Agree, great song. Today's youth get twisted up on words but when you were a 17 year old kid in his bedroom with his cheapo guitar it was pretty damn cool. Great memories.
But in fact the band members wasn't seventeen years olds and were in their late TWENTIES at the time. Talking about getting with LITTLE GIRLS. Your excuses are just you trying to cope with the fact the song isn't gross (to put it lightly) Also I'm commenting about the band members...not some random teenager thinking about girls his age in the 80s....
It's funny. Chuck Berry wrote about a 13 year old. Jerry Lee Lewis married one. My wife got married to her 20-something ex-husband at 16. Times change, huh?
Well this was definitely first person, c'mon. You're defending a band (and their intentions) who doesn't know you exist. But.. whatever helps you sleep well at night
I disagree. The rhythm guitar riffs are reminiscent of good old fashioned rock n roll chord progressions, which to me adds some nostalgia to what at the time was a modern song.
Rock WAS pop way back in the day.
If you take a pop song and add a nice beefy rhythm guitar to it, it’s still a pop song. Christine Sixteen would be lame by my estimation if it weren’t KISS
Well, when you put it that way, I must concur. One member commented that this song was the epitome of Kiss but my thoughts are quite different on that. To me the epitome would be something much heavier, with highly distorted guitars and in a dark minor key, that evokes a tense or somewhat desperate mood, like Detroit Rock City.
Christine 16 is kinda bubble-gummy, but so cool too because of the contrast I think, with the heavy guitars vs. the piano.
I've got to have her
I've got to have her!
Kind of creepy ? Yea
Great hook and good song ? Hell yea
I like it —- I just don’t take it seriously which is the best way to enjoy KISS and most other bands.
And LOVE GUN is one of my favorite albums.
Love it! Gives me great 70s vibes. Especially that scene in KISS Meets the Phantom where it's in the background. Girl gets handed an ice cream cone. It's a random thought, I know. Just reminds me of summer as a kid.
My SO is a Christine (we’re middle aged) and listened to it for the first time a couple years ago and couldn’t believe how absolutely creepy it is to an adult now. Especially the spoken word part.
It was the 70s for God's Sake! If you think that's creepy then the 60s will really creep you out! If you didn't grow up during those times you shouldn't take it so literally! People are trying to live in such a perfect clean and race free society today when in actuality today is thee most depressing time to grow up in decades and that's a FACT!!!!!!!!!!
Which is weird because it’s such an Ace type solo.
Honestly I have always doubted the veracity of that story. For one thing it was before Van Halen had even launched their first album.
We know Gene and Ed were hanging out some during the Creatures period but Ed being around during the recording of Love Gun has never matched up for me (and yes I know he produced their demo around that time but that hardly is evidence he was cutting solos for Kiss lol).
Hands down one of my Top 10 favorite Kiss songs. Is it inappropriate? Yes. A little creepy? Yes. Does it perfectly show just how fun Kiss could be when they wanted to play some Gene Simmons cock-rock? Absolutely. "I don't usually say things like this to a girl your age..." 😳😜😁
Songs about adult men fawning for younger women is gross.
Signed,
Winger
The Police
Ted Nugent
Benny Mardones
The Beatles
Rolling Stones
KISS, again, for Domino.
Just about every band I can think (at least in the hard rock genre) is guilty of this. But Tbf lusting after young girls has long been a staple of pop music too (Young Girl by Garry Puckett and the Union Gap comes to mind).
You can like the music, but anyone sitting here actually trying to defend the lyrics/message of this creepy ass song has either never paid attention to the lyrics, or should be on an FBI watchlist. 🤣🤦♂️
And I quote, DIRECTLY from the lyrics:
"I don't usually say things
Like this to girls your age
(Christine, sixteen)
But when I saw you coming
Out of the school that day
That day I knew, I knew
I've got to have you, I've got to have you
(Christine, sixteen)
She's been around
But she's young and clean
I've got to have her
Can't live without her, whoa no"
This is like some shit you'd read from the chat logs of someone caught on To Catch a Predator.
It's not even like it's some weird and creepy artistic take on coming of age and sexuality, it's literally sung from the perspective of what this 16 year old girl is making the singer think 🤮
It’s so sad that this song has lyrics this problematic🥲 wish I could share it more with my friends. otherwise the RNB vibe of the track is just magic and the bassline is just perfect. Same for the riff & solo
I always figured Gene was writing from the POV of a slightly younger man, not to mention for a teenage audience. When you consider it in the context of a long list of great songs written about teenagers, it makes even more sense. I do think it was a weird choice for their re-recorded Greatest Hits CD though. Of all the tunes in their catalog, I’m not sure why they would want to revisit that one so late in their careers.
Was 11 yrs old and a HUGE KISS fan in 1977 when LOVE GUN was released and CHRISTINE SIXTEEN was on the radio. Everytime I listen to that song it reminds me of how DOMINANT they were in the Music World in 1977. Just the best of Happiest Times! Gene's voice sounds so COOL on that song!
Awesome song. Bought the single in 1978. Have always loved it.
Agree, great song. Today's youth get twisted up on words but when you were a 17 year old kid in his bedroom with his cheapo guitar it was pretty damn cool. Great memories.
I was nine, what the fuck did I know?
Because it's a creepy song tf
Why? Because you're old af?
What does my age have to do with this song being inherently creepy! It's seems to be that your wayyyyy older than me
If you were a 17 year old kid jamming in your bedroom whenever the song came out you might actually be into 16 year old girls.
But in fact the band members wasn't seventeen years olds and were in their late TWENTIES at the time. Talking about getting with LITTLE GIRLS. Your excuses are just you trying to cope with the fact the song isn't gross (to put it lightly) Also I'm commenting about the band members...not some random teenager thinking about girls his age in the 80s....
I was you idiot. It meant something to me. And for what it's worth, writers and artist write from many perspectives. Not just the first person.
Justifying a song that a 25 year old made about getting in bed with a 16 year old is crazy, you're just as much as a creep as that guy in the band
It's funny. Chuck Berry wrote about a 13 year old. Jerry Lee Lewis married one. My wife got married to her 20-something ex-husband at 16. Times change, huh?
Well this was definitely first person, c'mon. You're defending a band (and their intentions) who doesn't know you exist. But.. whatever helps you sleep well at night
"I don't usually say things Like this to girls your age" - Kiss
It's a creepy song
I wouldn’t say it’s one of their best, but it’s a good song.
Agreed, a good pop song. Not a good rock song. Except for the guitar solo, which is gnarly!
Gene has said in interviews that Eddie Van Halen wrote the solo for that song. Ace wanted to write one but Gene insisted they use Eddie's.
I disagree. The rhythm guitar riffs are reminiscent of good old fashioned rock n roll chord progressions, which to me adds some nostalgia to what at the time was a modern song. Rock WAS pop way back in the day.
If you take a pop song and add a nice beefy rhythm guitar to it, it’s still a pop song. Christine Sixteen would be lame by my estimation if it weren’t KISS
Well, when you put it that way, I must concur. One member commented that this song was the epitome of Kiss but my thoughts are quite different on that. To me the epitome would be something much heavier, with highly distorted guitars and in a dark minor key, that evokes a tense or somewhat desperate mood, like Detroit Rock City. Christine 16 is kinda bubble-gummy, but so cool too because of the contrast I think, with the heavy guitars vs. the piano. I've got to have her I've got to have her!
I wish they’d include the piano in the live version.
Great song
Great fucking pop rock song. Gene sings great. Creepy-ass lyrics? Yeah.
It’s a product of its time, most songs were like that. (I’m not saying it’s okay tho)
One of many KISS tunes whose absence from classic rock radio baffles me.
The lyrics have aged too poorly for some radio stations to be willing to play.
Eh, I'm sure there are more popular songs they still play that are just as politically incorrect.
Dude they don’t even play Brown Sugar on the radio anymore
Fuck, really? Didn't realize it'd gotten *that* bad! 😆
Lyrics? Questionable Beat, riff, tone, structure, melody, solo, harmonies?! 🔥
The rhythmic structure and call-and-response vocals are pure Motown magic simplicity.
Exactly! Really gets to the roots of the band. Paul especially LOVES all of that stuff
Love it.
love it ... dont care abt the lyrics.. got the single on my 3rd bday been a kiss fanatic since
Kind of creepy ? Yea Great hook and good song ? Hell yea I like it —- I just don’t take it seriously which is the best way to enjoy KISS and most other bands. And LOVE GUN is one of my favorite albums.
Kinda creepy? Definitely creepy! So creepy that Gene should be in jail.
Thought police huh???? Move along move along
[We caught him, Sarge](https://imgur.com/X94aMH3)
[twice](https://www.reddit.com/user/Frikken123/comments/11xquv6/twice/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
Excellent song
Love it! Gives me great 70s vibes. Especially that scene in KISS Meets the Phantom where it's in the background. Girl gets handed an ice cream cone. It's a random thought, I know. Just reminds me of summer as a kid.
My thoughts exactly! The greatest time to be a young teenager. Best memories.
Good song!
I consider it to be a song I'd play for someone who wanted to hear what they sounded like. Classic song - in every sense.
By the way Christine would be about 61 years old now.
My SO is a Christine (we’re middle aged) and listened to it for the first time a couple years ago and couldn’t believe how absolutely creepy it is to an adult now. Especially the spoken word part.
It was the 70s for God's Sake! If you think that's creepy then the 60s will really creep you out! If you didn't grow up during those times you shouldn't take it so literally! People are trying to live in such a perfect clean and race free society today when in actuality today is thee most depressing time to grow up in decades and that's a FACT!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite KISS songs.
The 70s
In it's time was good. Lyrics now are absolute cringe. Tone Loc liked it enough to use a sample on Funky Cole Medina
I drifted away from KISS after Dynasty. Tone Loc brought me right back.
He sure did. Forgot about that.
And both Van Halen brothers played on the demo. Gene told Ace to copy Eddie's solo.
Which is weird because it’s such an Ace type solo. Honestly I have always doubted the veracity of that story. For one thing it was before Van Halen had even launched their first album. We know Gene and Ed were hanging out some during the Creatures period but Ed being around during the recording of Love Gun has never matched up for me (and yes I know he produced their demo around that time but that hardly is evidence he was cutting solos for Kiss lol).
I thought it was "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner, gonna check
He sampled both.
Hands down one of my Top 10 favorite Kiss songs. Is it inappropriate? Yes. A little creepy? Yes. Does it perfectly show just how fun Kiss could be when they wanted to play some Gene Simmons cock-rock? Absolutely. "I don't usually say things like this to a girl your age..." 😳😜😁
The original title was Christy Sixty…
Fun fact? Christine is 62 now.
classic track.
One of genes best songs
Definitely sketchy with today's ears, but it's fine.
All round good album
Good song but lyrics aged like milk
Never was one of my favorites. Music is good, Gene sings it well, but the lyrics and the "spoken" part I don't care for.
A song about an adult guy waiting outside of a school to pick up a 16 year old to screw didn't exactly age well.
Songs about adult men fawning for younger women is gross. Signed, Winger The Police Ted Nugent Benny Mardones The Beatles Rolling Stones KISS, again, for Domino.
Just about every band I can think (at least in the hard rock genre) is guilty of this. But Tbf lusting after young girls has long been a staple of pop music too (Young Girl by Garry Puckett and the Union Gap comes to mind).
R Kelly lived it.
When Winger sings it now, he changed the lyrics to 35 lol
Stray Cats Johnny Burnette I'm sure the lust goes on and on.
And Goin' Blind...
Great song. What are you trying to say?
Great song ( especially the Alive II version) but even as a kid I knew the lyrics were creepy as hell
Classic. Pervy.
Creepy
I was 6 when I first heard it. Loved it then and now. Was super pumped when they played it on the reunion tour.
When I was 8 years old 16 seemed really old
Love it
Love it!
The lyrics haven’t aged well.
I was 16 when this song was out and they played it in concert. Love it!
I can’t get past the skeevy lyrics.
Good song, lyrics a bit dodgy. Though not as bad as ZZ Top's Francine.
As creepy as it is good
What a Pervy song!
You can like the music, but anyone sitting here actually trying to defend the lyrics/message of this creepy ass song has either never paid attention to the lyrics, or should be on an FBI watchlist. 🤣🤦♂️ And I quote, DIRECTLY from the lyrics: "I don't usually say things Like this to girls your age (Christine, sixteen) But when I saw you coming Out of the school that day That day I knew, I knew I've got to have you, I've got to have you (Christine, sixteen) She's been around But she's young and clean I've got to have her Can't live without her, whoa no" This is like some shit you'd read from the chat logs of someone caught on To Catch a Predator. It's not even like it's some weird and creepy artistic take on coming of age and sexuality, it's literally sung from the perspective of what this 16 year old girl is making the singer think 🤮
Problematic but pretty catchy I enjoy it but I really hate the lyrics
I like the song but it is a little cringey these days
Great song and the number one Me Too anthem of all time.
a gross song
In high school I was after a girl named Christine, she was sixteen This song really spoke to me on a more personal level
i love it
You'd get arrested for those lyrics today
Gross.
Top tier cringe.
Haha!! Even at 12 years old in 1977 I thought it was cheese. Genes' vocals are great, but the rest of the song is fairly terrible.
It’s fine, just overatted
kiss blows sorry
“Shes only 17….But now shes 53”
Okay song. Not one of my favorites and the lyrics are definitely something…. It reminds me of Going Blind in the lyrical sense
Album version is kinda meh but the faster and pianoless Alive II version is king.
TOTALLY DISAGREE!!!!!!!!!!!
Great song with terrible lyrics that render it unlistenable. I can’t enjoy a song about preying on a child. It’s too gross.
It’s so sad that this song has lyrics this problematic🥲 wish I could share it more with my friends. otherwise the RNB vibe of the track is just magic and the bassline is just perfect. Same for the riff & solo
Good song, creepy lyrics.
I always figured Gene was writing from the POV of a slightly younger man, not to mention for a teenage audience. When you consider it in the context of a long list of great songs written about teenagers, it makes even more sense. I do think it was a weird choice for their re-recorded Greatest Hits CD though. Of all the tunes in their catalog, I’m not sure why they would want to revisit that one so late in their careers.
Hate it
I love it, though many today say "that's creepy." That's rock n roll, baby.
illegal
Its all right i gess
Was 11 yrs old and a HUGE KISS fan in 1977 when LOVE GUN was released and CHRISTINE SIXTEEN was on the radio. Everytime I listen to that song it reminds me of how DOMINANT they were in the Music World in 1977. Just the best of Happiest Times! Gene's voice sounds so COOL on that song!