"Hide Your Heart" by Kiss

Song#:  4114

Date:  11/25/1989

Debut:  92

Peak:  66

Weeks:  10

Genre:  Hard Rock

Pop Bits:  Kiss had a bump in popularity with their '87 album Crazy Nights. It would return them to platinum selling status while becoming their highest peaking studio album of the 80s (#18). It got a boost from MTV exposure along with a couple of mid-charting singles including the #65 "Crazy, Crazy Nights." After pushing out a hits compilation, the band would get back into the studio to record their fifteenth studio album Hot in the Shade. This first single would be pushed out and it replicated the results of the singles from Crazy Nights stopping at #66 Pop/#22 Rock. The same week this single debuted on the Pop chart, the album would reach its peak of #29. It would quickly go gold.

ReduxReview:  This wasn't a bad tune, but it certainly wasn't a surefire hit. However, it seems like Child & Co. thought it was and were determined to make it one by farming it off to several artists (see below). Around the same time, Child had a few other tunes that circulated between several artists including "The Best" (Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler) and "Save Up All Your Tears" (Bonnie Tyler, Robin Beck, Cher). Kiss would end up having the most success with this song, but it was nothing to write home about. It peaked appropriately.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) The second single from Hot in the Shade would end up becoming the band's second biggest hit. The power ballad "Forever" was issued out and it became a surprise hit reaching #8 Pop/#17 Rock. It was Kiss' first Top 10 hit since '76's "Beth" (#7) and their first Top 40 entry since '79's "I Was Made for Lovin' You." Oddly, that success didn't really bolster sales of the album. It would not do well enough to reach the platinum mark. "Forever" was co-written by band member Paul Stanley and a newly established star that surprised many folks. Michael Bolton would be Stanley's collaborator on the track. While the pairing may have seemed odd, folks probably forget that Bolton began his career as a rocker with a pair of solo LPs in the late 70s and a couple with his band Blackjack. This was long before Bolton became a superstar crooner. The pairing of the two may have come about via producer/songwriter Desmond Child, who had previously worked with Kiss and had been assisting Bolton on his'89 Soul Provider album.  2) "Hide Your Heart" is one of those rare songs that just happened to get recorded and released by four different artists within the same year; and all of those were actually remakes. The song was originally written by Kiss member Paul Stanley with hitmakers Desmond Child and Holly Knight. It was supposed to be recorded and included on Kiss' '87 album Crazy Nights but was ultimately rejected by the band. Around that time, Child was working on an album with Bonnie Tyler and he got her to record the song. It would be the title track to her '88 album Hide Your Heart. The tune would be issued out as a single, but it would fail to chart in most countries save for Finland (#22). The song would continue to be shopped around and in '89 three artists bought in. Molly Hatchet would record the tune for their album Lightning Strikes Twice, which was released in late summer of '89. The song would not be released as a single. Also picking up the tune was former Kiss member Ace Frehley. He recorded it for his second solo album Trouble Walkin', which was released in October of '89. Then another artist Child was working with at the time, singer Robin Beck, would get a crack at the tune for her second solo album Trouble or Nothin'. That LP would be issued out in November of '89. Then finally coming full circle, Kiss chose to record the song and get it on their Hot in the Shade album. Both the LP and single would be released in mid-November of '89. Their version would be the one to finally make the US Pop chart.

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