Unholy"Unholy" was the first Gene Simmons written single A-side in nearly ten years. According to Gene, this song was based on parts of Wicked Lester's "Keep Me Waiting." It was also one of the tracks co-written with Vinnie Vincent. Gene recalled: "When Vinnie Vincent and I teamed up to take the song to the next level, he suggested a number of changes, including some great lyrical ideas, that did in fact make the song better" (Box Set Liners). As far as subject matter is concerned the song is straight forward according to Gene: "The premise of the song, at least in my opinion, is... Look I can say to you, 'hey, go break a leg,' and somebody taking that literally will say, 'does he want me to break my leg'? No! So, sweetheart, that means 'good luck.' But the song is even more specific... The song says, in essence, 'yes, there is evil in the world,' and I play the character; I'm Unholy. The truth is, we're all a little bit Unholy. But the premise of this little play is, you think I'm bad? Well, look at you guys; you send your children to war to serve bastards and whores. I haven't been here forever; you created me... Would there be a devil if human beings didn't exist? Whether or not there are guys who are red with horns and pointed tails... I think we created all of that. We create that every day of our lives by the way we treat each other" (Lesniewski, Karen - KISS Collectors Network 3/93).
Jesse Damon, from Silent Rage was involved in the recording of demos with Gene, and sang backing vocals on the album recording of the song. Bruce didn't perform the guitar scratches at the beginning of the track, so it is probable that Gene added those. A video was filmed for the song at Southern Bay Studios in Carson, CA. Directed by Paul Rachman and produced by Maddhatter the video apparently featured an ultrasound of Gene's daughter, Sophie. The single didn't chart in the US, but went top-30 in other markets, notable the UK, Germany, Holland, and Sweden. Its biggest success was hitting #2 in Norway.
© KissFAQ, From "Rock And Roll All Nite: The Music of Kiss" (Used with permission).
|
