Pitchfork

What a difference a producer makes. Bob Ezrin helmed the recording of this 1976 classic and ushered along even more of an art/ hard rock album than Kiss' previous efforts. Destroyer boasts plenty of sound effects, orchestras, and choirs that paved the way for other bands to rip them off for many years to come.

Leading off is the seminal rock anthem "Detroit Rock City" about some idiot who drives head on into a truck. From then on out, it's one classic after another: "King of the Night Time World," "God of Thunder", "Shout It Out Loud," and, of course, "Beth," the song that the girls dug (therefore the guys could dig it) and damn it all if Troy wasn't a lucky sumbitch to be dating a stacked 17- year- old drone named "Beth." He would lie her down on the back seat of the Dodge, pull her panties off with his teeth, and give her father reason to buy a gun. "Who's Troy?" you ask. Good question. Anyhow, Destroyer is easily one of the best albums in the Kiss canon. So there.