Crazy Nights is the fourteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, recorded from March to June 1987 and released on September 21, 1987,[5] by Mercury worldwide and Vertigo in the UK.

This was the second album to feature the line-up of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick, and Eric Carr.

[6] The album is notable for its pop-metal sound as well as for its use of keyboards and synthesizers,[7] a reflection of popular trends in the commercial rock genre of this time.

This makes the album one of the least represented in the bands' entire catalog throughout their career in their setlists, behind only Music From "The Elder" and Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions.

Since the time of recording Asylum, Kiss were also under new management representation with Larry Mazur, a consultant.

But my attitude at that point was that I certainly wasn't going to listen to a guy who's off managing cabaret singers and producing five bands, while I was trying to make an album.

Stanley had worked with Desmond Child, Diane Warren and Adam Mitchell and co-wrote songs: "Crazy Crazy Nights", "I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" and "When Your Walls Come Down" with Mitchell ("I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" and "When Your Walls Come Down" with Kulick), "Bang Bang You", "My Way" and "Reason to Live" with Child ("My Way" with Bruce Turgon also), and "Turn On the Night" was co-written by Stanley and Warren.

Nevison was chosen in part from his recent commercial success in producing platinum albums for Heart and Ozzy Osbourne.

Simmons said for KISStory, "When we started working on Crazy Nights, we looked for someone else to pull the cart, another person to help guide the band...

According to him, "During a photo session, our wardrobe girl had this commando patch lying around with 'Who Dares Wins' on it, and I said, 'Hey, what a great idea for an album title!'

"[9] The idea was dropped in June but managed to appear on some Japanese advertisements for the upcoming album.

In June the album was completed, and it was mixed at Can-Am Recorders by Nevison, before being turned over to PolyGram in July.

In his 2014 biography Face the Music, Stanley claims that Carr had stopped speaking to him during the tour for Crazy Nights.

4 and, to date, is Kiss' joint highest-charting single in the UK along with "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II".

"[16] "Hell or High Water" is a song based on Kulick's idea and riff which he came up with during the Asylum Tour; Simmons wrote the lyrics.

"[17] Stanley was always okay with having power ballads on Kiss albums, which first started with "I Still Love You" on Creatures of the Night.

"[17] A music video, directed by Marty Callner, was made and featured Playboy centerfold, Eloise Broady.

A music video directed by Marty Callner was made in Worcester, Massachusetts on January 27, 1988.

Kulick later stated, "I just felt really bad that Ron Nevison didn't like the song 'cause then it would have been on Crazy Nights.

The song was offered to Canadian rock band Loverboy, and was re-recorded by their lead guitarist Paul Dean on his 1988 album Hard Core.

The song was also recorded by German heavy metal band Bonfire for a Wes Craven movie, Shocker.

The song "Time Traveler" was recorded during these sessions and later released on the 2001 KISS Box Set.

"While their melodies continue to be quarried from stone, their lyrics are written in lipstick," wrote Emily Fraser in a three-star Q review.

"[24] "Not aesthetically wonderful," observed Fred Dellar in Hi-Fi News & Record Review, "but I wish I had shares in it.