Kiss: The 1980s Albums Ranked | How Bad Were They?

The 1980s was a patchy period for Kiss as the flit from lipstick to concept albums within the space of a few years. But how would you rank their 80s albums?
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#kiss #ranking #classicalbum

[@kenfrederick6223]

"Creatures Of The Night", "Lick It Up", and "Animalize" are all great albums IMO. The others mentioned are not nearly as strong, but do contain some good songs. 🎸

[@JCStorm76]

Asylum is better and more consistent than Animalize which starts strong and quickly dips. Genes songs are much better on Asylum too in my opinion

[@benedictdonald4338]

Asylum is great, and most of Shade is, too.

[@JCStorm76]

@@benedictdonald4338 Yep I’ll never understand the hate for Hot in Shade. Much more good songs on that album than Animalize

[@tproudboomer5965]

@@JCStorm76 I think it’s partly because the first half of the album starts out strong with good hooks and riffs, and the second half fizzles out with songs that feel half baked and with few memorable melodies.

[@GormlyKeep]

Critics hated Creatures at the time but I always loved it. Stanley's vocals on I Still Love You are brilliant

[@lamecasuelas2]

I really love Unmasked, i enjoy how diverse it is, power pop, funky rock, social commemtary, there's even synths at some point. Its like a crossoads with different directions which they could have pursued in different alternate universes, not for everyone but one i listen to all the time.

[@b2tall239]

"Creatures of the Night" is a great album and it was the one that brought me back into the Kiss fold after I abandoned them circa "I Was Made for Loving You". While I don't love everything they did after that in the '80s, they still had a bunch of terrific songs through the decade. Thanks, Barry.

[@jefferysteen1041]

I like Crazy Nights!Very good album!

[@dannyholloway2007]

I'm glad you put unmasked so high. As awkward of a kiss album as it is, it is still in my top ten kiss albums along with dynasty. I totally agree with your top three for the eighties. It is a shame Vinny is such a wierdo. Vincent and Kulick are my favorite Kiss lead guitarists after Freley.

[@tatedavis2016]

Great list! Creatures and Lick It Up are my two favorite Kiss albums!

[@strangeways75]

1. Lick It Up 2. Creatures Of The Night 3. Elder 4. Crazy Nights 5. Asylum 6. Animalize 7. Hot In the Shade 8. Unmasked

[@drmusic3641]

My list goes like this: 8. Hot In The Shade 7. Asylum 6. Crazy Nights 5. Animalize 4. The Elder 3. Unmasked 2. Lick It Up 1. Creatures Of The Night

[@christianhaynes1954]

Great video Barry 👍. Don't have anything from kiss after the 70's .

[@kolchak3578]

Creatures and Lick It Up are the only two albums from the 80’s I ever listen to. I mostly swim in the 70’s releases. 🤘

[@skyscraper14]

Since you brought it up: 1. Destroyer 2. Hotter Than Hell 3. Dynasty 4. Love Gun 5. Kiss 6. Rock and Roll Over 7. Dressed to Kill

[@electricbone3284]

1. Creatures Of The Night 2. Lick It Up 3. Elder 4. Asylum 5. Animalize 6. Unmasked 7. Hot In The Shade 8. Crazy Nights

[@jimmycampbell78]

My own ranking is similar to yours Barry. 1. Creatures of the Night 2. Lick it Up 3. Animalize 4. Asylum 5. Unmasked 6. Crazy Nights 7. Hot in the Shade 8. Elder This decade has become a little undervalued for KISS imo, far better than the 1990s onward and there are some fine albums in there.

[@giles7662]

They did tour this album, I went to the Bingley Hall, Stafford show in 1983.

[@RJW1967]

Me too!

[@lonegroover]

I'm glad you asked. I listened to all of the Kiss studio albums earlier this year, and in my opinion the '80s ones range from pretty good (Crazy Nights) to pretty bad (Unmasked, Animalize).

[@MARIO-uf1no]

Kiss did tour for Lick it Up. I caught them in Cleveland, OH with Heaven and Vandenberg as openers. I loved the show. A little bit of trivia is that legendary Blues/Jazz guitarist Robben Ford performed the guitar solo on I Still Love You from Creatures of the Night.

[@evileyes4070]

1. Lick It Up. 2 . Creatures Of The Night. 3. Unmasked. 4 Anlmalize. 5 Asylum. 6 The Elder. 7. Hot In The Shade. 8 Crazy Nights. Saw the Lick It Up tour Stafford Binley Hall England. Helix in supporting

[@VampireJack10]

Animalize, Asylum and Creatures Of The Night were my first KISS albums (loaned to me by a mate when I discovered rock/metal) and I absolutely love them to this day - prolly due to nostalgia, but still..... I followed them with buying my first album ever, DOUBLE PLATINUM, which got me into their 70s stuff.

[@RubUOutC]

I love Asylum - a very fun album

[@JCStorm76]

Much better than Animalize 👍🏻

[@skyscraper14]

Agreed. I don't know why Asylum gets so much hate. "Living life for love, I'm alive, I'm alive!"

[@santinogbarbas]

8 Hot in the Shade 7 Crazy Nights 6 The Elder 5 Animalize 4 Unmasked 3 Asylum 2 Lick it Up 1 Creatures of the NIght

[@brandonbelt5055]

I also saw KISS on the Crazy Nights tour. It was spectacular! First time seeing them. I've actually never heard Unmasked. My ranking is pretty close but I'm probably putting Lick It Up as my #1.

[@jonholmes1845]

I saw kiss also on the Animslize tour in Leeds with Bon Jovi. Great show.

[@drpaulmasonphd]

Lick It Up was my introduction to KISS. They toured it with the tank drum riser as I remember, which I saw in Newcastle. It's a top six KISS album for me, and Not For The Innocent remains my favorite track by the band. I also saw them on Animalize, but for me that lacked a certain 'Wow' for a KISS concert, in the sense the stage show was stripped back (as you say)-a little too much for my liking.

[@Tymbus]

The only Kiss LPs that i owned were Destroyer, Love Gun and a rather good live LP. Lick it Up sounds fun

[@classicalbum]

Lick it Up was good imo

[@LongLiveRockAnRoll]

Depending on your tolerance for Desmond Child penned anthemic rock then there's definitely some great stuff, mostly by Paul. I guess he found it easier to fit in with the likes of Bon Jovi than Gene did (I will not hear a word against the song Crazy Crazy Nights 😅). Gene had a few songs here and there but more or less checked out after Creatures/Lick it Up until Revenge in 92. Also, don't forget how great their lead guitarists were during this time and of course Eric Carr on drums.

[@independenceltd.]

Some great, some good, some not-so-good, some terrible. 1. Creatures of the Night 2. Lick It Up 3. Music from "The Elder" 4. Animalize 5. Asylum 6. Unmasked 7. Hot in the Shade 8. Crazy Nights

[@mrmrandmrs800]

Yes they did tour lick it up. It was my 1st ever concert when I was 13 kiss without makeup. Tank turret drum stage

[@mrmrandmrs800]

And it was in Leicester

[@TheGuitarCurator]

"Creatures of the Night" is a fantastic album. It's definitely my favourite of the 80s albums. I've always felt that if they had released it before "The Elder", the 80s would have been far different for KISS. I even think there would have been more acceptance for "The Elder" if it had come out after "Creatures"! They just needed that hard rocking album to break them out of the pop theme of "Unmasked" (and I love that album too). I have a soft spot for both "Hot in the Shade" and "Crazy Nights" because they were the most current albums when I started listening to this band (I believe the former was released less than a year into my my love for this band), so I'd probably rank them higher than "Asylum", which I think is the weakest of the bunch. Don't forget, "Forever" was only one spot short of "Beth" for their highest charting hit ever! Though, yeah, not much else worth noting on this album, I suppose. My list FWIW: Creatures of the Night Unmasked Lick it Up Music from the Elder Animalize Crazy Nights Hot in the Shade Asylum Honourable mention for best song goes to "Nowhere to Run" from "Killers". It's a crime that this song was buried on a compilation album that was only available in select markets. It belongs on "Creatures". Excellent ranking. Thanks for sharing!

[@aminahmed2220]

What a awesome video have a wonderful day ❤😊

[@TeamLuka]

They did tour for the Lick It Up album. It was Music From The Elder (1981) that they did not tour for.

[@kevinbeilby1495]

Hi man. I always enjoy your videos, so thanks for the channel. I was wondering if it’s difficult/expensive for you to put in a search feature on . Sometimes I’d like to know what other people think to stuff I’m listening to. Just a thought from a Yorkshireman living in NZ.

[@classicalbum]

I thought there was a search feature

[@Timxrb1]

Good ranking. It's hard to argue Creatures of the Night is their best '80s album, but Asylum is the one I listen to the most. Who Wants to Be Lonely, I'm Alive, and Love's a Deadly Weapon are all great!

[@skyscraper14]

Totally agree! Who Wants to Be Lonely and I'm Alive are the two outstanding tracks on this album. Used to crank it up in my car back in the '80s.

[@michaelwilson2340]

You should do one ranking Paul's worst fashion mistakes of the 80's.

[@ianemery4355]

Creatures of the night top 80s but the Elder and Lick it up for me as well! And Asylum in places! Great video! 👍

[@StephenZimmer]

Creatures of the Night is one of Kiss' best albums, and the run they had from Creatures of the Night through Asylum was their heaviest period and featured lots of great songs. Their 80's period is very underrated. Personally, I love The Elder as well.

[@skyscraper14]

Nice video and great explanations of why you like / don't like particular albums. Fan since '76 when I was six. This is going to be a very unpopular ranking, but I really like Crazy Nights and part of it is probably because this was the first tour I was able to see Kiss live as well. 1. Creatures of the Night 2. Lick It Up 3. Crazy Nights 4. Asylum 5. Hot in the Shade 6. Music from the Elder 7. Animalize (although Kiss's best song from the '80s is on this album, "I've Had Enough (Into the Fire)". 8. Unmasked

[@gavinsmith9016]

Yes, Kiss toured Lick It Up with Vinnie Vincent still in the band. I saw them at Wembley Arena and what a great show it was. They opened the set with Creatures of the Night if memory serves me correctly. It was the first time I saw Kiss. The whole place went nuts.

[@nickcooper1260]

Back in the other room. Thanks fpr this, Kiss are great, despite their shortcomings.

[@alancrisp1582]

🤔 Kiss in my opinion i ever had one single great record. And that was - I Was Made For Loving You 1980, 1981 ?.

[@rightchordleadership]

Awful song

[@adamfindlay7091]

I respect that they didn't give in and crash n burn. Now. Not at the time. I dropped em when I ws Made For ❤ You at the disco.

[@davidwhitfield3619]

I saw Kiss at St. Austell Cornwall Coliseum Oct 2nd 1984 with Mark St John on guitar for the Animalize Tour. Bon Jovi in '84 were a very good live band and good support for Kiss. Nice to see Unmasked so high a favourite of mine together with Hot in the Shade.

[@heavymetal6910]

Barry I couldn't agree more about Unmasked, with exception of that steaming pile of crap Shandi, it is a solid album

[@SwisstedChef2018]

Hi Mate, can you please review JORDAN RUDESS? would be interesting

[@eddiemethot8925]

I like every album up to 1980's Unmasked and then 1992's Revenge to 2012's Monster.During the big hair era in the 80s,KISS wore pink tights and colorful costumes that made them look more like The Culture Club.

[@kayfimt7769]

If you want a bad time, check out Uriah Heep in the 80s. Conquest and Equator are *shocking*.

[@user-ny1qi7fx9x]

I cant believe your top three where the same as mine!

[@mojobag01]

What a treat.

[@TheMafrand]

I don't care - I love Kiss. I love all the eras.

[@rodhamm8484]

Lick it up is my favorite, followed by Asylum, but never really got into any of the other albums, maybe a couple songs on each of them, but for the whole album those two I mentioned are the only ones I proudly have in my CD collection.

[@moodlefyful]

Seen them at Donington 1988...recall they were a bit flat and not that good...Crazy nights was a big deal at the time.

[@UncannyValleyVideos]

5:53. "Naked City" isn't just an underrated Kiss track, it's an underrated Gene vocal.

[@HerrWeinachten]

It is a shame KISS abandoned the direction they took with Creatures and Lick It Up.

[@skyscraper14]

I loved their eighties albums, admittedly not as much as their seventies albums. But Kiss's albums that surround the eighties, "Dynasty" (1979) and "Revenge" (1992) are absolutely awesome and would likely top this list if they were included.

[@michaelcantley9843]

They certainly did tour with Lick It Up, saw them 4 times with Helix and Heavy Pettin' supporting them. Creatures of the Night though, awesome album. Wish they had toured the UK with that. I think The Elder was about the only album they didn't tour with.

[@markrogers5727]

In the 1980s, Michael Jackson Beat It, Billy Squire Sroked it, and Kiss Licked it Up.

[@skyscraper14]

Brilliant!

[@garryknapper2091]

Usual great review Barry. I wasn’t too interested in Kiss after Love Gun, although there are some decent tunes on the later albums; I just think that they are all inconsistent as albums , ranging from dire to okay. Only my opinion Kiss fans!

[@KISStorianBrothers]

you don't like the cover of Asylum?! LOL!!! your a good egg M8, enjoyed this quite a bit. Always interesting to get some UK perspective on the furry four!! In the US, you're a fan or you're not. There you seem to take KISS more in stride for what they are. Here it's some insane debate.I agree with you on 'Lick It Up', should have rolled on in that vein beyond Animalize but KISStory is a strange mistress! Seems like the UK is the only place that really got and listened to 'Creatures'. My only gripe, please forgive me, is that you failed to mention that 'Unmasked' benefits greatly from three Ace tracks. Just sayin'. Cheers from Chicago! (we interviewed Dante Bonutto the other day, you might dig)

[@RJW1967]

Spot on top 10, they did tour Lick It Up, saw them at Stafford with Helix and Heavy Pettin supporting.

[@Motherloadrocks]

kiss toured for lick it up ,I seen them at the tower theater in philadephia/upper Darby.Vinnie Vincent and Eric carr played great that evening,the band was tight.

[@colinrgage]

Saw them on lick it up tour,leeds queens hall

[@jamesmoore4320]

My Favourite stuff from Kiss is all their 80's stuff

[@jerardross8999]

So polarising, I went from Alive to rather excitedly buying my first album, I couldn’t wait to get it home, I got on the train home and my more knowledgeable friends laughed at my choice of “the Elder”. Of course they were right BUT I do have a soft spot for quite a few of the songs. Embarrassing yes but for god sake it’s Kiss what isn’t a touch embarrassing….

[@zachjohnson637]

You’re right about the direction they should have taken. Creatures and Lick it Up are great…and Animalize is quite good. After that it goes downhill quickly.

[@JammyGit]

I could never stand Kiss personally, but I actually quite liked the Crazy Crazy Nights single when it came out back in about 87 👍

[@garystinson5498]

Saw them in Glasgow on the Lick It Up Tour Baz.

[@GordonHeaney]

They toured Lick it Up in the UK, I saw them sans make up in 1983 in Glasgow

[@blackberrythorns]

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Triumph (band) April Wine

[@classicalbum]

?

[@blackberrythorns]

@@classicalbum kiss sucks. there are better bands. The Guess Who. (burton cummings years)

[@Mark-qz2nu]

Absolutely 👍​@@blackberrythorns

[@rightchordleadership]

Name 3 bands nobody cares about?

[@blackberrythorns]

@@rightchordleadership you speak for everyone?

[@garrypeak4277]

And the haters have a emotional meltdown 😂 Short answer is there isn’t a bad album among the 1980’s output. Hot In The Shade could have done with being far shorter and dropping off 5 songs. Asylum probably be my favourite. It has always gotten a bad wrap because of the terrible cover. The album itself is an loud, aggressive banger. King Of The Mountain can complete with anything in the catalogue. I like Crazy Nights. I’m a fan of a lot of the albums Ron Nevison produced through the mid & late 80s. Being an Aussie, 1980’s Unmasked holds a special place. I was 10 when it was released down here and it was huge.

[@skyscraper14]

I completely agree with you. Not sure why Asylum doesn't get more love and yes, Hot in the Shade is too long and actually, I don't skip a single song on Crazy Nights.

[@Foul_Quince]

All that Prog you listen to an you call Kiss indulgent and pompous? bah ding! Barry, when did you ever get so funny?

[@NmDPlm31]

I saw Kiss on the Animalize tour. Still have my shirt and the program. $12 for a floor seat in row 7, center. No Bon Jovi for us though. We got Queensryche.

[@Starman2112ofKings]

Some great some good and some bad 1. Creatures of The Night 2. Lick It Up 3. Asylum 4. Music From The Elder 5. Animalize 6. Hot In The Shade 7. Crazy Nights 8. Unmasked IMO 😛🤘🏻

[@mikefrench2499]

I have 3 Kiss albums, Destroyer, (best of the 70's), Asylum and Creatures of the Night. I think Asylum and Creatures were the best of the 80's, with Creatures being the best Kiss album overall.

[@LeatherFuryAI]

80-s Kiss are my favourite Kiss and I dont' care about "critics" and "selling numbers". Crazy Nights had too much keyboards for me, Elder is boring, but others are all great! Asylum is my fav!

[@88batterista]

Creatures, brilliant. The others....

[@TheStoneageRomeo]

Actually like a couple of songs from Hot In The Shade. Rise To It, Love Is A Slap in The Face. Don’t think they did anything too special until Revenge in the nineties.

[@scottybrowndotca]

I thought Kiss had toured Lick it Up ..? I remember seeing footage of Vinnie Vincent going all extended-solo on a big stage while Paul and Gene started to look uncomfortable / bored / unimpressed

[@jamesmoss3424]

Lick it up is my favorite 80's KISS album. 😀👍🎸🤘

[@impetiousdoom]

Without ACE there is no K I ⚡️⚡️

[@johnmeskill2015]

Burn Bitch Burn from Animalize has some great lyrics to it.

[@natecraig8917]

Asylum came out a year before Poison's first album, though. So if we are going to say they are copying Poison the timeliness doesn't match up...and Motley Crue didn't go full glam until 1985...so this whole notion of them copying the big glam bands doesn't add up too much.

[@googoogjoobgoogoogjoob]

Never really got it, altho the make up was good fun

[@paulmaurice3634]

A lot of good music in the 80's, however did not listen to Kiss, maybe wrong on my part.

[@keepitgreasey1]

The oath opener?

[@martythemusicmonster6772]

Kiss toured lick it up in Europe and America

[@raulleon9656]

Real bad, only creatures was passable

[@johng.7560]

Kiss, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

[@Antman-cy8ch]

Crazy Nights is the worst of the worst.

[@Mark-qz2nu]

They're terrible just like all the clowns albums. You do great work love your channel.

[@blackberrythorns]

one of the few bands i just can't stand, pure american hype machine.

[@dr.roberts4508]

Hot in the shade , Bad album cover

[@tproudboomer5965]

It’s not the musical style that makes Crazy Nights such a shite album, it’s the crappy songs and dated production.

[@anthonyburke223]

Has anyone aged as poorly as Coverdale …those lyrics are not gonna be enjoyed by the younger generations

[@jupitermadcat]

Creatures of the night is the only album from kiss the 80s that I like the rest is crap to me. Just my personal opinion.

[@alibobsmarland9572]

Same here. Saw them on this tour and the last Kiss album I bought.

[@charlesmountney8062]

Jaysus. Rush and now Kiss. Did your musical brain shut down at the end of the seventies. I feel sorry for you. Actually having to admit that you listen to this old shite. 😂

[@KennethBlixt]

...VERY bad

[@drewgeraci8434]

God, did the 80s produce awful album covers! Same with The Kinks.

[@rcpsammy7186]

I don't own any of their albums. I'm good with that.

[@robertwatt4248]

They made some dodgy albums in the 70's and even dodgier ones in the 80's. The only Kiss I can listen to is Destroyer & Rock n Roll Over.

[@rightchordleadership]

Their first 3 albums are classics.

[@garyjohnson627]

A truly god awful band that personified everything that was rotten about rock during this period of music.

[@blackberrythorns]

i wonder if rush had them in mind when they wrote "the spirit of the radio"? they could have. kiss are just pathetic.

[@austake]

1980's Kiss.....I stopped listening

[@rightchordleadership]

KISS is useless after Love Gun although Dynasty has a few good songs.