(Credits: Apple Music)
Mon 29 September 2025 23:00, UK
The most iconic glam rock band’s lead singer, Paul Stanley of Kiss, was an image of sex in the 1970s.
Delivery was everything, and the breathy intensity of ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’, underpinned by that muscular guitar riff, still goes down a treat, if a little cheesy. The androgyny of his on-stage star-eyed look framed with long hair cemented him as a legend; bolstered by on-stage flirting with sultry utterances like, “You lick me, I lick you”, his own lyricism and language leans on the direct.
What’s surprising is that their most popular song, ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’, was inspired by a Motown hit, ‘Standing in the Shadows of Love’, the ascending chorus tune follows the same pattern. Stanley explained he’s heavily fallen in love again and again with soul and Motown music to Songfacts, “You wind up with other people copying ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’, but ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ was rooted in that [‘Standing in the Shadows of Love’] melody line.”
In fact, before he got into shock rock, soul was always his staple. ”I can go on and on. I was a kid who was lucky enough to see Solomon Burke, Otis Redding – that music is fundamental in the foundation of what I do and what I am. It has to be in my music, because I heard it and loved it,” he continued.
But beyond the melodies, it was the lyrical hooks that caught his attention the most. He opines that some of the greatest lyrics in history hailed from Motown. The best opening line for the artist is from the Spinners’ song ‘I’ll Be Around’, despite the fact that Stanley preferred to cover ‘Could It Be I’m Falling In Love’ for his 2021 release as Paul Stanley’s Soul Station.
The artist shared, “There’s so many great Spinners songs. ‘I’ll Be Around’ is a great, great song. I love songs where the first line just pulls you in. In essence, you’re saying, ‘Tell me more! Tell me more! Tell me the story!‘ And a lot of those songs have that quality, like ‘I’ll Be Around’ by the Spinners: ‘This is our fork in the road.‘ I heard that, and I was like, ‘What do you mean? What’s going on?‘“
He even pointed out a couple of others that he had clearly committed to memory. “Or the Stylistics’ ‘Today I Saw Somebody Who Looked Just Like You‘.“ That opening line is off ‘You Are Everything’, which Stanley did cover. He went on, that the first line of a song is “the first page of a story, and after that, you want to read it. So, ‘Could It Be I’m Falling In Love’ as opposed to ‘I’ll Be Around’, it was more upbeat, positive, celebratory, and it just seemed like a great song to play live.”
Another favourite motif of soul music for Stanley is call and response, recycled in ‘Shout It Out Loud’ for Kiss, too. He revealed, “You have the verse, ‘Well the night’s begun and you want some fun, do you think you’re gonna find it, think you’re gonna find it‘. That answer in the background is the Four Tops! The call-and-response is something that the Four Tops did in ‘Sugar Pie Honey Bunch’ – there are loads of those.”
What drew the Kiss lead singer to the soul tracks he covered in Now and Then are “songs and singers who didn’t have to flex their muscles to show masculinity”. That ‘Shout It Out Loud’ lyric displays this early admiration for a different type of man who specifically seems to put the woman or person looking for “some fun” into the active and deciding position as they look to “find it” rather than wait.
The song goes on to potentially take aim at learnt expectations on gendered behaviour, “Just forget the things that you’ve been told”. They might be a bit too chummy with Donald Trump to actually be there for women’s rights, but thanks for the affirmations Kiss.
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