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Lick It Up

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This article is about the Kiss album. For other uses, see Lick It Up (disambiguation).
Lick It Up
Studio album by
Kiss
ReleasedSeptember 23, 1983 (1983-09-23)
RecordedJuly–August 1983
StudioRight Track Recording and Record Plant, New York City
Genre
Length41:27
LabelMercury/Casablanca
Producer
Kiss chronology
Creatures of the Night
(1982) 		Lick It Up
(1983) 		Animalize
(1984)
Singles from Lick It Up
  1. "Lick It Up"
    Released: September 18, 1983
  2. "All Hell's Breakin' Loose"
    Released: February 6, 1984
Alternative cover
Japanese obi sheet cover of Lick It Up

Lick It Up is the 11th studio album by American rock band Kiss. Before its 1983 release, the band members appeared on MTV without their trademark make-up. It was the first public appearance without make-up by the band, and their first for Mercury Records, where they had been signed following their departure from Casablanca Records.

Album information

Lick It Up built upon the harder sound Kiss had displayed on 1982's Creatures of the Night. It was certified gold on December 22, 1983,[4] the first Kiss album to achieve certification since 1980's Unmasked. This is partially attributable to the increased publicity the band received after their unmasking.[citation needed]

As soon as the Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour wrapped up in June, the band immediately went back into the studio to begin work on their next album, which was recorded over the next two months. "Lick It Up" and "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" were released as singles from the album. They were accompanied by a pair of similarly themed, tongue-in-cheek videos featuring the band (along with many scantily clad women) in desolate, post-apocalyptic settings.

For the first time, Vinnie Vincent appeared on the cover art for the album, whereas Ace Frehley had appeared on the Creatures of the Night cover, despite having already left the band and not being involved in the recording of the album. Vincent was not legally a member of the band. Due partly to disputes over what his role in the band and his pay would be (some reports indicated that he had asked for, and was flatly denied, a percentage of the band's gross profits), Vincent never signed any contract making his employment official. These disputes, along with a growing attitude by him that he was solely responsible for the resurgence of Kiss, would lead to him leaving the band (or being fired, depending on the source) after the European leg of the Lick It Up tour.

With the band unable to secure a replacement guitarist on such short notice, Vincent was enticed to return for the American leg of the tour; however, his refusal to sign his contract continued to be a sore point. A major rift developed between him and the rest of the band over his guitar solos. What were supposed to be 5–8 minute solos, timed to finish on a cue so that Paul Stanley could introduce the next song, suddenly extended in some instances, leaving the rest of the band impatiently waiting on stage for Vincent to finish.

At an LA Forum show in January 1984, Vincent continued playing despite Stanley's cueing him to finish the solo. The two nearly came to blows in the dressing room afterward, with Stanley accusing Vincent of showing him up, and Vincent accusing the other three members of ruining his solo and trying to hold him back as a performer. They were separated by Eric Carr and Gene Simmons and a couple of roadies who tried to keep the peace. At a March show in Quebec, Canada, as the band prepared to close out their set, Vincent broke into an impromptu solo, leaving the other band members standing on stage with nothing to do. Vincent left (or was fired for a second time, depending on the source) shortly after. This time, the break was permanent.

"All Hell's Breakin' Loose" is one of three songs in the history of the band in which all four (current at the time) members share songwriting credit, the others being "Love Theme From Kiss" from their debut album and "Back to the Stone Age" from Monster. In an interview for KISSology 2, Stanley made the statement that, "People were now listening with their eyes rather than their ears, mainly because Creatures of the Night was arguably a better album than Lick It Up." He also made the statement that "The only reason why I think people bought Lick It Up more than Creatures of the Night was because we had no make-up on. That was the only reason."

While Vincent contributed lead guitar to six songs on Creatures of the Night as a session player, by the time Lick It Up was released and for all the public knew, he was officially the guitarist in Kiss and played all the lead guitar on the album. The opening track (co-written by Vincent) features a solo from Rick Derringer.

Reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Rolling Stone[5]

Lick It Up was certified platinum in the US on December 19, 1990. Kerrang! listed Lick It Up at No. 3 on its year-end list of the best hard rock albums of 1983.[6] In 2011, the album placed at No. 10 in Guitar World's readers poll of the top 10 guitar albums of 1983.[7]

The album marked a turnaround from the band's flagging fortunes of the previous several years and successfully introduced them to a new generation of fans, as well as marking the beginning of the "unmasked" era that would last for the next decade. Stanley has stated in some interviews that he felt that the album sold well mainly due to the hype surrounding the band's unmasking.

The video for "All Hell's Breaking Loose" was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Exciter"Paul Stanley, Vinnie VincentStanley4:10
2."Not for the Innocent"Gene Simmons, VincentSimmons4:22
3."Lick It Up"Stanley, VincentStanley3:56
4."Young and Wasted"Simmons, VincentSimmons4:05
5."Gimme More"Stanley, VincentStanley3:43
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
6."All Hell's Breakin' Loose"Eric Carr, Stanley, Simmons, VincentStanley4:34
7."A Million to One"Stanley, VincentStanley4:17
8."Fits Like a Glove"SimmonsSimmons4:04
9."Dance All Over Your Face"SimmonsSimmons4:16
10."And on the 8th Day"Simmons, VincentSimmons4:02

Personnel

Kiss

Additional musician

Charts

Album

Chart (1983) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[8] 36
Austrian Albums Chart[9] 13
Canadian Albums Chart[10] 46
Dutch Albums Chart[9] 14
Finnish Albums Chart[11] 7
French Albums Chart[12] 17
German Albums Chart[9] 18
Icelandic Albums Chart[13] 5
Japanese Albums Chart[14] 15
Norwegian Albums Chart[9] 7
Spanish Albums Chart[15] 24
Swedish Albums Chart[9] 3
Swiss Albums Chart[9] 10
UK Albums Chart[16] 7
US Billboard Albums[17] 24

Singles

Single Chart (1983) Peak position
"Lick It Up" US Billboard Hot 100[18] 66
Canada Pop Singles[19] 32
France Pop Singles[20] 58
Switzerland Pop Singles[21] 24
UK Pop Singles[22] 31

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[23] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[4] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b Prato, Greg. Lick It Up at AllMusic
  2. ^ Klosterman, Chuck (2002). Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural Nörth Daköta. Scribner. p. 155. ISBN 0-7432-0227-9. By and large, Lick It Up is a pretty good hard rock record and the catalyst for KISS' recovery as a platinum-selling artist.
  3. ^ "50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. October 13, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "American album certifications – Kiss – Lick It Up". Recording Industry Association of America.
  5. ^ "Kiss: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  6. ^ "Kerrang!'s list of best hard rock albums in 1983". Retrieved April 10, 2011.
  7. ^ Guitar World Readers Poll of the Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1983. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  8. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. ^ a b c d e f KISS - Lick It Up - swisscharts.com
  10. ^ "Search – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  11. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 263. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "Tonlist Top 40". DV. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  14. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  15. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  16. ^ KISS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company
  17. ^ "Kiss Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at AllMusic. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  18. ^ "Billboard chart history-Kiss singles". Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  19. ^ "RPM chart archives at Collections Canada". Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  20. ^ "InfoDisc archives". Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  21. ^ "Lescharts.com". Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  22. ^ "The Official Charts". Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  23. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Kiss – Lick It Up". Music Canada.
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