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Friday, August 10, 2012

206 Best Kiss Cover EVER Goes To Skin Yard

Posted by Mike Nipper on Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 10:47 AM

Some two years before "punk broke" and before "grunge" became a relevant word at the malls/middle schools local label C/Z Records released a Kiss tribute album, Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation. It wasn't a big deal, just a bunch of underground bands playing Kiss songs. It was fun, and silly, and, in fact, at parties we were still listening to the Kiss records we'd bought in elementary school. Kiss was very relevant to us long hairs in 1990.

Right, some highlights: Nirvana's version of "Do You Love Me" is rightly dumb, Coffin Break play a cool pop punk version of "Beth," and the Melvins' version of "God Of Thunder" is good, a little stock, but good. The rest of the groups, like the Treepoeple, Bullet LaVolta etc. all put in fine shows, nothing too exceptional. I always felt the best track on the LP, by FAR, was Skin Yard's version of Ace Frehley's "Snowblind." So much so, it IS perhaps the best Kiss cover, ever!! Seriously, Skin Yard fucking SLAYS that song...dig those leads, hubba hubba!! TOTES BRUTE.

Sidebar: I know most punters still think Neil Young is the "Father of Grunge," but actually BEING there I'd hafta say Kiss (and groups like Tales Of Terror) had more to do with "grunge" than any old hippie; no one ever chucked After The Gold Rush on the record player. Nope, never, EVER.

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Whole lot of first wave grunge kids were certainly in the KISS Army, myself included (my first trip to Seattle in 1977 with my parents I nabbed the Marvel Comic with the blood mixed into the cover inks!). KISS still sounds like suburb-blues, depraved 70s rock about gin and sin -- a much more arguable touchstone than a cerebral and melancholy Canadian troubadour. Flannel: The main connection.

Posted by Estey on August 10, 2012 at 11:31 AM

Ima gonna flog that dead horse so hard!

Posted by Keekee on August 12, 2012 at 2:16 PM

I have that comp. My favorite track is "Parasite," covered by some band I've never heard of before or since. (Not going to dig it out right now to find out.) But this was a close second.

If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the very first "tribute" compilations, years before they became trendy and the provenance of big, major label acts. That Velvet Underground comp that Nirvana and the Melvins were on was issued around this time, too.

Posted by Matt from Denver on August 13, 2012 at 6:40 AM

Keekee, YOU KNOW IT! heh

Posted by nipper on August 13, 2012 at 9:48 AM

Suh-weet! Daniel from Skin Yard and C/Z here...BIG thanks for the compliment! You know what's even more of an irony? None of us were ever huge KISS fans to begin with. Parasite was done by the Smelly Tongues who were a fairly obscure rawk band from Australia.

Posted by dhouse