| Destroyer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art byKen Kelly | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 15, 1976 (1976-03-15) | |||
| Recorded | September 3–6, 1975; January 4 – February 5 1976[1] | |||
| Studio | Electric Lady andRecord Plant, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 34:28 | |||
| Label | Casablanca | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Kiss chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Destroyer | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
 Original album cover before it was redesigned. It would be used for the 2012 remix release. | ||||
Destroyer is the fourth studio album by Americanhard rock bandKiss, released on March 15, 1976, byCasablanca Records in the US. It was the third successive Kiss album to reach the top 40 in the US, as well as the first to chart inGermany andNew Zealand. The album was certified gold by theRIAA on April 22, 1976, and platinum on November 11 of the same year, the first Kiss album to achieve platinum.[2] The album marked a departure from the raw sound of the band's first three albums.
After attaining modest commercial success with their first three studio albums, Kiss achieved a commercial breakthrough with the 1975 concert albumAlive! It was the first album by the band to be certified gold.[3] The success ofAlive!, which spent 110 weeks on the charts, benefited not only the struggling band but also their cash-strapped labelCasablanca Records.[4][5] Kiss signed a new contract with Casablanca in late 1975, partly because the label had been very supportive from the start of the band's career. The contract was for two albums, an indication that Casablanca was unsure if the group could duplicate the accomplishments ofAlive![6]
Rehearsals forDestroyer began in August 1975, while the group was embarking on their supporting tour forAlive!Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked withAlice Cooper, was brought in to produce the album. The band felt that Ezrin was the right person to help them take their sound to the next level and to maintain the commercial success they had achieved withAlive![7] Before meeting with Ezrin, the band had written and recorded a 15-song demo in the Magna Graphics Studio in August 1975. The firstdemo recorded during theDestroyer sessions was "Ain't None of Your Business"[8] featuringPeter Criss on vocals. The plodding, heavy song, written bycountry songwritersBecky Hobbs andLew Anderson, was rejected by the band and later appeared on the 1977 debut album byMichael Des Barres' bandDetective. Although this song was rejected, other outside songs and suggestions were accepted by the band. In particular,Kim Fowley and Mark Anthony became important contributors during the songwriting process,[9] bringing in the title and basic structure of the song "King of the Night Time World" from their previous bandThe Hollywood Stars' then-unreleased 1974 albumShine Like a Radio (which also featured the original version of the Alice Cooper song "Escape" fromWelcome to My Nightmare).[10]
Ezrin flat out rejected most of the material, as only heavily re-worked versions of "God of Thunder" and "Detroit Rock City" made it to the album, and another song "Mad Dog" was pilfered for lyrics to "Sweet Pain" and a riff for "Flaming Youth". Other songs from this demo were re-worked for the following albumRock and Roll Over andGene Simmons'1978 solo album while others remained unreleased until the 2021 release[11] ofDestroyer as a 2CD set and Super Deluxe box set.[12]
The first recording sessions for the album took place on September 3–6, 1975 atElectric Lady Studios inNew York City, during a brief break between theDressed to Kill andAlive! tours. The basic album tracks were recorded during this time.[13] The majority of the recording sessions forDestroyer took place in January 1976, after the conclusion of theAlive! tour.[14] Ezrin introduced to Kiss sound effects, strings, screaming children, reversed drums (on "God of Thunder") and a children's choir. The song "Great Expectations" uses the first phrase of the main theme from the second movement ofBeethoven'sPiano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (known asSonata Pathétique), but the songwriting is credited to Simmons and Ezrin.
The lyrics of the opening song "Detroit Rock City" tells the story of a fan who died in a car crash on the way to a Kiss show. Various dates and events have been mentioned but journalist James Campion managed with the help of a Kiss roadie from the era to link the event that inspired the song and a handful of candidates to the November 30, 1974 show inFayetteville, NC.[15]
During the recording sessions, Ezrin resorted to numerous tactics designed to increase the quality of music Kiss recorded. Because none of the group were trained musicians, Ezrin halted the sessions at one point to provide lessons in basicmusic theory.[16] To instill a sense of discipline, he wore a whistle around his neck and exhorted the band with sayings such as, "Campers, we're going to work!"[17] When Simmons stopped playing during the recording of anoutro, Ezrin yelled at him, saying, "Don't you ever stop a take unless I tell you!"[18]
Paul Stanley later compared the experience of working with Ezrin as "musicalboot camp" but said that the group "came out a lot smarter for it."[19] Simmons echoed the sentiment by stating, "It was exactly what we needed at the time."[20]
Destroyer is the first Kiss album to prominently feature outside musicians, such as members of theNew York Philharmonic. One musician not credited wasDick Wagner, from Alice Cooper's band, replacingAce Frehley on the track "Sweet Pain". Wagner also played the acoustic guitar found on the song "Beth".[21] The success ofAlive! andDestroyer enabled the band to embark on their first tour ofEurope.
The cover art forDestroyer was painted by fantasy artistKen Kelly. Kelly was invited to a show and given abackstage pass. He said of the performance, "It blew me away."[22] Kelly was later commissioned by the band to draw the cover for 1977'sLove Gun.
Kelly's original version of the album cover was rejected by the record company because they felt the scene was too violent looking with the rubble and flames. Also, the original version had the members of Kiss wearing theAlive! costumes. The front cover shows the group striding on top of a pile of rubble, and a desolate background spotted with destroyed buildings, some of which are engulfed in flames. The back cover shows a similar scene, but with more buildings on fire. The front of the inner sleeve featured a large Kiss logo and the lyrics to "Detroit Rock City". The other side displayed the lyric "Shout it out loud", as well as an advertisement for theKiss Army fan club.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [23] |
| Blender | [24] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 8/10[25] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [26] |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10[27] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [28] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10[29] |
| Uncut | [30] |
| The Village Voice | C+[31] |
Destroyer sold well upon its release on March 15, 1976, and was certified gold on April 22. Although exact sales figures are not known, Stanley stated that the album initially sold 850,000 copies in the US, well over any of Kiss's first three studio albums.[32] After peaking at No. 11 on theBillboard 200 album chart on May 15,Destroyer quickly fell and by August was at No. 192.[33] The first three singles—"Shout It Out Loud", "Flaming Youth" and "Detroit Rock City"—failed to ignite sales any further, though "Shout It Out Loud" did give the band their first No. 1 record, in Canada. The band and Ezrin cited fan backlash as the reasonDestroyer did not meet sales expectations. Ezrin also stated that the "grassroots rock press" was particularly critical of the album.[32]Rolling Stone referred to "bloated ballads", "pedestrian drumming" and "lackluster performances" in its review.[34]Robert Christgau, writing inThe Village Voice, felt that it was Kiss's "least interesting record" and criticized producer Ezrin for adding "only bombast and melodrama".[31]
It was not until radio stations started playing theB-side of the "Detroit Rock City" single "Beth", that the album started to sell as expected. The ballad, which according to Simmons was deliberately put on the B-side to force stations to play "Detroit Rock City", started receiving numerous listener requests and became an unexpected hit. "Beth" (co-written and sung by Peter Criss) was re-released as the fourth single in late August, and it peaked at No. 7 on theBillboard Hot 100 singles chart on September 25. It was the group's first Top 10 song in the US and reignited sales of the album.
On November 11, 1976Destroyer became the first Kiss album to be certified platinum.[35] The album was re-certified at the double platinum level on September 9, 2011 and is the band's best selling in the post-1991Soundscan era, selling 726,000 copies in the United States from 1991 to March 4, 2012.[36]
The album has received recognition in later years. In 1989,Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 36 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[37] InThe Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004),Rob Sheffield referred toDestroyer as "the inevitable arty concept album, from the drink-smoke-drive-die saga 'Detroit Rock City' to the touching 'Do You Love Me?'".[28] The album was also featured in1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[38] In 2006, it was placed at No. 60 onGuitar World magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.[39][deprecated source] Greg Prato ofAllMusic describedDestroyer as "one of Kiss' most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting."[23]Pitchfork's Jason Josephes said that it is "easily one of the best albums in the Kiss canon" and credited Ezrin for ushering along "even more of an art/hard rock album than Kiss's previous efforts."[27] Canadian journalistMartin Popoff, describedDestroyer as a "no party album, looming darkly, ponderous, almost haunting at times, basically uncommunicative and puzzling due to its stylistic over-extension" and judged it a "success of early no-chops metal".[25] In 2012,Rolling Stone ranked it at No. 489 on its list ofthe 500 greatest albums of all time, calling it "a ridiculously over-the-top party-rock album that just gets better with age".[40]
In anticipation of the 35th anniversary of the release ofDestroyer, producer Bob Ezrin approached Simmons and Stanley about doing a remix and re-release of the original album. With their approval, Ezrin acquired digital copies of the original 16-track analog master tapes. In addition to re-equalizing elements of each song, Ezrin also added in some parts of tracks that had been omitted from the original mix. These include some additional vocals on "Detroit Rock City" and "Beth", and the substitution of a guitar solo by Frehley on "Sweet Pain" for the one from the original that had been performed by Wagner (a version of "Sweet Pain" with Frehley's solo was included as track 6, while the original version with Wagner's solo is appended as a "bonus" track at the end of the new CD).[41] Ezrin also used digital manipulation to fix an incorrect lyric (changing "down 95" to "doin' 95") on "Detroit Rock City". The resulting album, titledDestroyer: Resurrected, was released on August 21, 2012.[42] It featured Ken Kelly's original cover artwork before alteration by Casablanca for the 1976 release.
Destroyer: Resurrected met with mixed critical reception. William Clark ofGuitar International wrote: "Each track sounds crisper, clearer and louder, which are always welcome qualities when you're listening to a classic album of the likes ofDestroyer".[43] However,Circus magazine in a joint review withAerosmith's contemporary release ofRocks praisedRocks while stating thatDestroyer "stinks." The album returned to the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 11 the week after its re-release. In 2019, the record was released in orange translucent vinyl, retailed exclusively byWalmart in the U.S.
All credits adapted from the original releases.[44][45][46]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Detroit Rock City" | Paul Stanley,Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 5:17 |
| 2. | "King of the Night Time World" | Paul Stanley,Kim Fowley, Mark Anthony, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 3:19 |
| 3. | "God of Thunder" | Paul Stanley | Gene Simmons | 4:13 |
| 4. | "Great Expectations" | Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Gene Simmons | 4:24 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Flaming Youth" | Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 2:59 |
| 6. | "Sweet Pain" | Gene Simmons | Gene Simmons | 3:20 |
| 7. | "Shout It Out Loud" | Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons | 2:49 |
| 8. | "Beth" | Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, Bob Ezrin | Peter Criss | 2:45 |
| 9. | "Do You Love Me" | Paul Stanley, Kim Fowley, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Rock and Roll Party" | Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin | instrumental | 1:25 |
| Total length: | 34:11 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Detroit Rock City" | Paul Stanley,Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 5:15 |
| 2. | "King of the Night Time World" | Paul Stanley,Kim Fowley, Mark Anthony, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 3:21 |
| 3. | "God of Thunder" | Paul Stanley | Gene Simmons | 4:17 |
| 4. | "Great Expectations" | Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Gene Simmons | 4:24 |
| 5. | "Flaming Youth" | Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 2:59 |
| 6. | "Sweet Pain" | Gene Simmons | Gene Simmons | 3:21 |
| 7. | "Shout It Out Loud" | Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons | 2:51 |
| 8. | "Beth" | Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, Bob Ezrin | Peter Criss | 2:46 |
| 9. | "Do You Love Me" | Paul Stanley, Kim Fowley, Bob Ezrin | Paul Stanley | 3:40 |
| 10. | "Rock and Roll Party" | Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bob Ezrin | Instrumental | 1:26 |
| 11. | "Sweet Pain" | Gene Simmons | Gene Simmons | 3:18 |
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[48] | 6 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[49] | 6 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[50] | 17 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[51] | 16 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[52] | 25 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[53] | 4 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[54] | 22 |
| USBillboard 200[55] | 11 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[56] | 108 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[57] | 119 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[58] | 68 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[59] | 16 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[60] | 36 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[61] | 55 |
| USTop Catalog Albums (Billboard)[62] | 4 |
| USTop Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[63] | 3 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[64] 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe edition | Gold | 100,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[65] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling Stone | U.S. | The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time[66] | 2003 | 496 |
| Blender | U.S. | The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time[67] | 2002 | 50 |
| Guitar World | U.S. | The 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.[39][deprecated source] | 2006 | 60 |
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | March 15, 1976 | Casablanca Records | LP | NBLP-7025 |
| Canada | 1976 | Casablanca Records | LP | NBLP-7025V |
| United States | July 1987 | Casablanca/PolyGram | CD | 824 149-2 |
| United States | August 12, 1997 | Mercury Records | Remastered CD | 532 378-2 |
| Worldwide | August 21, 2012 | Universal Music Group | Re-release | — |
| Worldwide | 2014 | Universal Music Group | Remastered LP | B0019818-01 |
