KISS - Yes It's OK To Laugh.

KISS is a band that I really can't take seriously. I know the whole point with a band like KISS is to not take anything remotely serious with them and just groove, but maybe that's just not my thing. I suppose the best way to describe them is Tenacious D minus the funny plus make up divided by fake blood multiplied by the power of Gene Simmon's tongue.

However KISS were nothing to sneeze at during the height of their fame. "Detroit Rock City" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" were, and continue to be, radio mainstays. From 1976-1979 the band had a streak of 4 platinum records (meaning each album sold 1 million copies). Throughout their entire career the band has sold well over 20 million albums in the U.S. alone. The KISS Army was strong.

Fast Forward to 2009 and KISS has simply turned into a nostalgia act. Sure old school KISS fans still show up and rock out to their childhood idols, but surely the gimmick of 4 middle aged men dressing up in ridiculous costumes has to have turned stale and rotten.

The band has slowly neutered the KISS "mystique" they have spent most of their early career building up leading up to the impotence that exists today. And what a long slippery slope it's been.

First there was the 1978 made for TV movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park which sees the band obtain super powers and fight an evil inventor who works for... a theme park. Critics, fans and the band themselves know this was a joke and even the band members tend to omit the film from their career.

The following year saw disco and KISS make a baby called Dynasty that churned out the ultra slick and cheesy single "I Was Made For Loving You". You think that guitars in the shape of battle axes and fake blood goes well with Saturday Night Fever? This song goes from bad to laughably bad after vocalist Paul Stanley starts to sing in his ultra high falsetto during the bridge.

The 80s saw the band take off their make up and fall into every Regan era rock n roll cliche imaginable. Big hair? Check. Chest Hair? Check. Obnoxious music? Check. You pull a LOLRUS every time you hear the song? Check. The best example is the retard-tastic "Lick It Up".

Now KISS have finally admitted that their career really is over. The band sold their latest album Sonic Boom exclusively through Wal-Mart. Other high profile irrelevant bands such as The Eagles, Journey and AC/DC have already done so I just think KISS is funnier.

The best part of the whole thing is that KISS was beat out on the Billboard Charts by... Michael Buble. One of the biggest tools to come out of the music industry in the past decade sold more albums than rock icons. I suppose the devoted Oprah Housewife Army is more powerful than the KISS Army.

And I suppose that just gives me another reason to snicker whenever I hear the name KISS.