Hot in the Shade is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1989. It is the first Kiss studio album since 1981's Music From "The Elder" to feature lead vocals from someone other than Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons, with drummer Eric Carr singing lead on "Little Caesar". It is also the final Kiss album in its entirety to feature Carr before his death in November 1991 during production of the band’s next album Revenge. Unlike its predecessor album, 1987's Crazy Nights, Hot in the Shade does not heavily feature keyboards.
The album includes the highest charting hit of the band's non-makeup era in the US, the power ballad "Forever", which was co-written by Paul Stanley and Michael Bolton.
Composition
Hot in the Shade contains 15 songs, the most of any Kiss studio album, and is one of the band's longest, with a running time of nearly an hour (58:39).
Future band member Tommy Thayer co-wrote two songs: "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away".
Recording
The album was recorded during the summer of 1989 at the Fortress in Hollywood. Aiming for a more stripped-down sound, Simmons and Stanley reportedly decided to record the album there after considering several different studios. To further give the album a more raw feel, along with being able to produce the album with a lower budget, the band elected to use the demos they recorded and polish them up via overdubs instead of re-recording the songs.
"Little Caesar" was Eric Carr's only lead vocal on an original song, although he previously sang lead on a re-recorded version of "Beth" for the compilation album Smashes, Thrashes & Hits.
Artwork and packaging
The album liner notes thanked a dozen Kiss fan-published magazines that helped Kiss fans connect with the band and keep up to date with each member's activities. The liner notes concluded with a warning to fans about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, asking fans to use condoms to reduce the risk of catching and spreading it, adding, "AIDS is no party".
Promotion
Three music videos were made for the promotion of the album.
The first was "Hide Your Heart", a concept video filmed on a rooftop in Los Angeles.
| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal
| rev2Score = 5/10
| rev3 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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|rev4 = Rock Hard
|rev4score = 7.0/10
| rev5 =The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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Hot in the Shade was certified Gold status on December 20, 1989, by the RIAA.
Its most successful single, "Forever", reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts, the band's highest-charting single in the US since "Beth" 13 years earlier.
Despite the top 10 success of "Forever", Hot in the Shade was the first Kiss album since 1982's Creatures of the Night not to be certified Platinum status.
Track listing
Personnel
;Kiss
- Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar, slide guitar on "Rise to It", acoustic guitar on "Forever", brass arrangements on "Cadillac Dreams", producer
- Gene Simmons – vocals, bass; rhythm guitar on "Cadillac Dreams", producer
- Eric Carr – drums, percussion, vocals, bass on "Little Caesar"
- Bruce Kulick – lead guitar, backing vocals, all guitars on "Little Caesar", bass and acoustic guitar solo on "Forever"
;Additional musicians
- Phil Ashley – keyboards on "Hide Your Heart" and "Forever"
- The Sisters of No Mercy (Charlotte Crossley, Valerie Pinkston, Kim Edwards-Brown) – backing vocals on "Silver Spoon"
- Pat Regan – saxes on "Cadillac Dreams"
- All Star Cadillac Brass – end horns on "Cadillac Dreams"
- Kevin Valentine – drums on "King of Hearts" and "You Love Me to Hate You"
- Tommy Thayer – electroacoustic guitar on "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away"
;Production
- Pat Regan – engineer
- Mikey Davis – additional engineering
- Dave Wittman – mixing at the Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles
- Greg Fulginiti – mastering at Artisan Sound Recorders, Hollywood
- Michael Bays – art direction
- Mitchell Kanner – art direction, cover design
- Scott Townsend – cover design
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class = "wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1989–1990)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
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! scope="row"| European Albums (Billboard)
| 84
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| 48
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|-
|-
|-
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Year-end charts
{| class = "wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1990)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 90
|}