Not every artist loves every song they’ve ever done, and during a recent interview with SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, KISS‘ Gene Simmons revealed the one song in the band’s catalog that he hates to this day. That would be the disco-flavored ’70s hit, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.”
Simmons humorously runs through the first time that Paul Stanley brought the song to him to Stern. “He walks in and he’s got a song, and I said, ‘What’s it called?’ He said, ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You,’ [and I’m like] ‘Oh that’s great. What’s the first line?’ [He said], ‘Tonight,’ [and I responded] ‘Oooh, that’s good. What’s the second line?’ [He said], ‘I wanna give it all to you,’ [and I’m like], ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’ ‘In the darkness, in the darkness’… ‘Yeah that rocks.’… ‘is something I wanna do.'”
Then Simmons recalls, “What’s my part?,” then singing, “Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do,” before adding, “No, no, come on, I’m the God of Thunder” in deep voice.
Simmons says he wasn’t happy with the “do, do, do” vocals, with one exception. “I hate it to this day,” says Simmons, “Except, people to this day jump around like biblical locusts… and so I play along.”
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Stanley then countered about the power of the music, revealing that it often connects even with the heaviest of metalheads. “Sometimes we’ll find ourselves on a bill headlining with all these hardcore metal bands and in the beginning we say, ‘Do we really want to play that?,’ says the singer. “We have these people onstage (mimics death growls) and then we come on with ‘Do, do, do’ and the audience is (fist pumps to ‘do, do, do’). And that’s the beauty of music. It hits you here. It hits you in the heart.”
Despite Simmons’ protestations, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” became one of KISS’ biggest hits, reaching No. 11 on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1979. Revisit the classic track below.
And look for KISS on tour wrapping up their “End of the Road” trek this year. Get your tickets here.