GENE SIMMONS Defends KISS's 'Dynasty' Album: 'It Was A Multi-Platinum Record, So That's Called A Hit'

In a new interview with "Good Day Sacramento", KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons was asked for his thoughts on the band's controversial 1979 album "Dynasty". At the time of its release, the LP was described as a "hit-or-miss" affair which displeased some fans by the inclusion of "I Was Made for Lovin 'You", a song that featured a disco beat.

"Well, when people talk about that record [being] hit-or-miss, it was a multi-platinum record, so that's called a hit," Gene said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "There are some songs that are pop[-flavored] — yeah, by definition it's called a hit. 'You know, I don't like the way that guy hit that baseball, that home run that he hit.' Idiot, it was a home run. So that's called a home run. It doesn't matter how you feel about it. These are semantics, but I'm not anti-semantic. You see what I did there?"

"I Was Made for Lovin' You" was released as the A-side of KISS's first single from "Dynasty". It was the band's second gold single, selling over 1 million copies. The single reached No. 11 on the U.S. Billboard singles chart. The song also became a Top 10 hit in Australia, reaching No. 6 on the ARIA charts in 1979. The song fared the best in Western Europe (Where it became a Top 20 hit in Sweden, a Top 10 hit in Norway, made it to the No. 2 position in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and in Holland it became a No. 1 smash).

In 2018, Simmons said that he hated performing "I Was Made For Lovin' You" because he is forced to sing like his grandmother. Asked in an interview with OK! magazine to name a song that he wasn't initially crazy about that ended up becoming a hit, Gene said: "Well, Paul Stanley comes in and he says, 'Did you write any songs?' I go, 'Oh, yeah. I've got one called 'Almost Human'.' 'Yeah? How does it go?' 'I'm almost human. I can't help feelin' strange.' 'Yeah, that's cool. That's a Gene song.' 'How about you, Paul?' He goes, 'I've got one. [It goes] 'Tonight.'' "Ooooh. That's cool. What's the next line?' 'I'm gonna give it all to you.' 'Oh, yeah. I know what 'it' means — I know exactly what you mean.' 'In the darkness.' [Claps] 'Love that!' 'There something I wanna do.' 'Yeah, I know what that 'something' is. Wow! That's a cool song. Okay, what's my part?' [Sings] 'Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.' 'You're killing me. Really? I'm gonna sing like my grandmother?' [Sings] 'Do, do, do…' I hate playing that song to [this] day. Stadiums full of people jump up and down like biblical locusts — they go nuts — with tattoos and grills on… 'Ahhhh!' They're all jumping up and down, and I'm going, 'Do, do, do, do, do, do… Kill me now.' Still — still to this day I hate that song."

After the female interviewer pressed him on whether the song ever grew on him after performing it for the last four decades, Gene said: "Well, how about you sing that song? You're a girl. I wanna sing guy stuff."

Stanley admitted in 2017 that the success of "I Was Made For Lovin' You" was "a double-edged sword, because it became such a massive hit but it was also so contrary and contradictory to what we had done before." He added: "The funniest thing is when we do festivals sometimes in Europe where it's very much… the bands are quite heavy, well, when we do an encore of 'I Was Made For Lovin' You', you suddenly have all these people with spikes in their eyeballs or bones through their noses singing along. So it's a song that seems to transcend everything — although it went through a period, certainly, of a big backlash against it."