.: What If I chose to see Alice Cooper in 1977 instead of KISS?

My first concert wasn't live, it was a Movie in 1975 Alice Cooper Welcome To My Nightmare. I had to beg my father for an hour to let the older neighbor kid & my friend Ronnie to go see a boy named Alice, or Sue it didn't matter to old Walter SR.. I remember it was playing with a Rolling Stones concert film. I loved the experience & I wanted to see a live concert after that night, every night. It wasn't until two years later that I would see my first live concert.

It was Van Nuys California 1977. Summer was closing in & so was my 10th birthday. I remember every Sunday I would look at the Calendar section of the Los Angeles times. It was like a book that listed all the weeks & months events concerts movies ect...

I remember thumbing through one day when I asked my mom if I could go see a concert & to my surprise she told me to take my time that my birthday was a couple months away & to pick the concert I wanted to go see the most & she would take me. I was shocked. We didn't have MTV back then & the only way to see any band live if you didn't actually go to the concert was to look at pictures in magazines. I remember at this time I was already a huge KISS fan,. It was sometime in late 1974 that I was turned on to rock. My first album was Alice Cooper's Schools Out & an Elton John Record. I grew up on a dead end street so I was very close with my friends on my block & they all had older brothers that were into rock. My introduction came early. I remember my first KISS albums came at the same time. I was given Hotter then Hell & Alive sometime in 1975 because Destroyer wasn't out yet and wouldn't be for sometime. I remember Blasting Alice Cooper School's Out & remembering that the record was a bit to scary and weird for me at such a young age but I loved the title track. I wasn't ready for Alice yet. I did the same with my Elton Record. I played one song that rocked then took it off but that all changed when I got Kiss Hotter then Hell. I remember starring at that back cover for hrs just tripping out on who and what these people called KISS were all about. I could only listen to Side 2 because Side 1 was trashed, so naturally I turned to Alive & that was my album until Destroyer came out. I didn't have my own record player then so I had to go into the den and listen to Alive, I did this every chance I got & was fascinated by Paul's stage raps. I even remember looking at the pictures trying to figure out who that voice was rapping to me was. I was sold on KISS. They had me by the big ones. I immediately took that 8 page booklet and began plastering it all over my wall which by 1978 would reach all four walls. Well it didn't take long for me to get back to my mother, I had decided I wanted to go to see Alice Cooper WHAT!!!. I didn't even know that KISS was coming yet. My mom told me no? I didn't know if I was ever going to see a live concert. Alice was in Anaheim & my mother wasn't keen on the fact it was an all day event with 5 opening acts , bumber cars and the whole 9 yards. I bowed my head and continued my search Aerosmith nah....Then I saw it about 6 weeks into my quest to find a concert. KISS was coming to the Forum Aug of that summer about 5 days before my 10th birthday.

I begged & begged & my mom said YES! We went to Sears in North Hollywood & got tickets. They were in the very back maybe four rows in from the back wall center, but I didn't care because that whole concert to me is one big blur of the Alive II gate fold center. But here is what I do remember vividly . It was about 1 hr before me and my mom where to depart Van Nuys & head to the Los Angeles Forum I begged her to let me wear Kiss Make-Up but she said no. I didn't understand because I was Peter Criss the year before for Halloween. We had the make-up already it wasn't like we had to go buy it. Oh well. I remember when we pulled up there where fans in the parking lot wearing make-up & I told my mom they got to wear it. She later told me she didn't want to deal with cleaning me up when we got home. Makes total sense looking back.

I quickly didn't care anymore, I was at KISS in 1977! When we walked in the doors of the Los Angeles Forum I remember a female usher handing out little pins that read I was There! I didn't know the significance of these pins of course until a decade later & am still on the hunt for a replacement .

, I remember I grabbed about 3-4 & my mom also had one. They all wound up in the trash. Now I'm willing to pay 50 bucks to the first person that's willing to sell me one go figure. As we entered Mother & I took our seats & it wasn't long until the first band came on. They rocked. But I didn't know who they were. I just remember this crazy guitar player running all over the place (Rick Neilson). He was nuts & I remember I liked the band. Then their set ended & I just remember Robin Zander Tricks Lead Vocalist, yelling are you guys ready for KISS? The place went nuts. The band then left the stage. I was only 9 years old & I was about to turn 10 in a matter of days, I was in awe of my surroundings. There were people so high they couldn't walk and I hadn't seen anything like that before. I also saw two girls have a fist fight that was something as the cops took them away, I just remember thinking WOW I'm really at a real rock concert..

Me in 1977

Man am I Glad I Picked KISS!!!

I will never forget they opened the show with I Stole your Love. Alive II will tell you Detroit Rock City, but truth be told Detroit was actually part of a 3 song encore consisting of Detroit Rock City, Beth & Black Diamond. I will never forget the day I put on Alive II in October of the same year wondering why the songs seemed backwards.

KISS were so far away & I remember the guy next to me was annoying because he kept singing to the songs. I particularly remember Dr Love. He at one point got on my nerves so bad that me & my mom moved up about 4 rows to some empty seats (there wasn't many). I also remember asking the guy in front of me if I could use his binoculars & he obliged. That was so cool my heroes looked even bigger and clearer if only for a moment. Then came time for Shock Me. I remember this song the most because my mom left me in there by myself to go to the restroom. She asked me if I wanted anything, she later told me she couldn't handle Aces solo & it was killing her ears haha,, I asked for a poster and a Coke. My mom took her much needed break and returned with that really cool KISS Love Gun Foil Poster. I also had the Tour Program which was chopped up and plastered to my wall the next day (I have since replaced it).

Kiss Los Angeles Forum 8mm

We stayed for the whole show, I knew better even before the encore. I knew there was more & my mom was cool enough to let me stay out late. We both laugh and share the same memory of that concert today. My mother and I walked out of the Forum that night our ears were ringing & we could hardly hear. It was like you had just gotten off a plane you couldn't hear very well for a good 15 mins afterwards.

That was the best day & night of my life and it's interesting because it wasn't much later, between Oct 1978 when Phantom of the Park debut on Television & May 1979 to be exact that I did a 360 and completely gave up on KISS. I don't know exactly what happened but in Oct of 1978 I was glued to the T.V. for the debut of Phantom of the Park. I had every single KISS record except 2 of the Solos, I never got Paul or Peter's which were all released a month prior to the movie. Then only 7 months later in May of 1979 KISS released Dynasty. I NEVER GOT IT! I just remember it was cool to not like KISS anymore & it happened overnight . I was also growing up fast & was getting into a lot of other music. I got caught up in that KISS is for kids mentality. I was now too mature for KISS & the departure of my favorite member Peter never helped matters. I remember looking at the records in the stores Dynasty, Unmasked & Music From the Elder for some reason I was just not compelled to even want to hear them until one day I was a little curious & bought the Shandi 45" Yep they still stunk!! I didn't return as a fan until 1983 and it took about 2 years after that for me to actually gain my childhood likeness for the band back.

Looking back now in retrospect I listen to the records I missed out on Dynasty through Music from the Elder & all I can really say about it is I called it. I'm glad I took that break. I liked the pure KISS & was gone for the bullshit. Maybe it was intuition who knows. Looking back , do I like those records now? Sure I do. But lets face it, they stunk. Shock Me became Talk to me & by 1981-2 you couldn't tell KISS from the Village People!

KISS 1981..."Did somebody say Van Halen"