A lot of people don’t realise that Kiss had a big advantage as a band. While they are renowned for their make-up and strong use of pyrotechnics, they are often pigeonholed as a stadium rock band and nothing more. However, their face paint and the characters they created on stage meant that the band had complete creative freedom when it came to exploring various sounds and trying different things with their music.

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons admitted in an interview that they decided to paint their faces for their live sets. While many might think this was for marketing reasons, Kiss came forward and said it was because they wanted to look like a unit. They didn’t think many bands actually looked like a band, and they wanted it to be unmistakable that they were making music together.

In the same interview, Gene Simmons also spoke about the advantage it gave them as a band. He admitted that it meant they didn’t need to stick within a specific genre because their identity was protected by how they looked. Whether they dabbled in rock, acoustic, or disco, it was still a Kiss album because it came packaged and parcelled with that iconic Kiss image.

The whole thing came together in their live shows, as each sound that they explored came through during exciting sets of great rock music. This is why their live album, Alive!, is considered one of their greatest pieces of work. Paul Stanley would also agree, as he said he felt like the record was one of the best they ever made.

“We constructed the ultimate Kiss album and the ultimate live album in Kiss Alive!“, he said. “We wanted to immerse you in the audience at a Kiss show – to hear the noise of people around you, for the explosions to be as loud as if you were there.”

So, Kiss was a band that dabbled in multiple genres and who were best experienced during live performances. I wonder if there was another rock band that came before them that could also be described as that? Yes, it won’t surprise you to hear that when it came to putting together the Kiss blueprint, Paul Stanley was significantly inspired by none other than Led Zeppelin.

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hey were not the first rock’n’roll band with a strong visual identity: The Beatles had their mop-tops and dandyish suits. They were not the trailblazers in rock theatre: David Bowie and Alice Cooper went before them. But if there is one band that has understood and exploited the power of image in rock’n’roll, and the importance of putting on a show, it’s Kiss.

With painted faces, outlandish costumes and seven-inch stack-heeled boots, Kiss arrived in the 70s like superheroes straight out of a comic. They had superhero names: rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist Paul Stanley was The Starchild; bassist Gene Simmons, The Demon; lead guitarist Ace Frehley, The Space Ace; drummer Peter Criss, The Catman. What they presented in concert was the greatest show on Earth, with explosions, blood, fire-breathing, a rocket-launching guitar… At a Kiss concert, it was possible to believe a man could fly.

And at the heart of it was a great all-American rock band. While derided by serious music fans (and, of course, critics) as nothing more than a circus act, Kiss didn’t sell 100 million records by fluke. In the band’s vast catalogue are some of the greatest and most influential rock albums of all time.

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KISS certainly went out with a bang. In 2020, the hard rock band known for its wild live shows outdid themselves with a concert so explosive it set two world records in one go. On New Year’s Eve 2020, KISS appeared in Dubai, the Arab Emirates, for what the group billed as “the largest and most bombastic celebration in our and anyone else’s history” (via SiriusXM). The band known for such outrageous behavior as using their own blood for a comic book — just a bit of the messed-up reality of KISS — didn’t disappoint.

The famously face-painted, spandex-and-leather-wearing band formed in New York in 1973 and began its rise to global fame mostly on the strength of epic live performances that included fire-breathing, smoke machines, and fake blood galore. KISS included pyrotechnics in its shows early on and things only got more elaborate as the years progressed. But that night in Dubai, KISS took it to epic levels that earned the band two spots in the Guinness World Records for highest flame projection and most flame projections at a concert launched at once.

KISS isn’t the only rock act to make it into the Guinness World Records. For instance, Van Halen got in for being the highest paid band for a single performance for receiving $1.5 million to play the U.S. Festival back in 1983, but it seems fitting that KISS’s entries are for something so close to its heart. When KISS started out, the band had a stage persona closer to Glam rockers the New York Dolls, but quickly morphed into something no one had seen before.

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The Space Ace also shared details about his modified Les Pauls and guitar solos in his classic 1979 interview

It’s seems everyone has a good Ace Frehley story. Gene Simmons has one about the time Ace auditioned for Kiss, on December 8, 1972, in the space above the former Live Bait Bar on 23rd Street in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.

“And Ace plugs in and starts playing while we’re talking to another guy,” Simmons told Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast last February, “and I walked up to him and said, ‘Buddy, you better sit down before I knock you out. What are you doing? We’re talking.’”

In the end, it was Ace who knocked out Simmons — as well as Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley — when he started the audition in earnest.

“Paul and I looked at each other, ‘Wow!’” Simmons recalled. “You don’t know what you’re looking for, but you certainly know it when you hear it — and see it. And… it just kind of happened.”

Frehley’s account jibes pretty closely with Simmons’. But in his January 1979 interview with Guitar Player, he added recollections that lend additional nuance to the story.

At the time it wasn’t Kiss,” he told the magazine. “It became Kiss after I joined the group. Peter, Paul and Gene had a trio and a record deal, and they advertised in the Village Voice. At the time I was unhappy with the group I was working with, and I just thought I would try out for the audition.

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140 pages of Phantom promo extravaganza, with over 600 promotional items from over 25 countries about the movie. This Illustrated Guide will zap you out of your seat! 

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50 Years ago, KISS debuted in Japan with the release of Dressed to Kill on Victor Music. KISS’s success spread like wildfire.

In March 1977, their first tour shook Japan to its core. KISS played four shows at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan in 1977, five a year later, and came back in 1988, ten years later, for two more Budokan shows, and again in 1995. That was 30 years ago this year.   

KISS at Budokan is a one-of-a kind photo album: 160 pages, featuring KISS photos from the mighty Shinko Music archives as well as other Japanese photo archives –many that have never been published… until NOW! Curated by long-time KISS fan Alain Bellicha, this photo album is the ultimate tribute to “KISS at Budokan”: 1977, 1978, 1988, and 1995. Celebrating the ‘classic’ line-ups of KISS: the originals -of course-, but also the 80’s KISS, with Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick, and the Revenge era with Eric Singer. All four tours celebrated and a brief history of the past five decades — all compiled into 160 pages of Klassik KISS!

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Gene Simmons goes in-depth with Greg Schmitt from syndicated Noize In The Attic – Where Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You. They talk peaches, Bill Aucoin, Vinnie Vincent and more!

On Vinnie:
“Vincent has sued us 14 different times. And lost 14 different times. He had at least one; possibly two lawyers (his lawyers) disbarred. He fired the lawyer and then rehired the lawyer. And I’m afraid in my opinion – Vinnie’s biggest problem has always been is Vinnie is his own worst enemy, he makes horrible life decisions, and to this day, has never signed a contract with KISS.”

On Ace Frehley:
“Ace turned to me and said, ’Naw, I don’t want to be in the band.’ And this is a quote – he said it to me more than once – ‘If I go out on another tour with the band, I’m gonna kill myself’.”

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Sealed Kiss Series 2 Trading Card Box. Box contains 36 packs, 9 cards per pack. Look for randomly inserted foil chase cards. Manufactured by Cornerstone in 1998.

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KISS bassist Gene Simmons addressed the band’s history with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in a recent interview with Kyle Meredith.

Simmons reflected on KISS’s evolution through different lineups. He emphasized the unique opportunities given to former bandmates Frehley and Criss.

“I mean, we toured during the ’90s from about… I’m trying to think of it… When we unmasked, it must have been actually in the ’80s, so we had a few records out, as members tended to change within the band,” Simmons said. “Ace and Peter were in and out of the band three different times, if you can believe that. No other band would give anybody that many chances — nor does life, by the way.”

Simmons shared his perspective on the band’s decision to perform without their iconic makeup:

“So, Ace and Peter, bless ’em, have been in and out of the band three times, and as we got new members, we thought, ‘Well, why don’t we take the makeup off?’ And in retrospect, it didn’t matter. People wanted the makeup and those songs. And you’re always too close to something and you think, ‘Well, these are the rules.’ But you formed a band not to have rules.”

He then recalled a significant moment from their unmasked period:

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When it comes to Kiss memorabilia, John 5 is like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

Hell, even at 54 he is a kid, especially compared to Kiss patriarchs Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and even to his current bandmates in Mötley Crüe.

John 5’s Kiss fandom — stoked while growing up in the near suburbs of Detroit Rock City, in fact — has led him to accumulate a supersized collection of more than 2,500 items from 1973 to ’83, which he’s dubbed the Knights in Satan’s Service Museum of Kiss Memorabilia. He’ll be putting it on public display for the first time ever this month at a space in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, guiding fans through the experience himself.

But there’s a coveted latter-day item that won’t be part of the exhibition that is nevertheless near and dear to John’s heart — what is, by all accounts, the last photo of Simmons in full makeup and costume, taken backstage at New York’s Madison Square Garden following the group’s farewell concert on December 2, 2023.

It was a moment John — who’s co-written and played on songs for Stanley and original Kiss guitar player Ace Frehley — wasn’t sure he’d have, either. The timing of the show came near the end of Crüe’s World Tour, just as John 5, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil were arriving stateside.

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The whole idea behind Kiss in the very beginning was simple: They wanted to be a unit and have complete creative freedom within that unity. While many people will argue that the makeup and pyrotechnics were just good markings, there was a lot more to the band than that.

When Paul Stanley was initially asked why he and the band were so keen on wearing make-up and inhabiting these characters, he said it was because he had grown frustrated with bands’ image, and how it didn’t look like musical outfits were separate entities. “Those ‘60s British groups all looked like real bands. No member of The Beatles could have fit into the Stones. No member of The Who could have been in the Dave Clark Five,” said Stanley, “You had unified images of those bands, and at the same time, there was an emphasis on the individual members.”

Gene Simmons added that their make-up didn’t just mean they looked like a unit, but they also had complete creative freedom. “We also took pride in having the same freedom The Beatles had,” confirmed Simmons, “Their philosophy was, ‘No matter what kind of music we do, it’s still The Beatles’. That’s what was amazing about them… The Beatles were not trapped in that way. They could do music hall, psychedelia – anything – and they did. Yet somehow it always sounded like The Beatles.”

You can certainly hear this creative freedom in their music, as while some of their records, such as Sonic Boom and Animalize, the band leaned heavily into their rock roots; however, they decided to apply disco sounds on their record Dynasty. Despite the changes in sound, the records are fundamentally Kiss, and nobody has ever questioned whether the sound is too left field for the band.

The image of the band brought with it a strange sense of unity. Even when members fell out with one another, it looked as though everything was fine within the band. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons might be arguing, sure, but their characters in the lineup are alive and well, still rocking out to some of the greatest rock music ever made.

The band could only ever work as a unit, which is why Ace Frehley’s solo career didn’t take off in the way that he would have liked. Frehley contributed a great deal to Kiss’s music, as he was a fantastic guitar player; however, it apparently wasn’t enough for the rest of the band, and so he left to pursue his own projects.

This created a very frosty relationship between Frehley and Simmons, as while Frehley said he left because of creative differences, Simmons said that the guitarist was fired because he couldn’t control his substance abuse. Simmons went as far to call Frehley a “cancer,” and the two still have a troubled relationship to this day.

Frehley tried his best to have a successful career outside of the band following his fallout with Simmons, and while he succeeded to some degree, he never achieved the same heights he managed with the band. Despite still wearing his Kiss makeup when performing as a solo artist, there was no getting over the fact that people were more interested in his character as a member of Kiss than they were him as an individual.

That being said, there is no escaping the fact that he wrote some great songs as a solo artist. One of his most famous is ‘New York Groove’, which has succeeded in making its way onto the soundtracks of Hollywood movies and is considered a classic by all those who hear it. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Frehley was capable of writing great songs, he had been doing for Kiss for years, and even though his connection to the band was severed, his connection to his art wasn’t.

Frehley has never put anything other than 100% into his work, which is best reflected in his track ‘Starship’. The song highlights Frehley’s unwavering approach to music, as he will never rush a song. If it doesn’t sound right, it won’t be released, which is why it took him so long to get this track out. He began writing it in the mid-2000s but didn’t end up releasing the track until 2014, as he couldn’t quite figure out how the song should sound. Eventually, the track evolved into something finished, but it took him a while to get the sound perfect.

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