This record is the first rock and roll record I ever owned. 
It came out in late 1976, and I heard it soon after when a second-grade classmate (TJ Rapaport, where are you?!) brought it in for show-and-tell. Up to that point, I had really only heard The Beatles and a lot of Motown that my Mom loved, and the folk music my Dad preferred, and the ‘70’s AM radio “rock” (David Gates, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Firefall, Eagles – now known as “yacht rock”) that was clearly the road trip compromise in our family. As you can imagine, this record blew my mind.
The first track (“I Want You”) was so different from the easy listening music I heard in my house and in the car – and even at 7, I could tell that the lyrics to “Calling Dr. Love” and “Ladies Room” were racy and sexy and more than just a little inappropriate. It was perfect for a boy with an expanding awareness of the world. And the album even had a soft rock song on it – “Hard Luck Woman” was originally written for Rod Stewart before the band realized that they should record it as a follow up to “Beth” from their previous studio album, Destroyer. I disliked that song for a long time because it called back to the music I was just planning to leave behind at 7 years old, though I’ve come to appreciate it now (because…now I’m old, and its insanely catchy). Oh, and there was the eye-grabbing cover, which played off the amazing kabuki-influenced make-up….
One of the other things I caught on to fairly early was that Kiss firmly modeled themselves after The Beatles, which gave them a sense of familiarity for me. The rhthym guitarist and the bass player were the main songwriters and singers, the lead guitarist started off getting 1 song per album by the Love Gun record, and the drummer occasionally sang a song, though never wrote any. Their early albums were largely filled with songs about boys and girls and love, even if the musical style was significantly different. They were each the most popular band in Japan in their heyday. More than just about any other band, Kiss seemed to (consciously or otherwise) follow a template The Beatles laid out for success, and they were able to achieve significant success of their own.
Though this is far from my favorite Kiss record, I did play this one A LOT until I finally went out and got Love Gun, Alive II, and then worked backwards through Destroyer, Alive, Dressed to Kill, Hotter Than Hell, and the eponymous first album. There’s always a soft place in my heart for the record that finally got me out of the ‘60’s and soft rock.
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