Andrew Jacobs here,
As I’ve mentioned a few times on the Decibel Geek Facebook page, Destroyer is my least favorite KISS album (yes, it even ranks below Crazy Nights, Asylum and Animalize with me).
While there are, no doubt, some truly excellent KISS klassics on Destroyer (hell, “Detroit Rock City” alone is what pretty much made me a KISS diehard for life), there is also at least one truly lackluster KISS klassic on it as well. And for me, the most lackluster is, dare I say it, the studio version of “God Of Thunder” (I do absolutely love the live version of it on Alive II though). Throw in “Great Expectations”, “Flaming Youth” & “Sweet Pain” (and NO, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s Dick Wagner’s solo or Ace’s solo) as well and that makes almost half of the album pure unadulterated dreck as far as I’m concerned.
Having said all of that though, here are 4 facts about the significance that Destroyer has played in my life:
1. My very first memory of hearing a KISS song was sometime in my second grade class (this would’ve been around ’77) when some kids begged the teacher to let them play a KISS album during playtime. The album in question? Destroyer. Therefore making Destroyer the very first KISS album that I can recall hearing.