I Was Made For Lovin' You

Paul Stanley, Desmond Child, Vini Poncia

This song was the last track recorded for the album and was brought to the sessions as the band was finishing up work on the album, doing over-dubs and other cleanups on the album, according to Gene. Paul had wanted to write a disco song that stayed reasonably close to the basis of KISS to prove how easy it was to do so. He had been inspired by the atmosphere and vibe of the legendary Studio 54. Paul recalled, "What I realized was that all the songs there had the exact same amount of beats per minute. That way they could cross-fade from one song to another without stopping... I remember thinking that all the songs I was hearing there were about today. They were about now. They were about instant gratification. They were about having a great time and not worrying about the future" (KISS Box Liners). Initially, the song was titled "Tonight."

Gene, on the other hand, was not particularly fond of the song. He recalled, "I'm still not crazy about 'I Was Made for Lovin' You.' But that has nothing to do with it. I recognized that early on. He [Paul] came in one day and said, 'Look, I've got this disco song, and it goes like this.' And he started singing like the Four Seasons, one of my favorite bands, by the way. I thought, 'That doesn't sound like Kiss, but that's precisely why we should record it'" (Rolling Stone).

Contrary to popular belief, Gene Simmons did play bass on the song. As the band's biggest worldwide single, it did not even manage to go top 10 in the US, only reaching #11 with 16 weeks on the charts. However it did become the band's second (and last) Gold single when certified by the RIAA on August 16, 1979. The single reached #1 or 2 on many national charts, and only the English market really rejected the song (it only reached #50 there). Producer Vini Poncia was also featured on the recording on vocals.

In the process of writing the song, Paul had also picked up a new songwriting buddy who would become increasingly important during the 1980s as the band fought to stay viable musically and compete with other bands, Desmond Child. Paul had first worked with him while writing a song for Desmond Child & Rouge called "The Fight" after the two had met in 1978.

Because KISS had already taken the step in writing a disco-tinged rock song, Casablanca gave the piece the full disco treatment and released it in the popular extended disco format. This resulted in the track growing to 7:54. While initially only released on 12" vinyl, the song was included on the Japanese "Chikara" CD compilation of 1988, and later as a B-side on other KISS CD-singles. There is also a rare 1988 Australian 12" reissue on the Mercury/PolyGram label.

Paul justified the disco nature of the song: "I didn't think that doing a full ahead disco beat would be bad if it was a good song. You know some of the early Motown stuff, The Four Tops kind of thing, those were basically the same kind of beat. I think if the music is good it really doesn't matter what kind it is, I think that bad heavy metal music is as bad as bad disco. Bad music is bad music, if it's good that's all that matters" (3XY).