Love Gun is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss. Love Gun is notable for being the first Kiss album to feature a lead vocal performance from Ace Frehley. This marks the first album for the group to feature lead vocal performances from all four band members. It was also the last studio album to feature the entire original lineup of Kiss on every track, as drummer Peter Criss was replaced by session drummer Anton Fig for most of 1979's Dynasty.
A cardboard "Love Gun" (assembly required) was included inside the album, along with a Kiss merchandise order form. Before Love Gun was completed, a Gallup poll indicated that Kiss was the most popular band in the US, beating Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and the Eagles. On August 25–26, 1977, Kiss recorded 2 shows at the LA Forum to be used as live material for their next release Alive II.
The album cover was painted by fantasy artist Ken Kelly, who previously did the cover for 1976's Destroyer. The album art of shock rock band GWAR's 2009 album Lust in Space is a homage/parody of Love Gun's album art. The back cover of Nirvana's album Nevermind features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Kurt Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a supermarket advertisement, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. He noted, "If you look real close, there is a picture of Kiss' Love Gun cover in the back standing on a slab of beef."
“I Stole Your Love” Written by Paul Stanley, "I Stole Your Love" is in the same vein as songs like "Makin' Love" and "C'mon and Love Me".
"Christine Sixteen" Then-unknown guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex Van Halen played on the demo of this song. The meaning of the lyrics are similar to "Goin' Blind" from Hotter Than Hell, as "Christine Sixteen" is about a man who fell in love with a 16 year old girl named Christine and "Goin' Blind" is about a 93 year old man who fell in love with a girl who is also 16 years old.
"Shock Me" The song was inspired by an event that took place during Kiss' Rock and Roll Over tour, when Frehley suffered an electric shock. On December 12, 1976, Kiss performed a concert at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida. During the opening number, Frehley touched a metal staircase railing, which was ungrounded. He was knocked to the ground, and the concert was delayed for 30 minutes. The show was eventually completed, and he claimed to have lost feeling in his hand for the remainder of the concert.
"Tomorrow and Tonight" The song was written to try to recapture the feeling of "Rock and Roll All Nite", but never reached the success of the original. A sound check recording of it appears on Alive II.
"Love Gun" The title song has been played on every Kiss tour since its release. Paul Stanley has cited it as one of his favorite Kiss songs.
"Plaster Caster" The song was inspired by Cynthia Plaster Caster, a former groupie famous for casting penises of famous rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix, as well as breasts of female musicians.
"Then She Kissed Me" The song is a gender-reversed cover of The Crystals' 1963 pop classic "Then He Kissed Me". It is one of many gender-reversed cover versions of the song.
Paul Stanley - vocals, rhythm guitar, bass guitar on "Love Gun"
Gene Simmons - vocals, bass guitar
Ace Frehley - lead guitar, vocals
Peter Criss - drums, percussion, vocals
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