Kiss is an American rock band from New York City that was started in 1973 by Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals), and Peter Criss (vocals, rhythm guitar) (drums, vocals). The group became well-known in the mid-1970s for their face paint and stage outfits. Their live performances in the style of shock rock included fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band has had a few different lineups, with Stanley and Simmons being the only ones who have stayed the same. Stanley, Simmons, Frehley, and Criss were in the band’s first and best-known lineup.
With their make-up and costumes, the band members looked like comic book characters: Stanley was the Starchild, Simmons was the Demon, Frehley was the Spaceman or Space Ace, and the Catman was Frehley (Criss). Criss left the band in 1980, and Frehley left in 1982, because they had different ideas about how to make music. Both would come back, though.
Kiss stopped wearing costumes and make-up on stage in 1983. This was the start of their “unmasked” era, which would last for more than a decade. During this time, the band’s popularity went up again. Their 1983 platinum-certified album Lick It Up introduced them to a new generation of fans, and its music videos were often played on MTV. Eric Carr took over for Criss in 1980. He died of heart cancer in 1991, and Eric Singer took his place. In 1996, the original members of Kiss got back together after a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the mid-1990s. They also brought back their makeup and stage clothes. The result was a very successful reunion tour, which made $143.7 million and was the band’s most successful tour to date. Criss and Frehley have since left the band again, and Singer and Tommy Thayer have taken their places. The band has kept using its original stage makeup. Singer and Thayer, for example, are still dressed as Catman and Spaceman. Kiss announced in September 2018 that the End of the Road World Tour, which began in January 2019 and is set to end in 2023, would be its last tour after 45 years of recording and performing. [1][2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Kiss is thought to be one of the most influential rock bands of all time[7, 8]. They also claim to have sold more than 100 million records around the world, including 21 million RIAA-certified albums[9, 10].
[11] Kiss also has 30 Gold albums, which is more than any other American band. Kiss has 14 Platinum albums, and three of them have won multiple Platinum awards. [8] The original four members of Kiss were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014. Kiss came in at number nine on MTV’s list of the “Greatest Metal Bands of All Time” and number ten on VH1’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.” Loudwire magazine ranked Kiss as the third “Best Metal and Hard Rock Live Band of All Time.” [14]
