Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman has reflected on this influence that glam rock legends KISS had on his own musical journey, and revealed the album of theirs he believes “sucks.”
Marty Friedman recently sat down with Speak N’ Destroy, to discuss the profound influence that KISS had on him as a budding musician. The rocker recalled seeing KISS during their Rock and Roll Over tour as a teenager, an experience that he considers to be formative.
“That was my first concert of anything,” he revealed. “So you can really just imagine the impact. You get in there and first of all, you’d never heard music that loud before, and you’ve never smelled that much pot in the air.
“It really hits you in an important growth period of your life, when you discover things.”
He continued, “That’s pretty much what defines a lot of your tastes and stuff – when you discover it, what was happening in your life.
“The things that happen in your life so much influence what you find, what you discover, when you discover it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Friedman revealed the KISS album he considers their least-impressive effort; unsurprisingly the band’s critically-panned, commercially unsuccessful ninth record Music from “The Elder” failed to gel with him.
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“I mean, if I might not have even heard of KISS until “The Elder,” I would’ve thought, ‘This band sucks,'” he mused.
“But fortunately, I discovered them at what I consider the absolute apex of their live experience, and so did many of my contemporaries.”
Despite the missteps throughout KISS’ illustrious career, Friedman maintains that he’ll continue to be a devoted fan of theirs forever.
“That’s something that allowed me to enjoy being a fan of theirs through all kinds of ups and downs in their career. And whatever they do, I will continue to support them,” he shared.
“They’re not in it to cater to any one fan’s taste, nor is any band, but as a fan, you have your own personal image of every single band or artist that you like.
“And you tailor your listening habits to that ideal image, and just glad that bands are there to do that.”
