Hot in the Shade

Hot in the Shade showcases a more straight-ahead sound, following the keyboard-centered pop-metal of Crazy Nights, and even flirts with speed metal on "Boomerang". It 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 "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away".

The album was recorded during the summer of 1989 at the Fortress in Hollywood. Aiming for a more stripped-down sound, Simmons and Carr 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.[6]

"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.[7]

The album liner notes thanked a dozen Kiss fan-published magazines that helped Kiss fans connect with their favorite 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".[8]

Three music videos were made for the promotion of the album.

The first was "Hide Your Heart", a concept video filmed on the rooftop of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, directed by Marty Callner for Cream Cheese Productions.

The second video, "Rise to It", was directed by Mark Rezyka for Mark Freedman Productions and was shot a few days before Thanksgiving in November 1989. In the video, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley appeared in Kiss makeup for the first time since their 1983 unmasking. Although the fictional scene with Simmons and Stanley in makeup was supposedly set in 1975, their costumes were historically inaccurate; Simmons's was from the Unmasked (1980) era, while Stanley's was from Love Gun (1977). Both videos were held to be released in January and April 1990 to MTV.

The final video, "Forever," was also directed by Rezyka for Mark Freedman Productions and shot on December 16, 1989, in a building in downtown Los Angeles. Even though "Rise to It" was shot and edited before "Forever", "Forever" was released as the second music video from the album to take advantage of the radio airplay the ballad was receiving. The "Forever" music video also reached No. 1 on Dial MTV and reached No. 47 on MTV's top 100 videos for 1990.

A long-form video was scheduled to be filmed, which included behind-the-scenes footage shot during soundchecks, rehearsals, and the first show for the tour in Lubbock, Texas. The long-form video was rumored to be titled KISS Exposed Part II and directed by Rezyka. A full concert was scheduled to be filmed of the Long Beach, California show on September 9, 1990, but the video project was cancelled by the record label just a little more than a week before.

Of the 15 tracks on the album, only five were performed live. "Forever" was a pop hit and became a semi-regular part of the live setlist. "Hide Your Heart" was played in 2014 on the Kiss 40th Anniversary World Tour.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
Sputnikmusic	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Vista Records	[12]
Metal Nightfall	[13]

Hot in the Shade was certified Gold on December 20, 1989, by the RIAA[14].

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.[15]

• Hot in the Shade at Discogs (list of releases)