Beth

This song dates back to a band called Chelsea, which future Kiss drummer Peter Criss was in with the guitarist Stan Penridge from 1970-1972. Criss and Penridge came up with a song called "Beck," which was about the wife of their guitarist Mike Brand, whose name was Becky. She was constantly interrupting their band practices asking when Mike was coming home, and the song was a joke directed at him. In August 2000, less than a year before Penridge died at age 50, he explained to the KissFAQ: "'Beck' was written, almost word for word, from Mike Brand's responses to his wife's constant calls that interrupted our rehearsals. It got to the point where I wrote down his remarks over a period of three or four days in what I called my 'wizard book.' It was merely a small notebook I carried to jot down silly sayings, sketch in, to save ideas. If you look at the lyrics and view them as a hen-pecked hubby's remarks to his nagging wife you'll see what I mean. Just pause after every sentence and pretend there's a bitch at the other end of the line. You'll catch it - I'm sure. Absolutely not responsible at all. Another poorman's copyright by me in '70." Penridge and Criss recorded a demo of "Beck" but never released the song. In 1976, after Criss joined Kiss, he and Penridge revived the song and with the help of producer Bob Ezrin, they changed the title to "Beth" and made it more sentimental, changing the end of the first verse from: "I know you love complaining, but Beck what can I do?" to "I think I hear them callin', Oh, Beth what can I do?"

A piano ballad not typical of Kiss' sound, this was released as the B-side of "Detroit Rock City," which was the third single from the album, following "Shout It Out Loud" and "Flaming Youth." These three first single releases were hard-driving anthems in the style of Kiss' previous hit "Rock And Roll All Nite," but the song that got the most attention was "Beth." Radio stations began playing the song, and the record company responded by flipping the sides of the single, with "Beth" becoming the A-side about six weeks later. It became the biggest hit for Kiss, and until their 1989 power ballad "Forever," their only song to get significant airplay on Top 40 radio and even - gasp - Adult Contemporary formats.

Stan Penridge co-wrote and played guitar on most of the songs on Peter Criss' 1980 solo album Out of Control. Criss was best man at Stan's wedding (Ace Frehley was also in the bridal party) and they worked together for a few years after Criss left Kiss. In 2000, Penridge filed a lawsuit claiming he was owed money for some of the songs he wrote with Criss that Kiss recorded, including "Baby Driver," "Dirty Living," and "Baby, Don't You let me Down."