Kiss
Kiss (stylized KISS) is an American rock band formed in New York in January 1973 by bassist Gene Simmons, the guitarist Paul Stanley and drummer Peter Criss, later joined by guitarist Ace Frehley. Known for their facial makeup and extravagant costumes, the group became known to the public in the mid-1970s through their performances. live, which included pyrotechnics, flares, cannons, forklift batteries, guitars with smoke and fake blood. If solo albums from 1978 are taken into account, Kiss has achieved thirty RIAA gold records and is the American band that has received the most RIAA gold certifications. The group has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. worldwide and 21 million in the United States alone. Despite never having reached the top position of the Billboard 200, it has placed twenty-six of its works in the top forty positions. Since its formation, its members have assumed personalities to match. with the makeup and costumes they wore, so Simmons assumed the role of "Demon", Stanley that of "Starchild", Criss that of "Catman" and Frehley that of "Space Ace" or "Spaceman".
Their first three studio albums had little impact and it had to be with the release of Alive!, a live album, that the band achieved fame and popularity. featuring Destroyer and Love Gun, increased the group's popularity and achieved several platinum certifications. After each member released a solo album and filmed a movie, the Tensions within the group rose, prompting the departure of Criss and later Frehley's. After the departure of two of its founding members -Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent replaced Criss and Frehley and assumed the personalities of "The Fox" and "The Wizard", respectively- and publishing some albums that did not have the expected number of sales, like Music from "The Elder" and Creatures of the Night, in 1983, Kiss decided to abandon the makeup and orient their musical style towards glam metal. In the 1990s the formation reunited with their respective makeups, although with the arrival of the new millennium, Frehley and Criss left the band again. Simmons and Stanley decided to continue with drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer, who assumed the "Catman" and "Spaceman" personas, respectively.
History
Formation (1972-1973)
Kiss' history began with the formation of Wicked Lester, a New York band led by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, who, with an eclectic mix of musical styles, never achieved any success. The group recorded a single album, which Epic Records would scrap, and did some live performances. Simmons and Stanley felt they needed to take a new musical direction, so they left Wicked Lester in 1972 and began putting together a new group. In 1972, the duo found an ad in Rolling Stone magazine for Peter Criss, a drummer who had played in bands like the Lips and Chelsea, and who after auditioning joined the new version of Wicked Lester. The trio focused on a harder rock style than they had previously performed and inspired by the theatrics of Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls, they also began to experiment with their image and use extravagant makeup and clothing. In November 1972, the trio performed for Epic's Don Ellis, with the intention of getting a record contract, however, he was not satisfied, because he did not like his image or his music and during his departure, the Criss's brother vomited on him.
In early January 1973, the group was completed with the arrival of lead guitarist Ace Frehley, who had impressed the group with his first audition, despite showing up wearing different colored sneakers, one red and one orange. A few weeks after the guitarist's arrival, the quartet adopted the name Kiss. Stanley came up with it when he, Criss, and Simmons were driving to New York, and the drummer mentioned that he had been in a band called Lips, so Stanley said, "What about Kiss? ?». For his part, Frehley created the band's logo, by making the "SS" look like lightning bolts, when he was going to write the group's name over Wicked Lester's on a billboard at a club they were to play at. Because the "SS" bore similarities to the runic symbol used as the insignia of SS militias and its use is illegal in Germany, to avoid controversy, since 1979 most releases and merchandising of the band in the European country have the modified logo, with the S's turned into two upside-down Z's.
Kiss and Hotter Than Hell (1973-1974)
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Kiss' first performance was on January 30, 1973 to an audience of ten at the Popcorn Club in Queens. At the first three concerts, from January 30 to February 1, the band members barely they wore body paint and their signature makeup would be worn for the first time on March 9 and 10 at The Daisy in Amityville, New York. On March 13, the group recorded a five-song demo with producer Eddie Kramer. In mid-October, former television director Bill Aucoin, who had seen several Kiss concerts that summer, became their manager and promised to land a record deal within two weeks, and on November 1, Kiss were the first group signed. by the Casablanca Records label, founded by Neil Bogart. On the other hand, the group had begun recording their first album at Bell Sound studios in New York. On December 31 they made their first performance as a professional band in Brooklyn, as the opening act for Blue Öyster Cult, although at this concert, Simmons accidentally burned his hair after performing his fire-eater number.
Kiss' first tour began on February 5, 1974 in Edmonton, Canada, while their debut album, Kiss, was released two weeks later. release, the quartet performed the songs "Nothin'; to Lose", "Firehouse" and "Black Diamond" in what would be his first television appearance, on the ABC program Dick Clark's In Concert. On April 29, the The group played "Firehouse" on The Mike Douglas Show, where Douglas himself also interviewed Simmons, who described himself as an "incarnation of the Devil". Show contributor Totie Fields commented that it would be fun if behind the make-up the bassist was "just a nice Jewish boy". Simmons neither confirmed nor denied this observation, saying simply, "You won't know", to which Fields replied, "I will, you can't hide that 'hook'", in reference to Simmons's hooked nose. Constant publicity by Casablanca Records, Kiss initially only sold 75,000 copies and both the group and the record company were losing quite a bit of money at high speed promoting the album.
Dressed to Kill and Destroyer (1974-1976)
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While on tour, the band members made a stop in Los Angeles in August 1974 to record their second album, Hotter Than Hell, which was due for release on October 22, 1974. 1974. The only single, "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll", had no impact on the charts, while the album only peaked at number 100 on the Billboard 200 and quickly dropped, forcing the quartet to stop performing live to record new work. Neil Bogart produced the album to trade the dirty, distorted sound of Hotter than Hell for a cleaner, popper one. Dressed to Kill was released on March 19, 1975 and was more commercially well received than Kiss and Hotter Than Hell, and also included the song that would later become his signature song, "Rock and Roll All Nite".
Although their albums weren't hugely successful, the group had a great reputation for their concerts that often incorporated spectacles by the members: Simmons spitting "blood" and/or "fire," guitar Frehley's was fuming, Criss's drums were on a lifting platform, and Stanley's guitar had pyrotechnics. By the end of 1975, Casablanca Records was near bankruptcy and Kiss was at risk of losing their recording contract, for what both parties needed a commercial success in order to survive. They would achieve this success with the release of a live double album, in which the group wanted to express the emotion felt at their concerts. Alive!, published on September 10, 1975, achieved certified gold by the RIAA and included their first top 20 single, a live version of "Rock and Roll All Nite". version of the song to include a guitar solo and replaced the original studio edit as the definitive recording.
The reception of Alive! was not only a breakthrough to fame for Kiss, it saved Casablanca from bankruptcy and after this success, the band teamed up with producer Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked with Alice Cooper. The result was Destroyer, released on March 15, 1976 and which enjoyed a cleaner production than its predecessors, an orchestra, a choir and numerous sound effects. sound, plus the cover art was made by Ken Kelly, who had drawn the comic Conan the Barbarian and who would later work with other rock bands such as Rainbow and Manowar. The album had good initial sales and was certified gold by the RIAA, it quickly began to slide down the charts, and only when the ballad "Beth"—the B-side of the single "Detroit Rock City"—began to catch on in the UK. radio, the album rose again on the Billboard 200. "Beth" peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and its success revived ticket sales for the group's concerts, as well as the sales of the album, which obtained platinum certification at the end of 1976. This song would earn Kiss the People's Choice award in the category of best song and that would be one of the few awards of the industry that would win.
In October 1976, the band appeared on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, where they lip-synced "Detroit Rock City," "Beth," and "King of the Night Time World", in addition, the presenter of the program Paul Lynde interviewed the four members.
Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun (1976-1977)
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Following the popularity achieved with Destroyer, the band released two more successful studio albums in less than a year: Rock and Roll Over, on November 11, 1976 and Love Gun, on June 30, 1977. The latter reached fourth position on the Billboard 200, which was the first top 5 achieved by Kiss, in addition to a second live album, Alive II, was released on October 14, 1977. These three productions received platinum certifications from the RIAA shortly after their release, In addition, between 1976 and 1978, Kiss raked in $17 million from royalties from their songs. In Japan, the ensemble performed five sold-out concerts at Budokan Stadium, breaking The Beatles' previous record of four. In May 1977 Kiss made their first appearance in a comic, in issue #12 of Howard the Duck, published by Marvel and which served as a precedent for Marvel to publish more comics related to the band.
On April 2, 1978, Casablanca released the compilation, Double Platinum, which included remixed versions of their hits, as well as "Strutter '78", a new recording of a theme from their debut album, but performed in a very disco-like style at the request of Neil Nogart. During this period, Kiss merchandising became a major source of income and among Published products included two comics published by Marvel —the first of them with ink mixed with royal blood donated by the quartet—, a pinball machine, action figures, kits makeup, Halloween masks and board games. Meanwhile, the membership of the Kiss Army, the band's fan club, was reaching six figures. Between 1977 and 1979, worldwide sales of Kiss merchandise reached $100 million.
Four Solo Albums (1978)
Kiss had its commercial peak in 1978, as Alive II was their fourth platinum album in just two years and the tour that followed averaged 13,000 people per concert. The group, together with their manager, Bill Aucoin, tried to take Kiss to the next level of popularity and to that end, they developed two novel projects. The first of these was the simultaneous release of four solo albums, which despite since none of them included the work of more than one member of the group, they were marketed as Kiss works. This fact marked the first time that all the members of a rock band released solo albums on the same day. For the four musicians, this implied an opportunity to show their musical tastes and in some cases, to work with other contemporary artists. The works of Stanley and Frehley continued with the style of hard rock practiced by the group, Criss's was full of ballads close to r&b and Simmons's was the most eclectic, since it included songs from hard rock, pop, ballads and a version of the song "When You Wish upon a Star", from the movie Pinocchio. The bassist also had the collaboration of Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Jeff Baxter of the Doobie Brothers, Donna Summer, Helen Reddy, Bob Seger and his girlfriend at the time, Cher.
Casablanca released all four albums on September 18, 1978, and all reached the top 50 of the Billboard 200, although of all of them, Frehley's was the highest. successful, in part thanks to the single "New York Groove", written by Russ Ballard and reaching the top 20. The second project of the year was for the band to appear in a feature film to consolidate their image of superheroes., but although the project had been proposed as a mix between A Hard Day's Night and Star Wars, the final result was far from the expectations expectations. The script underwent several changes and the frustration of the band—particularly Criss and Frehley—increased during filming. The premiere of the film, titled Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, took place on the channel NBC on October 28, 1978 and despite its terrible reviews, it had good audience data. Years later, the members of Kiss expressed their regret at the final product, since in their opinion, the tape ended up representing them as clowns rather than heroes. The artistic failure of the film led to a rift between Kiss and Aucoin.
Dynasty and Unmasked (1979-1980)
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Kiss' first studio album in two years, Dynasty, released on May 22, 1979, was also certified platinum by the RIAA. Was Made for Lovin' You", influenced by disco music, became one of his most successful songs after going gold and reaching the top position on the charts in several countries. Session drummer Anton Fig recorded most of the songs. of the songs, by decision of producer Vini Poncia, who considered that Criss, who had just suffered a car accident, could not play in the required way.
In addition to performing the Dynasty Tour, billed as "the return of Kiss", Aucoin furthered plans for the construction of an amusement park, called Kiss World, but which was ruled out due to its high costs. The tour was much younger than previous concerts, with many small children wearing makeup. After the tour ended in December 1979, tensions between Criss and the other band members were at an all-time high, as his ability with the drums had dwindled noticeably, even slowing down or stopping during some performances. The final concert, on December 16, was also the last for the percussionist, although he remained an official member for the next six months.
Anton Fig played drums on all the songs on their follow-up album, Unmasked, although he was uncredited and Criss was featured on the cover. With a polished, contemporary pop-oriented sound, the album, released on May 20, 1980, was his first non-platinum album since Dressed to Kill. Shortly after its release, Criss made his departure official and his Frehley's last appearance with the group would be in the music video for the single "Shandi." He called him to tell him that they had changed their minds.
The band auditioned dozens of musicians to replace Criss and ultimately selected an unknown drummer named Eric Carr. The new member wore "The Fox" makeup. >—, their presentation took place on the ABC program Kids Are People Too and made their live debut on July 25, 1980, at the Palladium Theater in New York. This was the only concert performed in the United States to promote the album due to the loss of popularity, although the 1980 tour in Oceania would be one of the most successful in their history, with sold out stadiums and positive reception from the press.
Music from "The Elder" and Creatures of the Night (1981-1983)
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For their next album, the band again worked with Bob Ezrin, who had produced Pink Floyd's Destroyer and The Wall. the new album would be a return to the hard rock style that had led them to success, instead, the album released was Music from "The Elder", a conceptual work with medieval horns, string sections, harps and synthesizers.
The album was billed as the soundtrack to a movie that was never made, making it difficult to follow the story line. To make matters worse, after receiving a negative response from their record label, Kiss rearranged the order of the songs in most countries, to emphasize the potential singles "The Oath" and "A World Without Heroes", guaranteeing listeners the impossibility of understanding an already confusing story. After its release, the reaction of the fans was harsh, as The Elder did not achieve a gold record and only reached number 75 on the Billboard 200. The group He only made three appearances in January 1982 for his promotion, two on the television shows Fridays and Solid Gold and a third doing lip-syncing for retransmission via satellite at the San Remo festival, Italy. Ace Frehley did not participate in this last appearance, due to a car accident with Anton Fig, furthermore, the guitarist did not contribute significantly to the album and was only the lead vocalist. on one song, "Dark Light". His guitar tracks were recorded in his home studio in Connecticut and later sent to Ezrin. Another source of frustration for Frehley was that with Criss's departure, to He was often in the minority against the decisions of the other two original members and in June, the guitarist announced his departure to his peers, although it would not be official until the following year. Shortly thereafter, Kiss made drastic changes to their businesses and the principal was definitively cut off his relationship with Bill Aucoin, who had been his manager for nine years. Although Frehley had already made the decision to leave the band, he appeared on the cover of the Killers compilation, although he did not participate in any of them. of the new themes included.
Their tenth studio album, Creatures of the Night, released on October 13, 1982, sold better than Music from "The Elder" and reached position 45 in the United States, but would not be certified gold until 1994. Due to Frehley's absence, Kiss used several guitarists for the recording of the album, including Vincent Cusano. Frehley's last appearance with the band, until the 1996 reunion, was in the video for the song "I Love It Loud", which Cusano had composed precisely, who would join as the new guitarist in December 1982, before he the group began its tenth anniversary tour. The musician wanted to use his birth name but Simmons vetoed this idea, claiming that it sounded "too ethnic", since according to the bassist "it sounded like a fruit seller" and also pointed out that "fairly or unfairly, rock and roll, is about image". Cusano suggested being called Mick Fury, but was also vetoed by his peers and Simmons later suggested that he be called Vinnie Vincent. After accepting his new name, the guitarist lobbied Stanley and Simmons to join as a full member and despite their misgivings about his personality, they eventually accepted him as an official member. Stanley designed a character, “The Ankh Warrior” —in Spanish: El guerrero del ankh—, also known as “The Wizard” —in Spanish: El mago— and a makeup with an ankh, for the new member. The promotional tour of Creatures of the Night was a failure in North America because several performances would be cancelled, however, in Brazil, the quartet performed three concerts before the largest audience in its history, in the Maracaná, Mineirão and Morumbi stadiums; the latter would host her last performance in makeup—until the 1996 reunion.
Lick It Up and Animalize (1983-1984)
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Creatures of the Night was their last album released through Casablanca, as its founder, Neil Bogart, sold it to PolyGram, before succumbing to cancer. Thanks to a clause in their contract With Casablanca, which gave Kiss the option to leave the label if Bogart did too, the band parted company with them and signed a contract with Mercury Records. By then, the problems with Vincent had increased and after finishing the tour promotional album, the band fired him, although shortly after he was hired again, due to the impossibility of finding a new guitarist in such a short time.
Sensing that it was time for a change, the members of Kiss made the decision to abandon their makeup and characteristic clothing, and their first appearance under their new identity was on September 18, 1983, on MTV, which coincided with the premiere of the video for the song "Lick It Up". Cascais, which would be their first performance without makeup, since their formation in early 1973. Lick It Up was their first album to achieve gold status in three years and in 1990 it would also reach gold status. platinum certification. At the end of the tour, in March 1984, Vincent finally left the band and was replaced by Mark St. John. In September, the video for the song "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" earned Kiss's only nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards, in the Best Cinematography category.
With Mark St. John as the new guitarist, Kiss released the album Animalize on September 13, 1984, although the new member did not write any of the songs. by Lick It Up —it went platinum two months after its release— and thanks to the music videos for "Heaven's on Fire" and "Thrills in the Night", broadcast frequently on MTV, it was their best-selling work of the decade. During one of the tour's rehearsals, St. John's hand became paralyzed and doctors diagnosed him with reactive arthritis, for which the band had to fire him in December. His replacement was Bruce Kulick, who had participated as a session musician in Animalize and whose older brother, Bob, had been a guitarist in Alive II and Paul Stanley. .
Asylum and Crazy Nights (1985-1988)
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Bruce Kulick would be the group's fourth lead guitarist in less than three years, although he would manage to stay for twelve, but he never wore any of his trademark makeup. His first performance as an official member was at Cobo Hall., Detroit, recorded for the MTV special Animalize Live and which would be released on VHS format under the title Animalize Live Uncensored. Their next album, Asylum, went on sale on September 16, 1985 and although it had remarkable success, it only reached the RIAA gold record certification.
Crazy Nights, released on September 18, 1987, continued the glam sound of their earlier works, although unlike these it included abundant keyboard tracks. In the United Kingdom, Crazy Nights, was his most successful work, reaching fourth position on the charts, the same position as his first single, "Crazy Crazy Nights", while in the United States United, it peaked at number 18, the best of the decade, and was also certified platinum by the RIAA. The album was followed by a new compilation, Smashes, Thrashes & Hits, released on November 15, 1988, which apart from containing remixes of his classics, included two new songs and a version of "Beth" sung by Eric Carr, which would mean his studio debut as lead vocalist.
Hot in the Shade and Revenge (1989-1993)
Kiss's last album of the 1980s was Hot in the Shade, released on October 17, 1989, which, although it failed to go platinum, included the ballad "Forever". ", co-written by Michael Bolton and which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, its best since "Beth". study since Music From "The Elder" in having three main vocalists, since Eric Carr gave voice to one of the songs, "Little Caesar".
In February 1991, the band decided to work with Bob Ezrin for a third time to produce their first album of the 1990s. Before recording began, in March, doctors discovered that Eric Carr had a tumor in his heart. In April he underwent successful surgery, but later more cysts were found in his lungs. The drummer received chemotherapy and in July he was cured of cancer, however, in September he suffered the first of two brain hemorrhages and finally, on November 24, he died at the age of 41. Despite the still recent loss of his partner, Kiss decided to continue with a new member, Eric Singer, who had participated with groups and artists such as Black Sabbath, Brian May and Alice Cooper.
Kiss released Revenge, which included some tracks composed by ex-guitarist Vinnie Vincent, on May 19, 1992 and peaked at No. Gold record. During their promotional tour, which began in April 1992, the band recorded a new live album, Alive III, released on May 18, 1993. Four days later, Kiss was added to the rock walk of fame.
Reunion, Carnival of Souls and Psycho Circus (1994-2000)
In June 1994 Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved was released, a compilation album with covers by popular musicians, the result of which would be an eclectic mix, including performance funky of "Deuce" (featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica), a ska punk cover of "Detroit Rock City" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and an appreciation country by Garth Brooks from "Hard Luck Woman" with Kiss as backing band. In 1995 the group went on the Worldwide Kiss Convention tour, in which they participated in fan conventions that included exhibitions of old costumes, instruments and other memorabilia, as well as performances by tribute groups and the sale of merchandising > of his entire career. The band appeared at conventions and each played approximately two hours of acoustic set. the quartet on stage to sing the songs "Hard Luck Woman" and "Nothin' to Lose" and that it would be the first time in more than sixteen years that the percussionist performed live with the band. On August 9, 1995, Kiss joined the list of groups that had participated in MTV Unplugged , for which he turned to Criss and Frehley and invited them to participate in the event, in which they performed "Beth", "2 000 Man", "Nothin' to Lose" and "Rock and Roll All Nite". In March 1996, the performance was released on record, under the name Kiss Unplugged. The performance at the Unplugged sparked months of speculation that a reunion of the original line-up was in the works, however, in the weeks following the concert, the band—with Kulick and Singer—returned to the studio for the first time in three years to record the follow-up to Revenge, Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions, which despite finishing its recording in February 1996, would not be released until two years later. Being the last work with Bruce Kulick as an official member, it incorporated the guitarist's only song as lead vocalist, "I Walk Alone".
The Grammys aren't the way they should be, they're all serious people in a suit. Everyone seems tired. No surprises. We're bored of that. We need something different... something new... shocking people... so let's surprise people! —Tupac Shakur |
On February 28, 1996, Tupac Shakur introduced the original Kiss lineup—in classic makeup—to a standing ovation at the 38th Grammy Awards. On April 16, the band performed a conference hosted by Conan O'Brien and broadcast to fifty-eight countries aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) in New York, where he announced his plans for a reunion tour, with the help of his new manager, Doc McGhee. Their first performance after the assembly was a one-hour concert on June 15 in Irvine, California, and two weeks later the Alive/Worldwide Tour kicked off at Tiger Stadium in Detroit to nearly 40,000 spectators. The tour consisted of almost 200 dates in thirteen months, in which the ensemble performed for approximately two and a half million people.
In September 1998, Kiss released Psycho Circus, which despite being billed as the original lineup's first album since Dynasty, Frehley and Criss's contributions were minimal and most of the tracks were recorded by Bruce Kulick, Kevin Valentine and the group's future guitarist, Tommy Thayer. Despite the controversy, the album reached the third position in the United States, its best position until then and the certification Gold from the RIAA, in addition, the title track to the album received the band's only Grammy Award nomination, in the category of Best Hard Rock Performance. On August 11, 1999, the group was included in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and two days later the world premiere of Detroit Rock City took place, a feature film inspired by the quartet and whose plot is about four teenagers desperate to get tickets to a concert in Detroit.
In August, the group worked in collaboration with World Championship Wrestling to produce a wrestler inspired by Gene Simmons' makeup, called The Demon. Kiss played "God of Thunder" live at WCW Monday Nitro, the day of the character's debut, however his career would be short, as the group severed its relationship with WCW, after its CEO, Eric Bischoff, will step down the following month.
The quartet announced in early 2000 that they would go on the Farewell Tour and that it would be the last series of concerts with the original line-up, however, the group had to add dates to the tour, which would continue until April 2001. In 2000, the video game Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child was also released, based on the Kiss: Psycho Circus comics by Todd McFarlane Productions.
After the meeting (2001-2009)
Prior to the start of the Asia/Oceania concerts of the Farewell Tour, on January 31, 2001, Criss left the band once again, reportedly unhappy with his salary, and his position was taken over by former drummer Eric Singer, who took over. role of "Catman." alternative is fine."
In February 2002, the foursome performed at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, marking Frehley's last performance with Kiss until 2018. On March 6, the ensemble performed a private concert in Trelawny, Jamaica and marking the debut of Tommy Thayer, who wore the make-up for "Spaceman". In February 2003, the group, with Peter Criss again on drums, traveled to Australia and recorded Kiss Symphony: Alive IV with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Telstra Dome. Despite the fact that the Farewell Tour had been billed as their last tour, the band reported a series of concerts with Aerosmith in 2003. By For his part, Frehley revealed that his departure was permanent and stated that he believed the Farewell Tour had been the last tour, also did not want to open for Aerosmith.
Simmons and Stanley did not renew Criss's contract, when it expired in March 2004 and the drummer stated on his website: "No one has called me or my lawyer to discuss my future in the band.. As a founding member I find it completely disrespectful, as it is for the fans who have made Kiss one of the biggest bands in the world." In a radio interview with Eddie Trunk, Criss said that Stanley and Simmons wanted to create a new version of the group and thought the drummer was too old to play for two hours. Eric Singer was again in charge of replacing him and during the summer of 2004, the quartet headlined the Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour, with Poison as the opening act, and whose concerts would be filmed for inclusion on the DVD Rock the Nation Live!, posted December 13, 2005. Stanley, who had been experiencing increasing difficulties with his hip, had limited mobility during the tour and had to undergo two surgeries, so after the conclusion of the Rock the Nation Tour, the group did only two concerts in 2005 and six in 2006. In July 2007, during a performance in California, Stanley had to leave the stage due to heart problems and asked his bandmates to continue. the concert as a trio.
On April 5, 2007, former guitarist Mark St. John died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 51. After being fired from Kiss in 1984, St. John was part of the glam band metal White Tiger and in 1990 he collaborated with Peter Criss in a group called The Keep, who only performed one performance and never released any albums.
In 2008, Kiss returned to the grind, performing several concerts and on January 30, Stanley confirmed that the band would embark on the Kiss Alive/35 World Tour, in which they would play stadiums in Europe and Oceania. Throughout the summer of 2008, the group headlined various festivals, playing to an audience of approximately 400,000, and in September, Stanley confirmed that the Alive/35 Tour would continue in America in the summer. of 2009.
Sonic Boom and Monster (2009-2013)
Ten years after the release of his last studio album and after years of denials about recording a new album, Stanley and Simmons changed their minds and in November 2008, the guitarist told professional photographer Ross Halfin that the The band was already working on a new self-produced studio album that he said would sound like "1970s Kiss".
In August 2009, the radio premiere of "Modern Day Delilah" took place, the first song from the album, which made it the group's first single in eleven years, in addition to promoting the album, the band performed at the shows Late Show with David Letterman on October 6 and on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the following day. Sonic Boom debuted at No. two of the Billboard 200, the best position in the group's career and sold 108,000 copies in its first week alone in the United States, although it did not achieve any RIAA certification. In June, their first manager, Bill Aucoin, whom former drummer Peter Criss called "the fifth member of Kiss", died of cancer at the age of 66.
On April 13, 2011, the band began recording the follow-up to Sonic Boom and according to statements by Gene Simmons: "The album will be similar to Sonic Boom. rock songs, no ballads, no keyboards, just rock". a Halloween party, a press conference by the band, performances by other artists, and two concerts by the quartet, one of which would be acoustic. On August 21, Kiss revealed that the title of their new album would be Monster , which according to Simmons would be even heavier than Sonic Boom.
On July 2, 2012, the single "Hell or Hallelujah" was released as a preview of the album and on its first day of release it was the most downloaded rock song on Amazon in the world. United Kingdom. On August 21, the band released Destroyer: (Resurected), a reissue of their 1976 album that included previously unreleased tracks and the first cover designed by Ken Kelly, which nevertheless received the Criss' criticism: "Why play a masterpiece." Two months later Monster was released, reaching number three on the Billboard 200, although like its predecessor, it also failed to be certified by the RIAA.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction (2014-2016)
In October 2013, the band received a nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and after being the top vote-getter in their popular poll, they were chosen by committee members for induction in April 2013. 2014. Although there were initial talks about a possible reunion of the original line-up, Frehley confirmed that neither he nor Criss would play with the group as Simmons and Stanley had decided to perform with Singer and Thayer, however, few days later the group issued a statement stating that no Kiss formation would perform at the ceremony. Finally, on April 10, 2014, the original formation met to accept their entry.
That same year, Simmons, Stanley, and Doc McGhee bought the franchise of an American football team, calling it the Los Angeles Kiss. The team debuted in the Arena Football League that same year, and their performances were accompanied by a televised reality show on AMC titled 4th and Loud, in which you could see Simmons and Stanley managing their team's participation in the league.
On January 28, 2015, Kiss released a single in collaboration with the Japanese group Momoiro Clover Z, titled "Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina", in addition, the song "Samurai Son", also performed with the aforementioned group, it would appear as the opening theme of the Japanese edition of the compilation Best of Kiss 40.
In April 2016, Ace Frehley released the album Origins, Vol. 1, which featured Paul Stanley, marking the first time the two musicians had recorded together in 18 years. Stanley also had to undergo shoulder surgery, so the band had to return to perform some performances as a trio.
Last years (2016-present)
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On September 19, 2018, after performing on the television show America's Got Talent, Kiss announced that they would end their career with the One Last Kiss: End tour. of the Road World Tour and the following month were joined by former guitarists Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick to play some acoustic tracks on the Kiss Kruise cruise ship. The farewell tour began in January 2019 and during its first dates, Stanley received criticism accusing him of playing playback on prerecorded tapes, although he did not deny or confirm such claims. After some concerts had to be canceled due to the guitarist's health problems, in December the band recounted the Yoshiki's collaboration in a couple of concerts in Japan and in a televised performance on the occasion of the end of the year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most dates in 2020 had to be postponed until, in the words of Simmons, "scientists have confirmed that it is safe to continue", although at the end of the year the group held a concert broadcast over the internet from the Atlantis hotel in Dubai.
Half a year after their last performance, Kiss played live at the Tribeca Film Festival for the premiere of the documentary Biography: KISStory, which also went on sale around that time Off The Soundboard: Tokyo 2001, the first in a series of old concert albums.
Musical style
Due to the ambiguity in the distinction between heavy metal and hard rock, Kiss' music has always been classified as one or the other. Even so, the group has also experimented with other styles such as progressive rock (Music from "The Elder"), hair metal (Lick It Up, Animalize, Asylum, Crazy Nights, Hot in the Shade) and the grunge (Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions) Rolling Stone, in its first review, described Kiss as the "American Black Sabbath". At the same time, Bennington Banner of Rock Music magazine wrote: "With its strange limbs, its kawaii style makeup, its black leather suits, its arsenal of fireworks and its powerful music; Kiss represents the most extreme form of rock in 1974".
Influence
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Bands that have influenced Kiss, both musically and aesthetically, include Cream, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Alice Cooper, The Beatles, Slade and the New York Dolls, among others.
Among the groups that have mentioned Kiss as an influence or that have covered some of their songs, there are groups as diverse as Mötley Crüe, Metallica,Sepultura, GG Allin, Armored Saint, Foo Fighters, White Zombie, Iron Maiden, Venom, Rage Against the Machine, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Megadeth, Poison, Entombed, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Skid Row, Anthrax or Bathory. Kiss has also influenced artists from other genres outside hard rock such as country musician Garth Brooks or pop singer Lady Gaga. In the grunge genre, the New York band also had a notable influence and thus Nirvana recorded a version of "Do You Love Me?" in 1989 before rising to fame. For their part, the Melvins not only recorded covers for the group, but also parodied Kiss's 1978 solo albums, releasing a solo EP for each member of the trio. Soundgarden paid tribute with the recording of "Detroit Rock City", released under the name "Sub Pop Rock City" on the Sub Pop 200 compilation, while Dinosaur Jr. covered "Goin' Blind" for the album Kiss My Ass. Kiss's aesthetic also served as an inspiration for later bands to use make-up or masks; among them are Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Gwar, Immortal, Misfits, Lordi or Mercyful Fate; in addition, King Diamond, vocalist of the latter, had to change his makeup because it was similar to that of Simmons.
In addition to the aforementioned Kiss My Ass, several tribute albums have also been released, including A Tribute to the Creatures of the Night with Overkill, Iced Earth, Helloween and Hypocrisy, Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation with Nirvana and Melvins or Gods of Thunder: A Norwegian Tribute to Kiss, an album recorded by Norwegian artists and groups such as Ulver and Espen Lind.
Some of the members of Kiss have also collaborated with other bands as producers of their early releases. Ace Frehley produced the first two demos of W.A.S.P. and Eric Carr was the manager of the female thrash metal band Hari Kari. However, the most prolific would be Gene Simmons, as he was one of the first to bet by Van Halen, although he was unable to secure a contract for them and soon disassociated himself with the project. The bassist also produced the albums The Right to Rock (1985) and The Final Frontier (1986) by Keel, the self-titled debut of German vocalist Doro (1990) and W.O.W. by Wendy O. Williams, which includes contributions from Frehley, Carr and Stanley, and which earned a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Makeup
Gene Simmons
Paul Stanley
Peter Criss and Eric Singer
Ace Frehley and Tommy Thayer
Eric Carr
Vinnie Vincent
Members
Gene Simmons
Voice, low
Paul Stanley
Voice, guitar
Tommy Thayer
Guitar, voice
Eric Singer
Battery, voice
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- Previous members
Timeline
Discography
- Albums of study
Books
Awards and nominations
- People's Choice Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | «Beth» | Favorite song | Winner |
- MTV Video Music Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" | Best cinematography | Nominee |
- MTV Video Music Awards Japan
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina" | Better collaboration | Winner |
- Grammy
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Psycho Circus" | Best hard rock performance | Nominee |
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