So…I am having one of those stupid Monday mornings where every little thing is irritating the living hell out of me – remote mouse not playing nice, missing a dozen or so new entries in excel I typed up yesterday while watching football, one our african grays screaming from the other room (that part is no different from any other Monday…or Tuesday…or Saturday). Nothing big, but a series of annoyances that wasn’t portending well for the start of the week.
What can possibly turn my Monday frown upside down, I ask myself? Of course, a Kix album. Duh. Man, I loved this band. Still do. It’s an admittedly lazy comparison, but they really did come off as an americanized version of AC/DC, evidenced by their ability to effortlessly knock off super catchy under-four minute fist-pounding hard rock anthems and the fact that, well, they weren’t really pretty. And in the 80’s, prettiness mattered. (Just ask Poison, a band that supposedly nicked a fair share of their stage moves-and likely hooks-from Kix).
Anyway, this is the band’s fourth album, produced by the legendary Tom Werman. It was also the biggest album the band had released to date, primarily due to the up-to-then lack of what was the 80’s hard rock meal ticket – the power ballad. I can’t say that “Don’t Close Your Eyes” is one of my favorite slow-jams from that decade (and I must say there’s a bunch I do like), but again, the rest of the album is just loaded with great mascara-laden power pop – “Cold Blood”, “No Ring Around Rosie”, “Get It While It’s Hot” (with it’s opening intro seemingly lifted from Duran Duran’s “Rio”?!). Good mind-numbing stuff.
I cannot let an entry about Kix go by without paying respect to one of my favorite exponents of music criticism – Chuck Eddy. In His 1981 book “Stairway To Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums In The Universe”, he placed the first four Kix albums in his top 100. Two of ’em in the top eleven! “Blow My Fuse” is #11, the band’s self-titled debut comes in at five, only trailing Zeppelin, Guns & Roses, Aerosmith & Alice Cooper. Of course, he has Teena Marie record at nine and Jimmy Castor Bunch at ten, which is why I love the guy.
Wow..it worked. I’m much better now. The african gray stopped screaming, the mouse-for the most part-seems to be functioning properly, and hey, I found those missing Excel entries (which really weren’t missing, I’m just a dope). This mood elevator brought to you by rock and roll. And Kix. Thanks, Kix!
This remembrance of a band you would otherwise not remember, brought to you by graypunk records, in business since, ummm, last Friday. So, if you need an original vinyl pressing of this classic slice of 80’s hard rock, you can find a pretty much perfect sealed copy of this record, excepting a tiny saw-cut, for a mere $15 by driving over here…http://www.musicstack.com/item/327848771.
Thanks a bunch, kevin
graypunk 
