Watch Kiss Sing ‘White Christmas’
Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like Jewish rock stars singing a Bing Crosby tune on stage to a deafening arena audience – or so the members of Kiss apparently thought when they performed the holiday classic on Dec. 19, 1987 in New Haven, Conn.
During a concert stop in support of the Crazy Nights album, the non-makeup-era lineup of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr gave fans an early Kissmas with an a cappella rendition of the holiday classic. The band members weren't wearing hats or Santa suits, but since it was the mid-'80s, there was certainly plenty of glitter on hand for the festive occasion. And given the band's legendary reputation for womanizing, we're guessing there were plenty of ho ho hos waiting backstage, too.
Though it's hard to hear some parts over the screaming crowd, the special performance not only revealed the band's more sentimental side – in which other songs from that era like "Bang Bang You" and "Good Girl Gone Bad" are notably lacking – it also demonstrated the group's shared Beatle-mania, with a harmony arrangement that resembles a cross between the Fab Four and a barbershop quartet.
Whether the band members knew it or not, New Haven was an appropriate place to sing "White Christmas." The Irving Berlin-penned tune made its public debut in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, which was set at an inn in Connecticut. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the original Bing Crosby rendition is the best-selling single of all time.
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