The night Kiss went dancing
When I Was Born For Lovin’ Hitting the airwaves in 1979, you broke heads rather than simply turning them. Kiss, the fire-breathing, blood-spitting, platform-booted incarnation of hard rock excess, was unexpectedly trapped in a disco groove. It felt like betrayal to certain supporters. It was an epiphany for some. One thing is certain at this moment: this was not a sell-out. It was a power move, one of the most clever and slick curveballs in rock history.
Survival instinct gave birth to the song. Disco reigned the charts, and Kiss, despite their stadium-sized achievement, were starting to feel the squeeze. Paul Stanley worked with pop producer Desmond Child and drummer Vini Poncia to create something designed for the dancefloor yet also carrying the Kiss label—bold, brave, bulletproof. The result was a pulse and punch crossbreed with a chorus so sticky it virtually shines in the dark.
Gene Simmons was not initially convinced. He moaned about the beat, the speed, the style. However, his bass and gravel-thick voice to the lyrics gave that yin-yang contrast with Stanley’s falsetto hook. Meanwhile, Ace Frehley snuck a molten guitar solo into the bridge, therefore reminding everyone that this was still a band founded on distortion and swagger. Although there was grit under the gloss, the track’s production leaned into disco refinement.
Kiss delivers a catchy song that is more melodic than previous efforts, incorporating some disco influence and heavy guitars.
(Billboard, 1979)
The bet paid off. Reaching platinum in the United States and topping European charts, I Was Made For Loving You emerged as among the most well-known songs for the band. It took Kiss to clubs, to fresh radio formats, and to a bigger audience who might never have been near a rock performance. More than that, it demonstrated that Kiss had many costume variations; genre wasn’t a cage. They didn’t give rock up. They made it broader.
Looking back, the song now feels more like a declaration of range than it did like a detour. It revealed that Kiss understood melody, drama, and cultural timing underneath the theatrics and greasepaint. Made For Lovin’ You is a glitter-dipped enigma: at once dramatic and authoritative, premeditated and explosive. And like always with Kiss, the actual strength came from the show of boldness to precisely carry out what others claimed they couldn’t.
