Crazy Nights

Kiss took a different approach in creating Crazy Nights, to turn around their image after they had a downfall in their music career due to experimentation of the band's music genre and the loss of two prime members. The band had a lot to prove after their decline of success. Since the time of recording Asylum, Kiss were also under new management representation with Larry Mazur, a consultant. Simmons' temporary departure gave space to Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick. Kulick had four co-writing credits and Carr one, but almost got other material on the album. Stanley had worked with Desmond Child, Diane Warren and Adam Mitchell and co-wrote songs: "Crazy Crazy Nights", "I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" and "When Your Walls Come Down" with Mitchell ("I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" and "When Your Walls Come Down" with Kulick), "Bang Bang You", "My Way" and "Reason to Live" with Child ("My Way" with Bruce Turgon also), and "Turn On the Night" was co-written by Stanley and Warren. As Kiss' previous two albums had been self-produced, the band felt it needed to bring in an outside producer who would help the album achieve more commercial success. Producer Ron Nevison was hired to produce the album, but because of Nevison's filled schedule, the band had to wait for his schedule to clear. Nevison was chosen in part from his recent commercial success in producing platinum albums for Heart and Ozzy Osbourne. Simmons said for KISStory, "When we started working on Crazy Nights, we looked for someone else to pull the cart, another person to help guide the band... So we hooked up with a producer named Ron Nevison, who[m] Paul had wanted to work with for a while, although I never did." Although Simmons' participation was low for the album, he did contribute in providing Nevison with 20–25 songs that were potential material for the album, including one song called "I'm Going to Put a Log in Your Fire Place", which was ultimately not used on this or any subsequent albums. ==Songs==

;"Crazy Crazy Nights" "Crazy Crazy Nights" was the first single from the album and reached No. 65 on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 37 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song was a massive hit in the UK where it reached No. 4 and, to date, is Kiss' joint highest-charting single in the UK along with "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II". "Crazy Crazy Nights" also went into the Top 40 in Norway, the Netherlands and Australia. ;"I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" Adam Mitchell reportedly plays on the song along with Bruce Kulick. ;"Bang Bang You" According to Paul Stanley, "Bang Bang You" is "the classic story of boys and their toys." ;"Reason to Live" Stanley recalled when he played the "Reason to Live" demo to Simmons, "I remember calling up Gene and playing it to him down the phone... I played the song to Gene, and obviously, the bomb had gone off at the other end. He was speechless." Stanley was always okay with having power ballads on Kiss albums, which first started with "I Still Love You" on Creatures of the Night. Stanley also said, "If a band was, to be honest, they would tell you that at that time, the only hope for airplay was a ballad." ==Unreleased songs==

A few other songs were recorded for the album, but not included. Kulick, Child and Stanley wrote a song called "Sword and Stone" that did not manage to get on the album because Nevison was not thrilled with the song. Kulick later stated, "I just felt really bad that Ron Nevison didn't like the song 'cause then it would have been on Crazy Nights. But I couldn't control that. And the demo that is out there in bootleg form is pretty good. We did it at Electric Lady with Eric Carr, and it's a full-blown KISS track practically. I actually came up with that riff backstage on tour early on, Asylum, I think. That's what happens. Paul didn't mind as much; I felt pretty bad about that." The song was offered to Canadian rock band Loverboy, and was re-recorded by their lead guitarist Paul Dean on his 1988 album Hard Core. The song was also recorded by German heavy metal band Bonfire for a Wes Craven movie, Shocker. Carr, Simmons and Mitchell wrote, "Dial 'L' for Love". Carr, who sang the song, was the primary writer, and he later passed it to Simmons and Mitchell who completed it. As Carr stated, "The song wasn't good at the time, so it didn't get on the album." A demo was made, but it did not include completed vocals. An instrumental recording of "Dial 'L' for Love" would be released on Unfinished Business in 2011. "Are You Always This Hot" is a song written by Simmons and Mitchell. In the 1980s, Simmons had the ritual of making new songs that are based on some older songs, or simply spoken, he recycled them. And "Are You Always This Hot" is one of them. It was first written by Mitchell in 1981. The Simmons demo was only released in 2017 on the box set Gene Simmons Vault. The song "Time Traveler" was recorded during these sessions and later released on the 2001 KISS Box Set. Some other songs that were written for the album, but never made it, are "Boomerang", "'X' Marks the Spot", "Scratch and Sniff", "What Goes Up", "Hunger for Love", "Dirty Blonde", "Don't Let Go" and "No Mercy", although "Boomerang" would be later featured on Hot in the Shade. ==Reception==

"While their melodies continue to be quarried from stone, their lyrics are written in lipstick," wrote Emily Fraser in a three-star Q review. "The riffs often have purpose and force and, in the cases of 'No No No' and 'Thief in the Night', a keen, cutting edge." ==Track listing==

All credits adapted from the original release. ==Personnel==

;Kiss • Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards • Gene Simmons – bass, vocals • Eric Carr – drums, percussion, backing vocals • Bruce Kulick – lead guitar, all guitars on "No, No, No", bass on "Hell or High Water", backing vocals ;Additional musicians • Phil Ashley – keyboards • Tom Kelly – backing vocals ;Production • Ron Nevison – producer, engineer • Toby Wright, Julian Stoll, Stan Katayama, Jeff Poe – assistant engineers • Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York • Diandre Miller – producer assistant ==Charts==