Back in 1975, Black Sabbath already was one of the most influential bands in the world and were touring all around the world, but especially in the United States, which was the big market, where you could sell more records. That year, they had a new band opening for them on selected dates and that group was Kiss. In an interview with Rock Cellar, Sabbath’s bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler recalled being shocked when he saw Kiss for the first time.
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It wasn’t for the way the looked or for the music, but for their stage production. Butler said that it was really hard to follow their act and that Sabbath made sure that Kiss was never their opening act again.
Geezer Butler recalls being shocked seeing Kiss for the first time
“Kiss opened a few shows for us in the mid ’70s. Kiss was the first band that ever used stage production. Up until Kiss came, bands like Black Sabbath used to just go on and plug in and play. Kisswas the first one to use pyro. You’ve never seen that. I mean, the shock of that. And they were supporting us, so they weren’t even headlining. I went out and watched them. There were all these flames coming out the stage and everything. It was like, “Oh, my God, what’s going on here?”
“It was a completely new direction for people. People had to start thinking about stage production after Kiss. It was tough to follow them. We went on just as an ordinary band, no effects or anything, and everybody else still had their mouths wide open from seeing Kiss. We were like, ‘What the hell just happened?'”
He continued:
“It was impossible to follow Kiss after the production. When I watched them play, I didn’t even listen to the music. I was just astounded by the stage production. We made sure that we never had Kiss supporting us again,” Geezer Butler said.
By 1975, Kiss had only three albums out: “Kiss” (1974), “Hotter Than Hell” (1974) and “Dressed To Kill” (1975). In the following years they would become one of the most influential and successful American bands of all time. And of course, they would no longer be the opening act of other bands.
I'm a Brazilian journalist who always loved Classic Rock and Heavy Metal music. That passion inspired me to create Rock and Roll Garage over 6 years ago.
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