Crazy Nights Album - Reason To Live

Reason To Live

Not only the second single released off “Crazy Nights,” “Reason To Live” was the album’s mandatory power-ballad. Written by Paul and Desmond Child, Paul recalled, “I remember calling up Gene and playing it to him down the phone... I played the song to Gene and obviously the bomb had gone off at the other end. He was speechless” (Kerrang #155). Paul was defensive about the inclusion of such power ballads on KISS albums, a situation which had first started with “I Still Love You” in 1982. He commented: “If a band was to be honest they would tell you that at that time the only hope for airplay was a ballad. Somehow to make it more palatable they got labeled power ballads. A ballad is a ballad” (Box Set Liners). There are some minor similarities with Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is” from the Agent Provocateur album (1984).

Assisted by a Marty Callner directed video, this single reached #33 in the UK, solidifying the overall success of the album in that market. In the US it only reached #66 on the Billboard charts, but did reach #34 on Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock Tracks” charts which tracked the “most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations.” The premise of the video is simple according to Paul: “The video’s about me and a gorgeous woman!” (Scripps Howard News Wire, 1987).