Most weekends I like to head out with family for a greasy brunch somewhere. Today was no exception, and once done, I felt the need to go for a long walk — it was, after all, an “all you can eat” affair, and one needs to keep an eye on one’s potentially burgeoning midsection after such indulgence!
Anyway, during the course of my journey, I popped in to a large discount department store called ‘Marshalls’ and saw this ridiculously awesome t-shirt — I couldn’t resist. The look on Ace Frehley’s face alone reeled me in!
KISS was the band that, as a wide-eyed preteen, appealed to every one of my fantastical imaginings: space flight, sci-fi and star-people; demons, monsters and other dark forces; pyrotechnics, theatrics and, of course, grinding guitars paving the way for supercharged vocals set atop tribal rhythms!
While I find it quaint and cute that all the “legacy” bands are in vogue once again (for now), I’ve always been proud to identify myself as a fan of the classic Kiss era (yeah, the 80’s Kiss, not so much). I must admit, though, it’s really quite a trip seeing this melange of various periods of rock music converging by way of the youth: Curt Cobain t-shirts worn by Billy, while his little pal Bobby might be found in the Kiss shirt shown here. Their other pal Stevie shows up at school in a Neil Young printed tee, and merrily they all head to the cafeteria, where they don’t actually talk to one another, but check Facebook messages from “smart phones”, or send out tweets and text messages about the “newest” band they’re listening to by way of a squashed digital file (mp3) and an ipod or similar device.
Weird times. Not altogether bad — the youth are picking up on some cool, bedrock stuff, after all (even if it is just for the sheer novelty and “ironic” factor) — just… weird.
Rock on, baby!
Jon Mychal — Toronto / June 2 2012
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