Ikons

Ikons is a four-CD box set featuring material recorded by the original members of the American hard rock band Kiss. It was released in 2008 by Universal Music Group.

Background

Each CD in the set is named after one of the original group members (which contain songs that they wrote/sing on), created by long-time Kiss fan Paul "DJ Flare" Hall and co-produced with Jeff Fura. In 1996, the 'KISS-Icons' logos were created by Ajax Garcia, a famous Los Angeles based artist. Garcia is known as a founding member of the 90's punk group The Napoleon Blownaparts.

Track listing

Disc 1 (Red): The Demon

Imperiet

Imperiet was a Swedish rock band from Stockholm, that existed from 1983 to 1988.

History

Imperiet started as Rymdimperiet, a side project to the Swedish punk band, Ebba Grön, and included three of its members. When Ebba Grön broke up in 1983, Rymdimperiet re-emerged as Imperiet; with Joakim Thåström (lead vocals, guitar), Anders "Stry" Sjöholm (vocals, guitar) and Gunnar "Gurra" Ljungstedt (drums), all three originally from Ebba Grön. They were joined by Christian Falk (bass) and Per Hägglund (sax, keyboards). Stry left in 1984 and Gurra the following year. Gurra was replaced by Fred Asp on the drums. In 1987 Per Hägglund left and Imperiet disbanded in 1988.

Imperiet's sound was inspired by punk, rock and synthpop. Their lyrics were left-wing and anti-imperialist; songs like "C. C. Cowboys", "Alltid rött, alltid rätt" (Always Red, Always Right), and "Var e vargen?" (Where’s the Wolf?) were inspired by Russian Communist poet Mayakovsky.

Mainly successful in Sweden and Scandinavia, Imperiet also toured overseas, playing in the United States, Cuba, Central America and South America. In 1988, Imperiet released their only English language album, called Imperiet. It featured translated versions of their old songs. The album had an intensive promotional European tour, but was only popular in Sweden. This put an end to plans for an international career.