KISShistory.net

Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons,
Peter Criss In their first make-up round 1972!!
(watch Paul without his star!)

In the early 1970's, New York City's popular music scene was parallel to that of Liverpool's in the previous decade. Glam rock and glitter rock permeated the rarefield air of the Big Apple's clubs and bars. Bands like the New York Dolls, The Planets, and the Harlots of 42nd Street with their drag-queen images and high heels, were all the rage. And while these groups had the distinction of being New York's bands-of-the-moment, four young men with greater expectations practiced endlessly in a roach- and rat-infested loft on Manhatten's lower east side. Kiss became an favorite for American teenagers in the '70s. Most kids were infatuated with the look of Kiss, not their music. Decked out in outrageously flamboyant costumes and makeup, the band fashioned a captivating stage show featuring dry ice, smoke bombs, elaborate lighting, blood spitting and fire breathing that captured the imaginations of thousands of kids. But Kiss' music shouldn't be dismissed out of hand -- it was a commercially potent mix of anthemic, fist-pounding hard rock driven by sleek hooks and ballads powered by loud guitars, cloying melodies and sweeping strings. It was a sound that laid the groundwork for both arena rock and the pop/metal that dominated rock in the late '80s.
Kiss was the brainchild of Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) and Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar,vocals), former members of the New York-based hard rock band Wicked Lester; the duo brought in drummer Peter Criss through his ad in Rolling Stone and guitarist Ace Frehley responded to an advertisement in The Village Voice. Even at their first Manhattan concert in 1973, the group's approach was quite theatrical; Flipside producer Bill Aucoin offered the band a management deal after the show. Two weeks later, the band was signed to Neil Bogart's fledgling record label Casablanca. Kiss released their self-titled debut in February of 1974; it peaked at number 87 on the U.S. charts. By April of 1975, the group had released three albums and had toured America constantly, building up a sizable fan base.
Culled from those numerous concerts, Alive! (released in the fall of 1975) made the band rock & roll superstars; it climbed into the Top Ten and its accompanying single, "Rock 'N' Roll All Nite" made it to number 12.

Here's a short history!

Here's a picture of me (Ed) at the age of 16 in 1977, Alive II was just released.

Their follow-up, Destroyer, was released in March of 1976 and became the group's first platinum album; it also featured their first Top Ten single, Peter Criss' power ballad "Beth." After this great album they released, Rock And Roll Over. Nothing special but solid as only Kiss could be.
A 1977 Gallup poll named Kiss the most popular band in America. Kiss mania was in full swing they released, Love Gun with its smashin' title track and thousands of pieces of merchandise hit the marketplace. The group had two comic books released by Marvel (with there one blood mixed with ink), they had pinball machines, makeup and masks, board games, and a live-action TV movie, Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park. Also Alive II (a 3 sided live album) saw the light. On the 4rd side Kiss experimented with new songs, also a Dave Clark tune: Any Way You Want It was on it. If you hear that one, the future may be a little different. No more hard hitting rock songs? The group was never seen in public without wearing their make up and their popularity was growing by leaps and bounds; the membership of the Kiss Army, the band's fan club, was now in the six figures. Even such enormous popularity had its limits and the band reached them in 1978, when all four members released solo albums on the same day in October. Simmons' record was the most successful, reaching number 22 on the charts, yet all of them made it into the Top 50. Dynasty, released in 1979 continued their streak of platinum albums, yet it was their last recorded with the original lineup -- Criss left in 1980. The hit-single "I Was Made For Loving You" was in many country's a number one hit. (Even Paul Stanley said at that time; "It was easy to write and made a lot of money").

Most die-hard fans from the first period (including me!!) lost interest in this kind of Kiss music. At that time there were a lot of new younger "fans" so they stayed popular.
Kiss Unmasked, released in the summer of 1980, was recorded with session drummer Anton Fig; Criss' permanent replacement, Eric Carr, joined the band in time for their 1980 world tour. Kiss Unmasked was their first record since Destroyer to fail to go platinum and 1981's Music from the Elder, the first album recorded with Carr, didn't even go gold -- it couldn't even climb past number 75 on the charts. Ace Frehley left the band after its release; he was replaced by Vinnie Vincent in 1982. Vincent's first album with the group, 1982's Creatures of the Night (with Ace still on the record cover!), fared better than Music from the Elder, yet it couldn't make it past number 45 on the charts.

Sensing it was time for a change, Kiss dispensed with their makeup for 1983's Lick It Up. The publicity worked, as the album became their first platinum record in four years. Animalize, released the following year, was just as successful and the group had recaptured its niche. Vincent left after Animalize and was replaced by Mark St. John; St. John was soon taken ill with Reiter's Syndrome and left the band. Bruce Kulick became Kiss' new lead guitarist in 1984. Asylum was the first album they recorded. Also that year they visited Holland, this time in Zwolle with Bon Jovi supporting. Could you believe they even played a Rock 'n' Roll medley... For the rest of the decade, Kiss turned out a series of best-selling albums like: Crazy Nights with the hit-single Crazy Crazy Night, culminating in the early 1990 hit ballad "Forever ", from Hot In The Shade, which was their biggest single since "Beth." Kiss were scheduled to record a new album with their old producer Bob Ezrin in 1990 when Eric Carr became severely ill with cancer; he died in November of 1991 at the age of 41. Kiss replaced him with Eric Singer and recorded Revenge (1992), their first album since 1989; it was a Top Ten hit and went gold. A tribute to Eric was included: Car Jam 1981.

Kiss followed it with the release of Alive III the following year; it performed respectably, but not up to the standards of their two previous live records. In 1996, MTV's Unplugged asked Kiss to get together with Ace and Peter to do some unplugged tunes. It worked and the 2 members at that time: Bruce and Eric were told they had to leave Kiss for at least a year so the original lineup of Kiss -- featuring Simmons, Stanley, Frehley, and Criss -- could reunited to perform an international tour, complete with their notorious makeup and special effects. The Kiss line-up at that time, before the reunion recorded Carnival Of Souls, but the record company did not promote this good album. The tour was one of the most successful of 1996, and in 1998 the group issued Psycho Circus.
It should be with all four members, but Ace and Peter did not play on all tracks. The following 1998 tour started on Halloween Night at the Dodger's Stadium. Never seen before in 3D!

KISS ALBUM-COVERS THROUGH THE YEARS!

With rumors running rampant that the Psycho Circus Tour would be their last, the quartet announced in the spring of 2000 that they would be launching a U.S. farewell tour in the summer, which became one of the year's top concert draws. But on the eve of a Japanese and Australian tour in early 2001, Peter Criss suddenly left the band once again, supposedly discontent with his salary. Taking his place was previous Kiss drummer Eric Singer, who in a controversial move among some longtime fans, donned Criss' cat-man makeup (since Simmons and Stanley own both Frehley and Criss' makeup designs, there was no threat of a lawsuit) as the farewell tour continued. With the band scheduled to call it a day supposedly by late 2001, a mammoth career-encompassing box set was set for later in the year, while the summer saw perhaps the most over-the-top piece of Kiss merchandise yet -- the "Kiss Kasket." The group was relatively quiet through the rest of the year, but 2002 started with the band playing at the Salt Lake - Winter Olympics closing ceremonies (see pictures below).

Kiss performs during the closing ceremony of the XIX Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City,
Sunday, Feb. 24, 2002. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Also Gene Simmons turned in an entertaining and controversial interview on NPR where he criticized the organization and berated host Terry Gross with sexual comments and condescending answers. He was promoting his autobiography at the time, which also caused dissent in the Kiss camp because of the inflammatory remarks made towards Ace Frehley. Frehley was quite angry at the situation, leading to his no-showing of an American Bandstand anniversary show. His place was taken by Tommy Thayer. A new concept was released: Hard hitting rockmusic with an Classical Orchestra performed in Australia, ALIVE IV was released: KISS Symphony, Alive IV 2.28.03 - Your Presence Is Requested. Classic KISS tunes together with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra such as: Detroit Rock City, King of the Night Time World, Love Gun and many more, also a Double DVD was released from this show. After 2003 they departed with Peter Criss and Eric Singer took again his place behind the drumkit. Again a compilation album saw the light: Gold (a 2 disc set with free DVD; KISS eXposed) No farewell in sight so they will be touring again the "Rock The Nation" 2004/2005 World Tour.

After the conclusion of the Rock the Nation Tour, Kiss performed only sporadically for a number of years. The group played two shows in 2005, and another six in 2006. Four of the 2006 shows were July concerts in Japan, including two dates (July 22 and 23) as a headlining act at the 2006 Udo Music Festival.

2006 Tour Dates:
07/18/2006 Nagoya , Japan Rainbow Hall
07/20/2006 Fukuoka , Japan Kokusai Center
07/22/2006 Osaka , Japan Udo Festival
07/23/2006 Tokyo , Japan Udo Festival
07/26/2006 Santa Ynez CA , USA Chumash Casino Resort
07/28/2006 Santa Ynez CA , USA Chumash Casino Resort

Kiss performed four July 2007 concerts, three of which were dubbed the Hit 'N Run Tour. Prior to the final show on July 27, Stanley was hospitalized with an extremely rapid heartbeat. In his absence, Kiss performed in concert as a trio for the first time ever. This was the first Kiss concert Stanley had missed during his then 34-year tenure with the group.
In June 2006, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley attended the opening of the Kiss Coffeehouse in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On October 15, 2006, Simmons, Stanley, and Criss were inaugural inductees into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, along with performers such as Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Louis Armstrong, The Ramones and Tony Bennett.

Stanley released his second solo album, Live to Win, on October 24 2006, and undertook a brief solo tour in support. On October 31 the same year, the group released Kissology Volume One: 1974–1977, the first of ten possible DVD sets featuring complete concert footage, interviews, and never-before-seen clips. As of January 2007, the set is certified quintuple platinum in the United States. A second volume was released on August 14, 2007. It was certified 6X Platinum by the R.I.A.A. on October 24. What seemed to be the final entry, Kissology Volume Three: 1992–2000, was released on December 18, 2007.

In April 2007, tragedy struck Kiss again. Their former guitarist, Mark St. John, died from an apparent cerebral hemorrhage at age 51. After being fired from Kiss in 1984, St. John formed the short-lived glam metal group White Tiger. In 1990 he briefly collaborated with Peter Criss in a band called The Keep, which only performed once and released no recordings. St. John largely dropped out of public view in later years, but did make occasional appearances at Kiss fan conventions.

Mark St. John in the middle!

In 2007, a new comic book series featuring the band was released by the Kiss Comics Group in association with Platinum Studios. Entitled "Kiss 4K: Legends Never Die," the first issue came out in a regular size and a giant 1.5' x 2.5' size, dubbed the Destroyer edition.

2008 saw the band picking up the pace, doing their first proper tour of Europe for nearly a decade. On January 30, 2008, guitarist and vocalist Paul Stanley confirmed that Kiss would launch the Kiss Alive/35 World Tour, playing arena and stadium shows in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. On March 16, 2008, Kiss closed the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit - Melbourne, Australia as well as performing in Brisbane and Sydney as part of this tour. Kiss played at the Rock2Wgtn two-day festival held in Wellington, New Zealand on March 22 and 23rd 2008; a festival which also featured Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Poison, Alice Cooper, Lordi, Sonic Altar and Symphony of Screams with special effects provided by WETA Workshop of Lord of the Rings and King Kong fame.

Throughout the summer of 2008, Kiss headlined festivals as well as their own shows and played to a record audience of about 400 000 people. As part of this tour Kiss headlined the Download Festival in Donington, England, on June 13. Three days later on June 15th they headlined the Arrow Rock Festival in Nijmegen, Netherlands (see pictures below).

On June 28, Kiss headlined the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium. It was the last show in the European leg of the 'Alive 35' tour. Monday, Aug. 4th, Kiss played at Rockin' The Rally at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as part of the tour. South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds proclaimed August 4, 2008, to be "Kiss Rock and Roll Day" in South Dakota. In September 2008, both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley confirmed rumours that the Kiss Alive/35 Tour would continue with a big tour of North America in 2009.

Late 2008 saw the band take another unexpected turn. First they recorded "Jigoku-Retsuden" a limited-edition CD/DVD set, exclusively in Japan. The CD portion of the bundle included 15 re-recorded classic Kiss tracks by the 2008 band line-up (Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer).

Over ten years after their last studio album, and following years of denials about ever wanting to do a new album, Stanley and Simmons changed their minds. In November 2008, Paul Stanley stated to rock photographer Ross Halfin that a new Kiss album is in the works. Stanley himself would be the producer, and the album would have a "real 70's Kiss sound" to it. Later that month, Simmons and Stanley both publicly confirmed the information about a new Kiss album.

Gene Simmons stated on the Kiss official website: "We've also been recording our first New Studio Album in 11 years!. Produced by Paul Stanley. And, having Paul simply decide things, works better. Democracy is highly overrated. Paul is kickin' ass. The material sounds great and Tommy and Eric are in great form.
We have 4 tunes recorded. If you're a fan of our stuff from about 1977, you'll feel right at home. All of us have taken up the songwriting call to arms in the same spirit we once did -- without a care in the world and without outside writers. Nothing to prove to anyone. Just doing what comes naturally. Ignoring fashions, trends and with a personal vow from all of us: no rapping. There are plenty of people out there doing this and they don't need four palefaced guys pretending they're from the hood. Besides, I'm not sure how to correctly pronounce 'wassup.' Tommy is finishing his solo tune. Sounds great, I can tell you. And Eric is going to sing on the album".

Paul Stanley announced on April 7th, 2009 in Chile, Argentina, South America that Kiss would launch the "first ever fan-routed tour" for the North American portion of the tour in which members of their website, the Kiss Army, would vote on the cities that they would like to see Kiss perform. The tour stops will be determined by the number of votes for each city.

In July 2009 Paul Stanley announced a release date of October 6, 2009 for the new album Sonic Boom. It included a CD of new material, re-recorded versions of famous Kiss hits (previously released as Jigoku-Retsuden in 2008) and a live DVD. Here a statement from Paul:

The Wait Is Over
From: KISSonline.com
by Paul Stanley
Posted: October 6, 2009

To All,

Sonic Boom hits the stores today. This IS the album you've been waiting for and hoping for. We are all very proud of it and blown away by the incredible reviews it is getting worldwide. Many people have asked us how we managed to capture the fire and spirit that's in all the songs, in all the playing and in all the singing.

It's what happens when a band loves its fans, loves being together and loves making great rock and roll...

And we do.

Turn it up!

Paul Stanley

Here's a complete CD/DVD tracklisting:

Disc 1: SONIC BOOM

1. "Modern Day Delilah"
2. "Russian Roulette"
3. "Never Enough"
4. "Yes I Know (Nobody's Perfect)"
5. "Stand"
6. "Hot & Cold"
7. "All The Glory"
8. "Danger Us"
9. "I'm an Animal"
10. "When Lightning Strikes"
11. "Say Yeah!"

Produced by PAUL STANLEY
Co-produced by Greg Collins

Listen to samples from all tracks:

Disc 2: KISS KLASSICS (aka: Jigoku-Retsuden)

1. "Deuce"
2. "Detroit Rock City"
3. "Shout It Out Loud"
4. "Hotter Than Hell"
5. "Calling Dr. Love"
6. "Love Gun"
7. "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
8. "Heaven's On Fire"
9. "Lick It Up"
10. "I Love It Loud"
11. "Forever"
12. "Christine Sixteen"
13. "Do You Love Me"
14. "Black Diamond"
15. "Rock And Roll All Nite"

Bonus DVD: KISS Live ( Alive35 World Tour, 5 April 2009 - Buenos Aires, Argentina):

1. "Deuce"
2. "Hotter Than Hell"
3. "C'mon and Love Me"
4. "Watchin' You"
5. "100,000 Years"
6. "Rock & Roll All Nite"

In support of the new album, Kiss appeared live on the Late Show with David Letterman on 6 October 2009 (see clip)

On 25 September 2009, the Kiss Alive/35 North American Tour kicked off at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI both nights were filmed for future DVD release, these were last time kiss ever performed there due to place closing down in 2010. The tour was originally scheduled to conclude on December 6, 2009, at the American Airlines Centre in Dallas, TX however, several additional shows have been added, see the complete North American tour list below:

For the first time there was on November 25th, 2009 a live broadcast on the internet where you could follow the
whole KISS show on the KISS Facebook site with Ustream.
See a big part of this concert from the Staples Center in Los Angeles,CA here: (concert starts in approx. 33 m.)

KISS still ALIVE and kickin' in 2009, and a 2010 Europe tour may happen....

HOT NEWS!!

YES! while updating the site word came out that there will be a "Sonic Boom over Europe" 2010 tour!

Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr

Holland was visited in March 1999. In august Kiss got in the famous Hall of Fame in L.A. (see picture above) After the summer break Paul got a role in an Canadian production of The Phantom Of The Opera.

Another movie saw the light: Detroit Rock City. Featuring new versions of 70's classics by: Everclear, Marilyn Manson & Pantera. Plus the new KISS single, "Nothing Can Keep Me From You" with Paul on vocals. Its a ballad. Also on the album the title track, "Detroit Rock City" and "Shout it Out Loud" and The Donnas play "Strutter".