THE VIDEO KISS, "Forever," Hot in the Shade, 1989, Mercury/Polygram
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SAMPLE LYRIC "It's for-evvvvvv-errrr / this time I know it there's no doubt in my mind / for-evvvvv-errrr / until my life is through, girl I'll be lovin' you / for-evvvvv-errrrr-eerrrrrrrrrrr"
THE VERDICT I was going to dance around why I was doing such a boring video, or what would bring me to another 80s KISS song so shortly after "Who Wants to Be Lonely?", or wax on about why KISS wrote a song with that ass-clown Michael Bolton, but I've already cut to the chase with this post's title -- I'M ENGAGED!! And while in the end the proposal did not involve this KISS song, I had many times alleged to my now-fiance that I would only accept a proposal if "Forever" was somehow involved. He actually did debate working it in there, but in the end chose not to make Paul, Gene, & co. part of our moment together. So let me do so now!
It's unclear to me why around 1990 bands decided the best way to make a video for a sappy song was to show themselves in black and white, and then have colored light filtering through some kind of elaborate window. Honestly, in general with metal videos it's hard to find something only one band did -- it's like if it worked once, we have to do it again. Hence in addition to KISS' "Forever," we've also got Firehouse's "Love of a Lifetime", which is basically the exact same video, maybe with some elements of Great White's "Save Your Love." I don't know if I could see an elaborate window and not think of a crappy song at this point in time.
The other most notable thing about this video visually -- since seriously, it's just them playing the song in this room that totally looks like it will host a wedding reception next --is that KISS are in black and white, but the light coming in is orange, ranging from like pale peach to pretty deep orange. The whole "let's make the video in black and white but color some parts in" is a much longer-standing visual trope than the "colored light through elaborate windows" one -- I mean you've got "The Hunter," "I Saw Red," "Don't Close Your Eyes," "Headed for a Heartbreak" to name a few -- just a million videos that use this.
I've talked about this before, but seriously, it's a cheesy effect. It looks like those posters you inevitably see at poster sales (alongside that idiotic thing with all the women with the Pink Floyd album art body paint) of like little kids dressed in adult clothing who are like kissing and stuff, and they're always handing each other roses, and the roses are colored in but the rest is in black and white. How this aesthetic makes it into videos I'll never know, but like I said it did long before this video (though I would say like 1989-90 is its peak) so we can't blame Michael Bolton.
In all other ways, this is your standard issue 80s KISS video. Paul Stanley is sort of playing "lead singer," and he's making duckfaces the whole time. Gene Simmons can't resist holding his bass upright and looking like a total lech even though this is supposed to be a ballad. I also like that he's the only one who has to have a copy of the music on a stand in front of him, a la Axl Rose.
The shots of Eric Carr are really fast and poorly lit -- for the most part, the camera quickly spins past him. At the same time though, Eric is all over this video compared to Bruce Kulick, who is seated such that he's completely in shadow. They barely even show Bruce during the guitar solo. You can kind of see his hands and the silhouette of his face. Instead of actually showing Bruce, they show Paul, who has gone over to tell something to Gene, which they both laugh at. I seriously pity the KISS guitarists of the 80s.
So long story short, it's an uneventful video. And yet -- as with many KISS songs in the 80s (like "Reason to Live" and "Thrills in the Night") -- the song has a total hold over me. (Admittedly though, with songs like "Uh! All Night" and "Rise to It," KISS lose even me.) Like other over-the-top favorites like Stryper's "Honestly," it is so ridiculously, insanely cheesy that it has come back around to me totally loving it and belting it out every time I hear it. (And for the record, this isn't always true -- I hate "Love of a Lifetime" [as per the above] and "I'll Never Let You Go," [aka "Angel Eyes"] so it's not like I'm not picky.)
I don't know, there's just something about this song. And since it doesn't really sound like any other KISS song -- even the super-slow ones like "Beth" -- I have a sneaking suspicion that the ante is being upped on this song by none other than Michael Bolton, who co-wrote it. It's similar to how I don't enjoy the music of Richard Marx, but I do like the songs he wrote for Vixen. And I mean, it worked -- "Forever" made it to #8 on Billboard, way higher than any of their other 80s tracks.
So long story long, when thinking about songs with which to announce my life commitment (or which I wanted playing when I did so), "Forever" topped my charts. I mean, we all know "November Rain" is sort of the most wedding-y of metal ballads, but um, she dies in the video. Also I don't want to begin my engagement with "when I look into your ey-ey-eyes / I can see a love restrained." What? No!
And even though it took me a long time to put it together, "Honestly" -- which I'd always thought would be a great wedding song -- is pretty much just about Jesus. My fiance claims to have the same attributes described in that song ("call on me / and I'll be there for you-ou-ou / I'm a friend who allllll-ways will be tru-ooooh-ue"), and he does, but even still, it's about Jesus. I'm not religious at all, and I still can't not hear it as being about Jesus.
Another option that came to mind was "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, arguably the only Metallica love song. Fun fact about me: I worked as a writer for a wedding magazine for several years (I was working there when I started this blog!), and so have written many, many stories about real people's weddings. The only metal song I ever encountered a couple using for their first dance was "Nothing Else Matters" -- romantic-ish lyrics, sure, but what a long, dirge-y first dance!
I mean, it was a refreshing change from the usual BS couples pick ("Amazed" by Lonestar, any version of "At Last"), but I kind of felt for their guests. The second closest I saw was a couple whose processional (that's the part where everyone walks down the aisle to you laymen) was "When It's Love" by Van Halen, but since I do not acknowledge them as a band unless David Lee Roth is involved, I don't count that one.
In any event, lack of actual KISS music aside, the proposal was everything I could have asked for -- and I'm not just saying that because really all I wanted was to marry this guy. I'm so excited! But I promise not to devolve into all sappy posts or declare summer to be power ballad season or anything like that. You just have to indulge me in this one KISS song first.