Q. What iconic rock band launched a tour from Memorial Auditorium in 1975?
A. Heading into its show at Memorial Auditorium on Sept. 10, 1975, Kiss was a 2-year-old band that was making a name for itself with its live shows while struggling to sell its studio albums.
But the 1975 Chattanooga show started a stretch that would become a defining period for a band that produced more gold albums than any American group in history and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. The show at the Memorial Auditorium happened the same day the band’s double-live album “Alive!” was released. “Alive!” became Kiss’ first gold record and helped light “the fuse on a rocket that would send them to worldwide fame,” according to the website Classic Rock & Culture.
Of course, the music was only part of the story for Kiss. Band members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were known for their on-stage antics, platform boots, black leather and makeup.
Ah, the makeup!
“You could probably hire the best makeup artists in Hollywood and not come up with anything nearly as cool and sublime as the iconic Kabuki masks these young musicians created for themselves,” the band’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame profile said.
But while Kiss may have been a rising force in music on Sept. 10, 1975, its presence in the Scenic City was of little interest to either the morning Chattanooga Times or evening Chattanooga News-Free Press. Neither paper previewed or reviewed the concert. The only mentions Chattanooga Knows research could find was a small standalone picture with a caption about the coming show in the Aug. 31, 1975, News-Free Press and a display ad about a week later in the same paper.