10 Rock Bands That Bounced Back From Bad Albums
3. Creatures of the Night - KISS
It's hard not to think about KISS's career as a musical rollercoaster most of the time. I mean, not many bands can claim to have both the best and worst albums of their respective genre to their name. Although the '70s were incredibly kind to the makeup clad superheroes of rock and roll, Music from the Elder was about as befuddling as it gets.
Written as a weird conceptual album, this delve into proggier stylings almost broke up the band, reducing their concert attendance and even causing guitarist Ace Frehley to quit in protest. Knowing they needed another slamming album, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley hunkered down and pulled out another stunning record in Creatures of the Night. Returning to their hard rock roots, this launched KISS into the '80s on all cylinders, being much more forceful than any of the other copycat bands in their wake.
Taking more than a few cues from the speed metal world, songs like the title track and I Love It Loud are goliath in scope, courtesy of one hell of a performance by Eric Carr behind the drumkit. Since this album didn't register with the public though, KISS made the controversial decision to abandon their makeup and remake themselves as a pop rock band for the rest of the decade. For as fleeting as these times were for KISS fans, this was still an amazing throwdown while it lasted.