Paul Stanley Plots New Kiss Album

Despite Gene Simmons' reluctance to record a new album, guitarist Paul Stanley revealed that he's eager to record a new Kiss album, which would be the band's first since 1998's Psycho Circus. However, Stanley stated he would want complete control of the recording. "I would consider doing it if I could do it the way I wanted to do it," Stanley said, "To do another Kiss album, I would not be willing to compromise my point of view perhaps as much as I have in recent years." He might have his way, as Simmons in recent years has bemoaned the record industry as a whole in the wake of Radiohead's In Rainbows, saying "There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music. How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free?" While no solid album plans have been announced, Kiss currently comprised of Stanley, Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, reportedly also plan to tour the United States in 2009.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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