Often regarded as one of the best-selling and influential rock bands, ‘Kiss’ came into existence in 1973. Kiss is an American music group of the rock genre formed in New York City.
Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons formed Kiss after Stanley and Simmons split from a previous band. Although the band went through many changes, Kiss is the most synonymous with these four.
Also, Simmons and Stanley have been consistent members of the band. While all of them added vocally to the group, Stanley played the rhythm guitar, Simmons was the bassist, Criss played the drums, and Frehley was the lead guitarist.
Music Career
While the band played music from the rock sub-genres of hard rock, glam rock, and shock rock, the USP of the band was their stage outfits and their face paint.
These and their stage antics helped the band gain prominence during the late 1970s. Some of the things featured in their live performances were their smoking guitars and levitating drum kits, the pyrotechnics, fire-breathing and blood-spitting, and the shooting rockets.
The four took after comic book characters with their costumes and makeup. Stanley dressed up as the Starchild, Simmons as the Demon, Criss as the Catman, and Frehley dressed up as the Space Ace or the Spaceman.
Their debut album ‘Kiss’ came out in February 1974. Despite being popular and doing ample publicity, the album only managed to sell only 75000 copies.
Their second studio album came out in October 1974. It was titled ‘Hotter Than Hell.’ They followed up by releasing a new album every year.
Criss left the band in 1980, citing creative differences, and Frehley quit in 1982; both returned to the band eventually.
The ‘unmasked’ era for Kiss began in 1983; the band members started performing on the stage without the costumes and makeup. The fans welcomed this change, and their albums started getting commercial success.
Their eleventh studio album, ‘Lick It Up,’ was released in 1983. It was certified platinum.
After Carr’s death following his cancer diagnosis, drummer Eric Carr, who had previously replaced Criss, was replaced by Eric Singer.
The original lineup of artists reunited for a tour in 1996. This 1996 tour was Kiss’s most successful tour ever. The artists even used makeup and costumes for the tour.
Frehley and Criss ultimately quit the band and were replaced by Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. Eric Singer became the new Catman, while Thayer became the new Spaceman.
Kiss announced their final tour, aptly titled ‘End of the Road World Tour,’ in September 2018 from 2019 to 2022.
Accolades
Kiss band has sold over 100 million records globally to date. Kiss has 30 gold-certified albums and 14 platinum-certified albums.
MTV ranked them as the ninth greatest metal band, and VH1 placed them in the tenth position in its list of ‘Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.’
Loudwire magazine ranked Kiss as the third ‘Best Metal and Hard Rock Live Band of All Time.’
The original band members got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014.
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