My love dates back to 1978 and KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. I was 4 years old when the TV movie aired, and it was tailor-made for me. They were like a Marvel comic and the Beatles all at once, but without the screaming girls and just a hint that they might really be evil Satanic demons.

The thing about KISS, though, is that the band actually had something to offer beyond the kitsch. As cool as the makeup and the characters and the fire-breathing and blood-spewing and such was, they would not be as revered if the music weren't there to back up the image.

KISS founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have always admitted that they were big Anglophiles. The Beatles were a huge influence in their formative years, and the post-blues British rock of David Bowie, The Small Faces, Argent and Slade informed KISS's songwriting. KISS also were glam-rock contemporaries of the New York Dolls, fellow New Yorkers whose sound and imagery obviously made a mark on the group.

As musicians, original guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss never get their due. Ace had a very recognizable style, although maybe his fingers were not as fleet as some of the more technically minded players who followed later in the '70s. Criss played heavy rock with a swing feel, like Led Zeppelin's John Bonham but without as much bombast and ballast.

Simmons and Stanley were very much progenitors of power pop, though they often are not thought of as such. Most KISS songs are one big, sweet sugary cube about girls or partying dissolving over warm, overdriven guitars and Fab Four harmonies.

The 1980s' airwaves were full of bands who took KISS's anthemic working-class Beatles rock and melded it with mullets to great success. And if there's any band to blame for the metal ballad, it's gotta be them. Beth, off KISS's Destroyer album, was was the band's first No. 1 hit and was the obvious template for Mötley Crüe's 1985 hit Home Sweet Home.

I have every KISS record (on vinyl, naturally) from their eponymous debut on up to 1985's Asylum. I even have a KISS toothbrush that plays Rock and Roll All Nite. Sadly, though, I have never seen KISS live, nor will I ever.

These days KISS is more like a Broadway musical than a rock band, with other players donning the makeup of the original members. Sure, the principals of Simmons and Stanley are still there, but KISS is not KISS to me without Peter Criss and Ace Frehley.

At least I can console myself with the release of the KISStory live DVDs from their golden years as well as my vintage KISS trading-card collection.

• Kelly Minnis is a freelance music journalist, KEOS DJ, musician and father of two. E-mail him at kellyminnis@gmail.com.

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