10 Hard Rock Albums That Are Worse Than You Remember
2. Psycho Circus - KISS
For a band that was originally seen as a joke, you do have to give it up for KISS at the end of the day. Compared to some of the more embarrassing shock rock bands out there, these freaks from New York managed to keep their sanity and actually come through with some solid music for the better part of 3 decades. Once they arrived at MTV Unplugged though, someone got an awful idea.
Bringing back Ace Frehley and Peter Criss for the first time since the makeup years, the rabid reception led to the band doing another album and tour with the original lineup, billed as Psycho Circus. Though this may have been too good to be true for any card-carrying member of the KISS army, the resulting album was too hyped for its own good, with songs written almost exclusively by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.
Looking back on it now, Ace Frehley has gone on record saying that he felt uncomfortable during the sessions, saying that he wasn't invited on many occasions and only managed to get one song of his own onto the record with Into the Void. It may have looked like the magic was back on first glance, but this is the kind of by the numbers rock and roll that even nostalgia goggles can't fix.