead, originally wrote the song with an old bandmate named Stan Pennridge. Ezrin would help shape the melody while also adding the string arrangement that pushed the song over the top.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation