For My Sunday Song #139, “God of Thunder” by Kiss is our menacing topic.  The song is off the band’s 1976 classic ‘Destroyer’.  Kiss was flying high at this point and unstoppable.  “God of Thunder” became Gene’s theme song and is the point in the live show that saw Gene spit his blood and perform his bass solo.  It was always awesome.

The song was written by Paul Stanley and he had all intentions of singing it.  Producer, Bob Ezrin thought differently.  He recommended slowing the song down and letting Gene sing the song.  The slow, almost nightmarish beat of the song fit Gene’s personae perfectly.

The song kicks off with a couple children saying…”Okay, ya’ll can start singing”.  Those kids were heard throughout the song screaming and making all kinds of noises during the song.  Those kids were David and Josh Ezrin, the producer’s kids.  There were so many sound effects added to it to give that eerie feeling.  Even Ace’s guitar work was done in a way to add more of a darkness feel to the song.

On the Kiss Box Set you can hear the early demo with Paul singing.  It is more uptempo and not quite what you hear on the ‘Destroyer’ version.  The lyrics have been changed from this version as well to make it fit Gene’s Demon more.  I still think the demo is awesome in its own right, but they were correct in making all the changes.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Sunday.

“God Of Thunder”