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Charted:

April 3, 1976


Rating:

4.329 (average of 7 ratings)

Genre:

hard rock


Quotable:

--


Album Tracks:

  1. Detroit Rock City
  2. King of the Night Time World
  3. God of Thunder
  4. Great Expecations
  5. Flaming Youth
  6. Sweet Pain
  7. Shout It Out Loud
  8. Beth
  9. Do You Love Me
  10. [unlisted track]

Sales (in millions):

sales in U.S. only 1.0
sales in U.K. only - estimated --
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 1.0


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 11
peak on U.K. album chart 22


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Shout It Out Loud (3/20/76) #31 US
  • Flaming Youth (6/5/76) #74 US
  • Beth (9/4/76) #7 US, #14 AC, sales: 1.0 m, air: 1.0 m

Awards:

One of Blender’s 100 Greatest American Albums

Destroyer

Kiss

Review:

“The pressure was on Kiss for their fifth release, and the band knew it. Their breakthrough, Alive!, was going to be hard to top, so instead of trying to recreate a concert setting in the studio, they went the opposite route. Destroyer is one of Kiss’ most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting. Alice Cooper/ Pink Floyd producer Bob Ezrin was on hand, and he strongly encouraged the band to experiment – there’s extensive use of sound effects (the album’s untitled closing track), the appearance of a boy’s choir (Great Expectations), and an orchestra-laden, heartfelt ballad (Beth),” GP from Peter Criss that “was a surprise Top Ten hit” GP and “made Destroyer such a success” GP – it was Kiss’ first million-selling album.

“But there’s plenty of Kiss’ heavy thunder rock to go around, such as the demonic God of Thunder and the sing-along anthems Flaming Youth, Shout It Out Loud, King of the Night Time World, and Detroit Rock City (the latter a tale of a doomed concert-goer, complete with violent car-crash sound effects).” GP The latter was released as a single with “Beth” as the B-side; it was the B-side that took off, though.

“Also included is a song that Nirvana would later cover (Do You Love Me?), as well as an ode to the pleasures of S&M, Sweet Pain. Destroyer also marked the first time that a comic-book illustration of the band appeared on the cover, confirming that the band was transforming from hard rockers to superheroes.” GP

“Though true believers yelled ‘Sellout!’ upon its release, Destroyer…sounds positively heartfelt 25 years on.” BL


Review Source(s):


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Last updated March 28, 2011.