Kiss, ‘Rock And Roll Over’ – Classic Rock Commercials

Television commercials for record releases were the norm back in the 1970s, and Kiss put the medium to good use on the promo clip for the Nov. 11, 1976 release of 'Rock and Roll Over.'

The spot opens up with the album cover art engulfed in flames, and aside from the band's fascination with pyrotechnics, it was a pretty apt metaphor -- the guys were hot off their ‘Spirit of ‘76’ tour and burning up the circuits when they returned to New York to record 'Rock and Roll Over,' their sixth album.

The band decided to bring in Eddie Kramer to produce as they were aiming to return to their fundamental rock n’ roll roots. Kramer served as producer on Kiss’ first demo tape and ‘Kiss Alive,’ and in order to keep up that momentum, 'Rock and Roll Over' was recorded in a live concert hall, sans an audience.

Always masters of the tease, Kiss perfectly edited down five songs -- ‘I Want You,’ ‘Calling Dr. Love,’ ‘Baby Driver,’ ‘Take Me’ and ‘Hard Luck Woman’ -- into a 32-second advertisement that probably pushed parents into handing out allowances early just to get their kids to shut up about the new disc already.

With songs and live concert footage spliced togther, the end result was a commercial that at an absolute minimum drove the masses out to buy ‘Hard Luck Woman,’ the acoustic guitar single that eventually peaked at number 11 on the charts.

As for the overall effect of the ad, it's hard to argue with results: 'Rock and Roll Over' was the first Kiss record to sell a million copies and ship Platinum.

Watch the Kiss 'Rock And Roll Over' Commercial

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