Smashes, Thrashes & Hits

About Smashes, Thrashes & Hits

Smashes, Thrashes & Hits is a compilation album by the American hard rock band Kiss. It was the fourth hits album overall but the second album released by the band in the United States (Killers and Chikara were not released there originally). Of the 15 songs on the album, two were new compositions, and three were released after the band's unmasking in 1983. The remaining 10 were all released during the band's years in make-up. The two new songs on Smashes, Thrashes & Hits were "Let's Put the X in Sex" and "(You Make Me) Rock Hard," which featured a similar polished production style as 1987's Crazy Nights. They were both produced and co-written by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, and were accompanied by videos that received moderate airplay on MTV. Unusual for Kiss videos, Paul Stanley never plays a guitar in either video for the new songs. Nearly all of the songs recorded by the band's original lineup were altered in one way or another. "Beth" was re-recorded with lead vocals by drummer Eric Carr, who had replaced the original drummer Peter Criss in 1980. It was Carr's first lead vocal on a Kiss album. The cover was designed and art directed by Mitchell Kanner more »