This episode of Regarding… Music From The Elder takes on Odyssey, the Paul Stanley–sung epic where KISS decides that the best way to build mythology is to state it very solemnly and hope the listener fills in the blanks.Chaz Charles, Greg “Wolfie” Wolf, Scott D. Monroe, and Corey Morissette break down a song that has lyrics, has a singer, and has enormous confidence — yet still leaves everyone asking the same question:Who is Paul Stanley supposed to be right now?
This episode of Regarding… Music From The Elder takes on Odyssey, the Paul Stanley–sung epic where KISS decides that the best way to build mythology is to state it very solemnly and hope the listener fills in the blanks.
Chaz Charles, Greg “Wolfie” Wolf, Scott D. Monroe, and Corey Morissette break down a song that has lyrics, has a singer, and has enormous confidence — yet still leaves everyone asking the same question:
Who is Paul Stanley supposed to be right now?
Is he the voice of the Elders?
A historian?
A prophet?
A tour guide pointing vaguely at a fantasy world just off-camera?
That confusion comes into sharp focus around one of the song’s most baffling images: the child in a sundress. The panel spends time trying to figure out who this child is supposed to be, why we’re meant to care, and how such a specific image can feel emotionally loaded while remaining completely untethered to any character, story, or stakes. Is it innocence? A symbol? A memory? Or just another gesture toward meaning without the work of defining it?
The episode digs deep into the song’s core tension: Odyssey wants to function as narration without committing to a narrator. Paul sings declarative, myth-heavy lines with total conviction, but the lyrics never establish perspective, stakes, or character — creating a song that sounds profound while remaining stubbornly abstract.
The panel unpacks:
- How Paul’s performance sells seriousness even when the lyrics wobble
- Why repetition is doing most of the storytelling heavy lifting
- How the song insists that a grand journey is underway without showing us any of it
- And why this kind of myth-making teeters dangerously close to self-parody
Comparisons are made to 2112, classic fantasy tropes, and Monty Python’s mock-epic moments, where absolute sincerity collides with material that can’t quite support it. The group debates whether “Odyssey” is misunderstood ambition, overreach, or simply a band confusing importance with clarity.
The episode closes — after post-production reordering — with a table read from Scott D. Monroe’s original screenplay, now placed at the end of the show, finally giving “Odyssey” the narrative framework it always seemed to demand… and quietly highlighting how much the song itself leaves unsaid.
This isn’t about vocals.
It’s about authority without definition.
The Regarding…Series — we listen so you don’t have to.
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Three guys who are various stages of Def Leppard fans, and a guy who's just heard the hits (maybe...some of them.) Join the guys over a plate of Buffalo Chicken Wings as they give Def Leppard's 1996 album Slang an honest listen and try to figure out just what the hell "Slang" means anyways. Is it too late for love or can we work it out to find a way to get Slang the love and affection it deserves? Listen as we listen so you don't have to, and discover for yourself. Proudly sponsored by podcastle.ai and fourstringmedia, not by Romney's Everest Kendal Mints or Buffalo Chicken Wings in general. Do you like Def Leppard? We like Def Leppard. Yep.
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