Lick It Up


Lick It Up is the 11th studio album by American rock band Kiss. Prior to its 1983 release, the band members appeared on MTV without their trademark makeup. It was the first public appearance without make-up by the band since their very early days, 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, 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.
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 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, 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 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 5–8 minute solos, timed to finish on a cue so that Paul Stanley could introduce the next song, suddenly expanded 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 onstage with nothing to do. Vincent left shortly after. This time, the break was permanent.
“Young and Wasted” was occasionally performed with Eric Carr on lead vocals depending on the live show. Usually Stanley would introduce Carr after a brief drum solo, and lead into the segment with either Simmons or Carr performing lead vocals.
"All Hell's Breakin' Loose" is one of three songs in the history of the band in which all four 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 , 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 features a solo from Rick Derringer.

Reception and legacy

Lick It Up was certified platinum on December 19, 1990. It was placed at #10 on Guitar World's Readers Poll of the Top-10 Guitar Albums of 1983. Kerrang! listed Lick It Up #3 on its list of the best hard rock albums in 1983. The album marked a turnaround in the band's flagging fortunes during 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 Lick It Up World Tour began in October, one month after the album's release, and focused on Europe during the autumn, with the US leg taking place from December to March. The American leg of the tour has been seen as commercially disappointing by writer Kurt Gooch, who has believed that Kiss alienated many longtime fans by eschewing the iconic makeup.
The title track "Lick It Up" remains a staple of the ensemble's live performances, having been played over 1,300 times as of August 2015; however, the rest of the album is rarely played live.

Track listing

Personnel

Kiss
Additional musician
Album
Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart36
Austrian Albums Chart13
Canadian Albums Chart46
Dutch Albums Chart14
Finnish Albums Chart7
French Albums Chart17
German Albums Chart18
Icelandic Albums Chart5
Japanese Albums Chart15
Norwegian Albums Chart7
Spanish Albums Chart24
Swedish Albums Chart3
Swiss Albums Chart10
UK Albums Chart7
US Billboard Albums24

Singles
SingleChart Peak position
"Lick It Up"US Billboard Hot 10066
"Lick It Up"Canada Pop Singles32
"Lick It Up"France Pop Singles58
"Lick It Up"Switzerland Pop Singles24
"Lick It Up"UK Pop Singles31

Certifications