Episode 370 - KISS at 50 with Martin Popoff

·39 min·3 clips

Martin Popoff discusses his new coffee table book 'Kiss at 50', detailing 50 career milestones of the iconic band.

The episode begins with hosts Bill Alge, Dennis Talbot, and Alan Tate introducing guest Martin Popoff, a prolific music author. Popoff explains his book 'Kiss at 50', part of a series by publisher Quarto that features 50 career highlights in chronological order, with each studio album getting an entry. He describes the collaborative process with editor Dennis on photo selection and the challenge of keeping chapters within a 500-800 word count. Popoff shares that he has been a Kiss fan since the debut album in 1974, though Kiss isn't in his top 10 favorite bands. The discussion touches on Kiss's visual appeal making it ideal for a coffee table book. A debate arises about Kiss's 1981 concept album 'Music from the Elder', with differing opinions on its quality and fit with the band's identity. Popoff outlines the book's structure divided into parts: Kiss Major, Kiss Minor, MTV Hair Metal and Kiss, and Reunion/Legacy. He compares Kiss's work ethic in the 1980s to hair metal bands, noting they 'packed their lunch and went to work every day'. The conversation shifts to Popoff's other projects, including panel books with artists like Blue Öyster Cult and The Cure, and his book 'Who Invented Heavy Metal'. Hosts and Popoff explore the future of rock music, questioning if bands like Taylor Swift will be documented in similar books, and discuss the decline of physical albums but persistence of physical books. They note recent online activity around Kiss, such as unmasked photos and Ace Frehley's publicity, keeping the band relevant. The episode concludes with Popoff directing listeners to his website martinpopoff.com for signed books.

As heard by us

Martin Popoff maps Kiss from rise to legacy while Ages of Rock keeps the discussion loose, detailed, and fannish.

Ages of Rock frames this single-episode review around Martin Popoff's Kiss at 50, using the book's era-by-era structure to track how Kiss keeps changing shape.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want Kiss at 50 unpacked as a life-cycle story, with room for a sharp hair-metal argument.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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