Christine Sixteen

"Christine Sixteen"
Single by Kiss
from the album Love Gun
Released	June 1977 (US)
Format	7"
Recorded	1977 at Record Plant Studios, New York City
Genre	Hard rock
Length	3:14
Label	Casablanca NB-889-AS-RE-1 (US)
Writer(s)	Gene Simmons
Producer(s)	Eddie Kramer, Kiss
Kiss singles chronology
"Calling Dr. Love"/"Take Me" (1976) "Christine Sixteen"/"Shock Me" (1977) "Love Gun"/"Hooligan" (1977)

"Christine Sixteen" is a song by American hard rock band Kiss. It originally appeared on their 1977 album Love Gun. Released as a single in the US in 1977, the song peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year,^[1] and did well in Canada, peaking at number 22.

Written and sung by bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, the song is about an older man with a crush on a 16-year-old girl named Christine. The song's subject and lyrics were controversial and made some hit radio stations reluctant to put it on their playlists, while others (including WABC in the band's home town of New York, and WKBW in Buffalo) only played it after 7 PM as an album cut. The song's title was originated by bandmate Paul Stanley who was planning to write a song under the title, until Simmons beat him to it.^[2] Two different time lengths are printed on the single; one at 3:13, and another at 2:52. Both versions run 3:10. According to interviews in Guitar World magazine, both Eddie and Alex Van Halen played on the original demos.

The song was sampled by Tone Lōc in his 1989 song "Funky Cold Medina". The song was covered by the Gin Blossoms on the 1994 Kiss tribute album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved and by All on Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation. The song was also covered by punk/goth band The Nuns on their 2003 album New York Vampires.

Credited personnel

On Love Gun;

• Gene Simmons – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Ace Frehley – lead guitar
• Paul Stanley – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Peter Criss – drums
• Eddie Kramer – piano

Uncredited personnel

• Gene Simmons – rhythm guitar

On Sonic Boom;

• Gene Simmons – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Tommy Thayer – lead guitar
• Paul Stanley – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Eric Singer – drums

Uncredited personnel

• Brian Whelan – piano

Chart performance

Weekly charts Country (1977) Peak position Australia 99 Canada 22 Germany 46 US Billboard Hot 100[3] 25 US Cash Box Top 100[4] 20

Year-end charts Country (1977) Rank Canada[5] 164 US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[6] 155

References

1. "AllMusic Billboard singles". Retrieved 2009-01-27.
2. Leaf, David and Ken Sharp. KISS: Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography, Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 0-446-53073-5
3. [Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002]
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
5. "Top 200 Singles of '77 – Volume 28, No. 11, December 31 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
6. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.