Creatures of the Night (song)

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"Creatures of the Night"
Creatures of the Night vinyl.jpg
Single by Kiss
from the album Creatures of the Night
ReleasedApril 1983 (UK)
Format 7"
Recorded1982 at Record Plant Studios,
Los Angeles
Length4:02
Label Casablanca
Songwriter(s) Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell
Producer(s) Michael James Jackson, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley
Kiss singles chronology
"Killer" / "I Love It Loud"
(1982)
"Creatures of the Night" / "Rock and Roll All Nite (live)"
(1983)
"Lick It Up" / "Dance All Over Your Face"
(1983)

"Creatures of the Night" is a song by American hard rock band Kiss, released as the first single from their 1982 album of the same name. It was only released in the UK, where it reached #34. The song was written by Paul Stanley and Adam Mitchell in Mitchell's kitchen. [1] It is not clear who plays what on the track but it is assumed that bass was not played by Gene Simmons, but Mike Porcaro who would later play with American rock band Toto. Lead guitar was not played by Ace Frehley as he was not musically involved with the album and it was not played by Vinnie Vincent either; it was played by Steve Farris, who would go on to be the lead guitarist of the 1980s pop rock group Mr. Mister. Adam Mitchell also played in the final version of the song, replacing Stanley on rhythm guitar in the middle and end of the song. [2]

Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with keyboards.

Kiss (band) American band

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley. Well known for its members' face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1970s with their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band has gone through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons the only remaining original members. The original and best-known lineup consisted of Stanley, Simmons, Frehley, and Criss.

<i>Creatures of the Night</i> 1982 studio album by Kiss

Creatures of the Night is the tenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1982. It is the band's last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to this point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions. It is also the band's last album recorded with Ace Frehley credited as an official member, and their first album with Vinnie Vincent as the initially-uncredited lead guitarist. It was also Kiss' last album to feature the band with their trademark makeup until Psycho Circus was released.

Contents

Live performances

"Creatures of the Night" was performed during the Creatures of the Night Tour and Lick It Up Tour as an opening song and moved to the middle of the set on the Animalize Tour before being dropped from the set-list on the upcoming three tours and then again included in the set-list for the Revenge Tour and Kiss My Ass Tour, as an opening track, again.

The Revenge Tour was a concert tour by Kiss in support of the band's album Revenge. It was the first tour with drummer Eric Singer, replacing Eric Carr who died of cancer on November 24, 1991. The Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland shows were recorded for Kiss' first live album in 16 years, Alive III. Danger Danger, Faster Pussycat, Fortress, Great White, Jackyl, Shooting Gallery, Trixter and Vesuvius were the supporting acts for this tour. There were three legs to the tour, with the first being a series of 13 shows played in small clubs in North America in April and May 1992, followed by an eight date run of full scale shows in the United Kingdom in the second half of May. The third, and final, leg was a tour of North American arenas which did not kick off until October of that year. Average attendance was at its lowest for this tour since 1975 averaging 5000 fans a night.

The Kiss My Ass Tour was a concert tour by Kiss. In late August, and early September 1994 Kiss toured South America as headliners on the touring Monsters of Rock festival. Following this, the band toured Japan in January 1995 on their own, and in February 1995 they toured Australia for the first time since 1980. The Australian tour was named "The Kiss My Ass Downunder Tour". The stage set used through most of the shows in South America and Australia was similar to the Hot in the Shade Tour stage. It had Leon the Sphinx, the steps around the drum riser, the laser lightshow and parts of the regular lightshow. The band appeared in the mouth of the sphinx after the curtain concealing the stage dropped, as in the Hot in the Shade Tour, but the sphinx didn't sing "God of Thunder" on these short tours, nor did it shoot rockets from its eyes. This was the last tour of the non-makeup era.

Appearances

"Creatures of the Night" has appeared on following Kiss albums:

<i>Alive III</i> 1993 live album by Kiss

Alive III is a live album released by the American hard rock band Kiss in 1993. It was certified gold in 1994. It is the third installment of the Alive series. The recording of Alive III took place over multiple dates during the band's 1992 tour in support of Revenge.

<i>Chikara</i> (album) compilation album by Kiss

Chikara is a compilation album by hard rock band Kiss, released in 1988 on Polystar.

<i>The Box Set</i> (Kiss) 2001 box set by Kiss

The Box Set is a five CD collection of recordings drawn from the Kiss archives reportedly selected by the band. The Box Set includes 94 tracks, including 30 previously unreleased band and solo demos, outtakes, live recordings, and a 120-page color booklet with track-by-track commentary by band members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss, detailed track information, photos and essays. A limited number of the set were released in a guitar case-shaped box.

"Creatures of the Night" cover:

Iced Earth American heavy metal band

Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida. It was formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer Greg Seymour. Iced Earth released their debut album in 1990 and have since released thirteen studio albums, four EPs, three compilations, three box sets, three live albums and eleven music videos.

<i>Tribute to the Gods</i> 2001 compilation album by Iced Earth

Tribute to the Gods is covers album by heavy metal band Iced Earth. It is notable as the last Iced Earth album featuring Larry Tarnowski on lead guitar, and the last featuring singer Matt Barlow on vocals until his 2007 return, and their last album with Century Media. This record was first released in 2001 in the box set Dark Genesis, but was re-released as a standalone disc in 2002. It was then re-released as part of the set Enter the Realm of the Gods along with the band's 1989 demo Enter the Realm in 2008 with new cover artwork.

Personnel

Paul Stanley American hard rock guitarist, musician, singer-songwriter and painter

Paul Stanley, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and painter best known for being the rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's highest-charting hits. Stanley established The Starchild character for his Kiss persona.

Rhythm guitar guitar technique; part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section

In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.

Gene Simmons American musician

Gene Klein (born Chaim Witz, known professionally as Gene Simmons, is an Israeli-American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, actor, author, and television personality. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the rock band he co-founded with lead singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley in the early 1970s.

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1983)Peak position
UK Singles Chart 34

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References

  1. "Songwriting credits". Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  2. "Who probably play what on Creatures of the Night song" . Retrieved January 8, 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 "Kiss related recordings;Creatures of the Night covers" . Retrieved March 23, 2011.