Kix

• Genre: Pop Metal
• Hometown: Hagerstown

About

With Ratt's Out of the Cellar opening the door, Kix were part of an early '80s pop/glam metal scene that eventually led to the iron-fisted grip hair bands assumed on MTV and the radio in the later part of the decade. Their third record, Midnight Dynamite, appeared at the right time and featured all the right moves, yet it didn't achieve the massive commercial success albums by peers Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt were enjoying. Some speculated that Kix were simply victims of market saturation, although band members claimed much of their L.A. strip stage act was stolen by Poison. In 1988, the band finally broke the charts when Blow My Fuse produced a No. 11 hit ballad, "Don't Close Your Eyes," a warning against suicide. Their popularity was short-lived, however. Amid legal troubles with Atlantic, their next album, Hot Wire (East West), did not appear until 1991, at the height of the grunge explosion, when glam and hair metal had plummeted out of fashion. Despite bearing forth perhaps the band's best single yet, "Girl Money," the album went nowhere. A live album and last gasp $how Bu$ine$$ followed to no fanfare, and the band called it quits in 1995.

- Mike McGuirk