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Casablanca

‘Calling Doctor Love’ – Kiss

By Music News May 8, 2022 | 7:00 PM

Writer: Gene Simmons

Producer: Eddie Kramer

Recorded: Summer 1976 with the Record Plant Mobile studio at the Nanuet Star Theatre in Nanuet, N.Y.

Released: November 1976

Players: Gene Simmons — vocals, bass
Paul Stanley — guitar, vocals
Ace Frehley — guitar, vocals
Peter Criss — drums, vocals
Album: Rock And Roll Over (Casablanca, 1976)

The lead single from Kiss's Rock And Roll Over album, “Calling Doctor Love” peaked at Number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Gene Simmons began writing the song as a demo called “Bad, Bad Loving;” “Calling Doctor Love” retains the verse, chord, lyric and melody of the original but changes the verse.

Simmons says the song's theme was inspired by an episode of the Three Stooges. “It was the passage where they Three Stooges had snuck into a hospital, donned surgical equipment and made believe they were doctors. And they kept running back and forth from room to room with a public announcement system saying 'Calling Doctor Howard, Calling Doctor Fine, Calling Doctor Howard'. And then I thought of rewriting the chorus idea into 'Calling Doctor Love,' who has a peculiar way of injecting patients.”

Kiss's sixth album, Rock And Roll Over album reached Number 11 on the Billboard Top 200 and was certified platinum.