“That was the one time Kiss succumbed to the critics. We wanted a critical success. And we lost our minds”: This sci-fi concept album was Kiss’s attempt to match The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Instead it became their most epic fail

Kiss posing for a photograph in the early 1980s.

Kiss’ 1981 album Music From “The Elder” ranks as one of rock’s biggest misfires – a failed attempt to match the great concept records of the 60s and 70s. In 2015, bassist Gene Simmons looked back on the album that was supposed to revitalise his band’s fortunes – but had the opposite effect.