When I did the 1977 list, two songs, while not appearing on the best list, defined the project for me.  The first was “Free” by Deneice Williams, an R&B slow jam.  The second, and the song that applies here, was “Calling Dr. Love” by KISS.

Before I began work on both 1992 and 1977, I had little knowledge of KISS.  I only knew a few of their songs: their signature song “Rock And Roll All Nite” (mainly because of Guitar Hero III), “Detroit Rock City” (again, because of Rock Band), and the now highly-popular “I Was Made For Lovin’ You.”  Heck, the most I knew about them was that the band had Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, because of Weezer’s “In The Garage.”  But then I heard “Calling Dr. Love” when listening to my non-Billboard eligible songs, and my mind was blown.  I loved it almost immediately: the stomping guitar chords, Peter Criss’s frenetic drumming, and Gene Simmons’s evil vocals.  I hardly care that the song’s about an awful man having a one-night stand with a dirty girl he clearly doesn’t care about.  With Simmons’s intentionally gravelly vocals, it’s supposed to be appalling.  “Calling Dr. Love” has become one of my personal biggest hits of 2021, and served as the aphrodisiac that finally convinced me to explore their discography.

I ended up listening to Destroyer, their most famous studio album, and Rock And Roll Over, the 1976 album that features “Calling Dr. Love,” with Destroyer being the better of the two.  But I listened to songs like “Shout It Out Loud,” “Shock Me,” and “Sure Know Something” frequently over the last few months and found that for the most part, Mom and Dad’s KISS records hold up.  Well, except for “Christine Sixteen,” which is about pedophilia.  Screw that song.  But KISS is a fun band:  they may specialize in dumb songs about sex, but they’re fun to jump up and down like a lunatic to, in large part because Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons had songwriting talent to match their cartoonish image.

But then Ace Frehley and Peter Criss left the band, and KISS dropped the makeup and costumes for their hair metal era.  Needless to say, the quality of the songs began to decline as well.  And that brought us to their 1992 album Revenge, where KISS tried their hand at a rock and roll anthem cover.  All it did was demonstrate how toothless and bland this once great band had become.

“God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” – KISS

Mainstream Rock
#21 peak (August 31, 1991), 8 weeks on chart

UK
#4 peak (January 25, 1992)
#18 year-end (#61 overall), 8 weeks on chart

Based on my statements made in both my 1963 and 1977 lists, you’ve probably gotten the point by now that I’m not a fan of covers.  Well admittedly, I think most covers are bad.  That being said, I’m all for covers if they are well-played or provide a new perspective to appreciate the song, with Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails being the most obvious example.  “God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” fails on both counts.  For one, all it is is a watered-down version of the original, and two, all the new KISS-inspired elements do is undermine its status as a rock and roll anthem.

Quick background.  “God Gave Rock And Roll To You” was originally released by the band Argent in 1973, from their album In Deep.  You may know Argent as the band founded by keyboardist Rod Argent, one of the two songwriters from The Zombies, as well as the band that gave the world “Hold Your Head Up.”  But “God Gave Rock And Roll To You” wasn’t written by Rod Argent, it was written by frontman Russ Ballard, who also wrote “Liar” for Three Dog Night, “New York Groove” by Ace Frehley, and “You Can Do Magic” for America.  The song reached the Top 20 in Britain, but did little business in America, failing to reach the top 100 on the charts.  In more exaggerated fashion, KISS’s version was largely ignored in America, failing to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or the Top 20 on the Mainstream Rock charts, but became a big hit in Britain, reaching #4 on the charts and making the year-end list for all singles (not just in rock and indie).  

“God Gave Rock And Roll To You” is a decent song… for Argent.  I can’t call it one of my personal favorites since it’s repetitive and features a key change before the final chorus, but it’s well-played and is more creative in the writing, bringing out a Cliff Richard reference to equate rock and roll with Christianity.  KISS’s version just exaggerates the weaknesses with the original, and takes away the elements that do make the Argent version special.

Let’s start with the music.  Compared to the original, Bob Ezrin’s (the producer behind Destroyer, as well as Pink Floyd’s The Wall) production is much cleaner, more modern, and streamlined than the original.  In other words, it’s boring and lacks personality.  On Argent’s original, Russ Ballard’s distorted guitar leads add the true rock energy the song begs for, and Rod Argent’s organ adds a touch of drama and glamour to the song.  The KISS version squashes all that, for guitars that sound sanitized and made as ready-for-radio as possible.  Bruce Kulick’s lead guitar sounds totally neutered, and fails to add the true rock energy this song desperately needs.  Then there is the overall construction of the song.  I didn’t count, but I’m pretty sure the KISS version has more repetitions of the chorus than the Argent version – and their version is a minute and a half shorter.  How do you make the song shorter and still make it more repetitive than the original?  Not to mention the song’s in the same key as the original (I consulted four different websites for information, and they all gave different keys, so screw them), and the key change gives it the same step up as the original.  The only real change is that the KISS version changes keys in the third chorus, before bringing it back for the bridge and the final chorus.  I’d give them points for creativity, but then I’d ask… what was the point of the key change in the first place?  You switch gears, then you switch back to the original key… doesn’t that mean you didn’t like what you heard?  Translation:  “God Gave Rock And Roll II” adds virtually nothing to the original.

Even though we’re discussing a cover today, we still need to go through the lyrics.  Whether they wanted to try to add a new stamp on the cover or they were desperate to get more money through songwriting credits, “God Gave Rock And Roll II” replaces most of the lyrics outside of the chorus, with new lyrics written by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Bob Ezrin.  Sometimes, as with Presidents Of The United States Of America’s cover of “Kick Out The Jams,” new lyrics to an old song can add a new dimension to the track and stand as more fitting for the band performing the song.  KISS… does not provide this.

The original song’s verses weren’t particularly deep in the writing, but they did provide some key points that rock fans such as me follow to this day.  Rock music is a genre that will always give you hope regardless of your age, and it allows you to achieve your dreams no matter where you are in life.  KISS took the song, removed most of the verse lyrics, and put in their own definition of rock.  After two decades as a band before this song was released… this was the best they could come up with?

You don’t have money or a fancy car
And you’re tired of wishin’ on a falling star
You gotta put your faith in a loud guitar

The whole mindset I get from KISS’s cover isn’t that rock and roll is beneficial for society.  Listening to the new lyrics is equivalent to watching a commercial that goes, “Hey kids!  Tired of your boring, everyday life where you hate your teacher and then grow up to hate your job?  Well, quit your job and get into rock & roll!  Some restrictions may apply in Rhode Island.”  And that is really all I have to say about this song.  It is a commercial, not a statement.  By the second half of the song, with the chorus being played on an endless loop with few interesting dynamics involved besides Eric Carr’s backing vocals in the a cappella part (which they got wrong, because you still hear Kulick playing arpeggiated guitar chords in the background, which is not what a cappella means), “God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” takes on a mindless, almost “It’s A Small World” vibe, as if you’re going to be held at gunpoint to sing the song with the band.  Yet none of this is the worst part.  That honor goes to the outro.  With the song repeating its chorus ad nauseum by this point, Paul Stanley takes the mic one last time to make one more statement on rock and roll.

I know life sometimes can get tough and I know life sometimes can be a drag
But people, we have been given a gift, we have been given a road
And that road’s name is…
ROCK AND ROLL!!!

(stifles laughter)  Oh my gosh.  So that’s what the song was going after.  Premium-grade gouda.

God Gave Rock And Roll To You!  You have been given a road.  And that road leads to… Paul Stanley’s cheese factory!  Just 15 minutes from Shea Stadium.  

“God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” is the thesis statement of a band that has clearly run out of ideas.  The instrumentation is generic, and the entire song feels so corporate – the complete antithesis of what KISS set out to be with their wild live shows and their outlandish personalities.  After this song, KISS only released one more album, Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions, before briefly bringing back Frehley and Criss and permanently bringing back the costumes and makeup.  Being honest about it, the makeup couldn’t come back on soon enough.  I can’t believe I’m saying this… but I’d rather hear a vile, sleazy KISS song about sex over this song any day.  It’s what they’re best at.

UP NEXT: An Alternative music legend loses his mind at #5.

SOURCES

“God Gave Rock And Roll To You II.” Songfacts 2022. Web. 14 August 2022 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/kiss/god-gave-rock-and-roll-to-you-ii.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from SoundCloud

In Deep album cover from Discogs

Photo of KISS from Fanpop