Kiss

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Kiss

Kiss, popular American touring and album band of the late 1970s, who combined elements of both glitter rock and heavy metal. membership: Paul “Ace” Frehley, lead gtr. (b. Bronx, N.Y., April 27, 1951); Paul Stanley (real name, Paul Stanley Eisen), gtr. (b. Queens, N.Y., Jan. 20, 1952); Gene Simmons (real name, Klein), bs. (b. Haifa, Israel, Aug. 25, 1949); Peter Criss (real name, Crisscoula), drm. (b. N.Y., Dec. 20, 1947). Drummer Eric Carr (b. Brooklyn, N.Y., July 12, 1950; d. N.Y., Nov. 24, 1991) replaced Peter Criss in 1981, and Vinnie Vincent replaced Ace Frehley in 1982, leaving in 1984. Various others came and went through the 1980s.

Established through an extensive media campaign by their record company Casablanca and near-constant touring, Kiss wore garish costuming and makeup, utilized spectacular onstage special effects, and played barely competent, overloud guitar-based music. Universally attacked by critics, Kiss nonetheless endeared themselves to legions of prepubescent fans (much to the chagrin of their parents) with gimmicks such as blood-spitting, fire-breathing, explosions, dry-ice fogs, and rocket-firing guitars in performance.

The group was originally formed by Simmons and Stanley, who had previously worked together in a N.Y.—based rock band in 1970. Through advertisements in rock magazines, they enlisted drummer Criss and guitarist Frehley, while Bill Aucoin, a local TV producer, brought them to the attention of Casablanca Records. Their first three albums, released in 1974-1975, did little to endear them to critics or fans, but the band continued to tour and build an audience. Aucoin is purported to have underwritten their second major tour in 1975 on his American Express card; the gambit apparently paid off, because their first Top 20 hit, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” came later that year. Criss wrote a ballad, “Beth,” that hit for the normally ballsy rockers in 1976. Their fans, now known as the Kiss Army, took to emulating their stage costumery and makeup, and the group’s popularity inspired two successful Marvel Comics publications and an animated TV special. In late 1978 Kiss became the first rock band whose members simultaneously issued solo albums, backed by the largest advertising-promotion budget in music history ($2.5 million). Their last major hit was 1979’s “I Was Made for Loving You”; Criss left the group a year later to pursue a solo career. In 1981 the group, now with drummer Eric Carr, recorded a concept album, The Elder, featuring songs coauthored by Lou Reed, but it was a failure. A return to their usual style on Creatures of the Night failed to reignite their earlier success.

To support a mythology perpetrated by numerous fanzines, Kiss did not appear in public without their full-face greasepaint makeup until 1983, when they reverted to a mundane yet silly and vulgar hard-rock band. Nonetheless, all of their albums since then have gone gold or platinum, and it is said that the group had sold a mind-boggling 70 million albums by the early 1990s. A virtual rock industry unto themselves, Kiss merchandising includes T-shirts, comic books, jewelry, and films. In the mid-1980s second-generation member Vinnie Vincent assembled the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, while Ace Frehley formed Frehley’s Comet. Carr died of cancer in 1991. In 1994 Mercury issued the tribute album Kiss My Ass, with recordings of Kiss songs by Garth Brooks, Lenny Kravitz, and Anthrax, among others.

Discography

kiss:K. (1974); Hotter Than Hell (1974); Dressed to Kill (1975); The Originals (reissue of above three) (1976); Alive! (1975); Destroyer (1976); Rock and Roll Over (1976); Love Gun (1977); Alive II (1977); Double Platinum (1978); Dynasty (1979); Unmasked (1980); Music from “The Elder” (1982); Creatures of the Night (1982); Lick It Up (1983); Animalize (1984); Asylum (1985); Crazy Nights (1987); Smashes, Thrashes and Hits (1988); Hot in the Shade (1989); Revenge (1992); Alive III (1993). tribute album:Kiss My Ass (1994); Kiss My A** (censored version) (1994). gene simmons:Gene Simmons (1978). paul stanley:Paul Stanley (1978). peter criss:Peter Criss (1978); By Myself (1980). ace frehley: Ace Frehley (1978); Trouble Walkin’ (1989). frehley’s comet:Frehley’’s Comet (1987); Live + 1 (1988); Second Sighting (1988). vinnie vincent invasion:Vinnie Vincent Invasion (1986); All Systems Go (1988).