Creatures of the Night

This article is about the Kiss album. For other uses, see Creature of the night (disambiguation).

Creatures of the Night
Studio album by Kiss
Released	October 13, 1982
Recorded	The Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, CA, July–September 1982
Genre	Heavy metal, hard rock
Length	38:47
Label	Casablanca
Producer	Michael James Jackson, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Kiss chronology
Music from "The Elder" (1981) Creatures of the Night (1982) Lick It Up (1983)
Alternative cover
The 1985 re-release cover pictures then-new lead guitarist Bruce Kulick (bottom right).

Creatures of the Night is the tenth studio album by Kiss. It is the band's last album for Casablanca Records, the only label the group had ever recorded for at that point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions.

Album information

The album represented a conscious effort by Kiss to return to the hard rock style that had helped them achieve commercial success with Destroyer and Love Gun. Their pop-oriented albums, Dynasty and Unmasked, had started a decline in popularity that reached rock bottom with 1981's Music from "The Elder". By 1982 Kiss knew it needed to deliver on their earlier 1980-81 promise of a heavy record, which they had failed to deliver.

The first key ingredient was songwriter/guitarist Vinnie Vincent, formerly of the band New England with whom the group had recently begun writing and recording, and was soon to replace Ace Frehley as the band's new lead guitarist. Frehley did not perform on Creatures of the Night even though his face (for contractual and commericial reasons) was still featured on the album cover. On the tour, Vincent was introduced with the Egyptian Ankh makeup. The band later re-released the album in their non-makeup era with a cover featuring Gene Simmons, Stanley, Eric Carr, and then-current guitarist Bruce Kulick.

As shown on the back of the "I Love It Loud" single, Ace Frehley (bottom left) was still portrayed as a member of Kiss, despite ceasing his active involvement with the group in 1981.

By 1982, Kiss' popularity in the US had plummeted. This was due partly to the changing landscape of popular music, but also due to the fact that Kiss had strayed from the hard rock style that had made them popular. 1979's Dynasty, while commercially successful, alienated many fans with the disco-flavored track "I Was Made For Lovin' You". 1980's Unmasked fell further into pop music and was their first not to achieve platinum status since 1975's Dressed to Kill. The band did not even tour the US for the album, and was soon faced with its first lineup change - founding member Peter Criss, who had not participated in any of the Unmasked recording sessions, officially left Kiss in 1980. He was replaced by Eric Carr.

Fan hopes were raised in late 1980 when Kiss announced that they were going to record their heaviest record yet. However, the band released Music from "The Elder" in late 1981, a concept album originally intended to complement a film called The Elder that was ultimately never filmed. The album was storyline-based and had ballads, a short orchestral piece, and different lyrical themes. The album failed to achieve gold status, and having cancelled their US Unmasked tour just a short time before, the band cancelled their planned tour for Elder. Frehley soon left the band, expressing his displeasure over the path the band had chosen and having begun to drift into heavy alcoholism.

Kiss' label situation had changed as well. Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart had sold the label to its distributor PolyGram, and went on to briefly form The Boardwalk Recording Company before being diagnosed with and later succumbing to cancer. Using a clause in their Casablanca contract that gave the band an option to leave the label if Bogart did, Kiss became free agents and signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Mercury Records. Mercury, a label also owned by PolyGram, reverted the band back to their "old" label, though in name only.

Before working on the album, Eddie Van Halen, who by then was not getting along with his bandmate in Van Halen, David Lee Roth, wanted to join the band, replacing Frehley on guitar. Simmons and Alex Van Halen persuaded Eddie to remain in Van Halen. When recording sessions for Creatures of the Night began in July 1982, Kiss was essentially a trio. Frehley still made appearances with the band but had ended his musical involvement with Kiss. Frehley looked completely out of sorts in promotional appearances for the album — in cases where the band was lip synching to recorded tracks, it is obvious that he did not know the material. It was only after the album was released and a short promotional tour of Europe was completed that Frehley officially left Kiss. The lead guitar replacement for Frehley for the Creatures tour in the US was Vinnie Vincent , who adopted the "Ankh Warrior" makeup.

Musically, the progressive rock stylings of Music From "The Elder" and the pop of Dynasty and Unmasked were completely absent from Creatures of the Night, making it the heaviest album the group had made at that point. "I Still Love You", the only ballad on Creatures, was still heavier and darker than any ballad Kiss had released in earlier years. The production values contributed to the heaviness - in particular, the drum sound was louder and heavier than on any previous Kiss album. Some of the earliest pressings of the album mistakenly contained one full side of John Cougar's American Fool. Both Kiss and Cougar were under the umbrella of Mercury Records at the time. Today, those albums are highly sought after by Kiss collectors.^{[citation needed]}

Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties handled by either Simmons or Stanley exclusively. All previous studio releases by the group contained at least one song with lead vocals by another band member. The band released a video for "I Love It Loud", which received moderate airplay on MTV. In it was a stage setup that featured Carr's drum kit as a giant, metallic tank (with an exploding turret). Flames and explosions were also in abundance, as Kiss attempted to produce a video that reflected the music on Creatures of the Night. Although Frehley had not played on the album, he did appear in the video as the rhythm guitarist, with Stanley shown playing the seven-note solo.

Three different covers of the album exist: the 1982 original issue, the 1985 reissue (featuring Bruce Kulick, who was not a member of the band for Creatures of the Night, and the rest of the band without makeup), and the 1997 remastered version (same photo as the original, but with minor variations in the logo and lettering). On the 1985 non-make up release, the song "Creatures of the Night" is remixed, and "Saint and Sinner" and "Killer" are interchanged from side to side with each other. The bootlegged Vinnie Vincent cover has not been released on CD, but an extra rare Vinnie Vincent cover has been called Hiding From Tomorrow. There is also a bootlegged LP which shows up on ebay from time to time which states to be a Brazilian Promo version with Vincent in makeup airbrushed over Frehley. Initially this copy fetched upwards of several thousands of dollars but it is nothing more than a common bootleg.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Pitchfork Media	(1.5)
Vista Records
Metal Nightfall
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Creatures of the Night was certified Gold by the RIAA on May 9, 1994. In Brazil it was certified gold in 1983 for sales of 100,000 copies. Despite positive reviews, Creatures of the Night did not return the band to the commercial success they had held five years previous. Although the album charted higher than The Elder (#45 compared to The Elder's #75), it would not attain gold status until 1994. Kerrang! listed Creatures of the Night at number 5 on its list of best hard rock albums in 1982. The album was placed at number 5 on Guitar World's Readers Poll of the Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1982.

The US tour that followed, the band's first since Dynasty, was essentially a flop, with cancelled shows and half-full arenas. In later years, Kiss fans and critics have come to regard Creatures of the Night as one of the band's best albums, matched only by 1976's Destroyer. However, it is clear that multiple shifts in the band's lineup, image and musical styles from 1979 through 1981 had done damage. Though musically rich, Creatures of the Night is still a commercial disappointment for Kiss. Kiss eventually incorporated "I Love It Loud", "Creatures of the Night", "I Still Love You", and "War Machine" into permanent rotation on their various tours, particularly during the tour for Revenge in 1992, out of which came Alive III.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Creatures of the Night"	Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell	Stanley	4:02
2.	"Saint and Sinner"	Gene Simmons, Mikel Japp	Simmons	4:50
3.	"Keep Me Comin'"	Stanley, Mitchell	Stanley	3:55
4.	"Rock and Roll Hell"	Simmons, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance	Simmons	4:11
5.	"Danger"	Stanley, Mitchell	Stanley	3:54
6.	"I Love It Loud"	Simmons, Vinnie Vincent	Simmons	4:15
7.	"I Still Love You"	Stanley, Vincent	Stanley	6:06
8.	"Killer"	Simmons, Vincent	Simmons	3:19
9.	"War Machine"	Simmons, Adams, Vallance	Simmons	4:14

• Note: On the 1985 re-release of the album track 2 and 8 were switched. Also, for the 1985 reissue producer Dave Wittman remixed three tracks, "Creatures of the Night", "I Love It Loud" and "War Machine".

Personnel

• Paul Stanley – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Gene Simmons – bass guitar, vocals, rhythm guitar on "War Machine"
• Ace Frehley – lead guitar(credit only)
• Eric Carr – drums, percussion, backing vocals, bass guitar on "I Still Love You"

Uncredited musicians

• Vinnie Vincent – lead guitar, backing vocals on "Saint and Sinner", "Keep Me Comin'", "I Love It Loud", "Killer", and "War Machine"
• Bob Kulick – lead guitar on "Danger"
• Robben Ford – lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You"
• Steve Farris – lead guitar on "Creatures of the Night"
• Mike Porcaro - bass guitar on "Creatures of the Night"
• Jimmy Haslip – bass guitar on "Danger"

Charts

Album

Chart (1982)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	22

Chart (1983)	Peak position
US Billboard Pop Albums	45

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1983	"I Love It Loud"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	22

Singles - Austrian charts (Austria)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1982	"I Love It Loud"	Pop Singles	76

Singles - UK Albums Chart (United Kingdom)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1982	"Creatures of the Night"	Pop Singles	34

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000^
^shipments figures based on certification alone