Letters

It was 1976. I was 11. I was looking out of the bay window of my parents house on a dreary winter day in New Jersey. I saw this blonde haired teenage girl walking down the sidewalk past my house. She was carrying a record album. I remember that it was brightly colored. I saw orange and blue and red and silver and black. And there were these wild faces on it. Not long after that I went to a department store with my mom called Two Guys. Back then the store had this "Top 40 Record Wall" back in the electronics department. It was about 4 feet high and 20 feet long and all the top 40 best selling albums were displayed. As I was looking at the display I saw the exact same album cover that teenage girl was carrying. I was like "Whoa! There is that record that teenage girl had" I had never heard a single song from that the record, but I had to have it. If that girl liked it, then I wanted it. So I went to my mother and asked her to buy it for me. She took one look at it and said "I am NOT buying that simple shit!" But I begged and pleaded and she finally relented and bought it for me. When I got home I put it on the stereo. The gentle sounds of acoustic guitar came out of the speakers..."In the mornin' when I raise my head, and I'm thinkin' of days gone by...." I said to my mother "See mom, this isn't so bad." The music continued...."And the thing I want out of life...IS!!!..." dadadadadadadadada... DA "I WANT YOU!!! I want you!!!!" Oh....shit....! I had never heard anything so cool in my entire life! The guitars ! WOW! The POWER! Meanwhile my mom was shouting "Turn that simple shit down! Turn it down!" Right then and there I knew it was cool. If my mom hated it, then it was COOL! I've been a huge KISS fan ever since. I started playing guitar in 1980 and today I have my own original rock band called Smashing Saturn. It all started that day in 1976! I LOVE KISS, always have, always will.