Music N' More: KISS

I know I may or may not have already done a post on these guys, but the first time I did a post on these guys, it was because I thought their costumes were cool. This time, I'm a fan; I'm actually reading a book about how the band started. Pretty cool!!

Official site: http://www.kissonline.com/

Kiss

-Known for their live theatrics, such as Gene's fire breathing and spitting of blood, use of pyrotechnics, the black and white face paint and costumes, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, rising/levitating drum kits, and their fan base being known as The KISS Army

History
-The original lineup consisted of Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar, vocals), Gene Simmons (bass, vocals), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals), Peter Criss (drums and vocals)
-Each person's onstage costume was based on something about them. Paul Stanley became the Star Child because of his personality of being a starry eyed lover, a hopeless romantic. Gene, with his cynical attitude and dark sense of humor, became The Demon. Peter Criss became the Cat Man because he thought he had nine lives growing up in Brooklyn. Ace took on the persona of 'Space Ace' or 'Space Man' because of his love of aliens, UFOs and all things sci-fi
-Because of creative directions the band was taking, Criss and Frehley left in 1982.

Early History
-Kiss originally began as Wicked Lester, named after a wicker furniture store the band used the loft above to practice in. Wicked Lester was founded by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley
-In 1972, Simmons came across an ad placed in Rolling Stone Magazine for a veteran drummer for several New York area bands, named Peter Criss. His two previous bands were Lips and Chelsea. When he joined, they started experimenting with the kind of costumes, makeup and theatrics of people like the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper
-In January 1973, Ace Frehley joined up. After a few weeks, the band name was dropped and changed to KISS, inspired by Peter Criss mentioning he was in a band called Lips. So Stanley said "What about something like Kiss?" Ace went about creating the logo, making the "s" look like lightning bolts. This led to them changing the "s" to what fans call the "backwards z". And also, this led people to think that Kiss were Nazis in disguise, even though the two key members are of the Jewish faith: Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley

-On Jan. 30, 1973, their first gig was at the Popcorn Pub, only to be renamed The Coventry later, only to start recording their music at Bell Sound Studios on Oct. 10, 1973
-In 1974, their Hotter Than Hell album was released

-Their first premier into the music world came on Dec. 31, 1973, playing at the Academy of Music
-On Feb. 5, 1974, they went on tour. They performed the songs "Nothin' to Lose" "Firehouse" "Black Diamond"

On March 19, 1975, they released Dressed to Kill, a slightly pop sounding album, with their iconic hit "Rock and Roll All Nite"

-This is when they started incorporating new theatrics to the shows. Gene's spitting of blood and breathing fire, Frehley playing his guitar solo and it bursting into flames, Criss' drum kit that would rise and levitate, and Stanley's Pete Townshend-style guitar smashing

1975-1978

-On March 15, 1976, they released Destroyer, an album most fans of Kiss would start with

-During this period is when Kiss began calling their fans the 'Kiss Army'

1978- Solo Albums
-In 1978, the band, along with their manager Bill Aucoin, decided to take things to the next level. To mount the next assault in the battle of hard rock. Each member would release a solo album simultaneously. Each album reflecting the kind of music they like. It was to show their individual music preferences outside the heavy metal, head banging world of rock. Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley kept theirs close to the hard rock of Kiss, while Peter Criss had a more R&B style, while Gene had gone with a more pop sound, including a touching version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio

1978: Last of the makeup years
-They released Dynasty on May 22, 1979. One of the tracks on this album, a disco-infused "I Was Made For Lovin' You", sung by Paul Stanley, became one of the biggest selling songs

-The crowds coming to their concerts had gotten increasingly younger, and suddenly they were being considered the "kiddie" band
-There was also tension within the band. When they appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, Ace Frehley, who was drunk, kept laughing and joking around, which visibly irritated Paul and Gene, and Criss made references to the fact he collected guns, much to the dismay of Simmons
-Dec. 16, 1979 was the last concert Criss did as drummer for Kiss, although they reunited in 1996
-In June 1980, the band held auditions to find a new drummer, settling on a little known Brooklyn-born drummer named Paul Caravello, soon to be known to everyone as Eric Carr. When he became the drummer, he did not take over Criss' cat makeup, but instead created a new persona, "The Fox".

The next album they were to work on would be a concept album, titled Music from "The Elder". It would include harps, synthesizers, medieval horns. It did not do good

-At this time, tensions between the group and Ace were growing more and more. With the fact that every time it came to a group vote, with Criss not being in the band, and with Carr not being an equal member in the group, he was often outvoted 2-1 by Stanley and Simmons. According to Simmons, he wanted Eddie Van Halen of the highly successful hard rock band Van Halen to join up. But his brother Alex Van Halen told him to not do it. But this was because Eddie was anxious to break up Van Halen after heated tension with lead singer David Lee Roth. Other people who auditioned included Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi and Doug Aldrich of Dio and Whitesnake
-Even though he was not with the band anymore, his face was featured on the 1982 album Creatures of the Night and Killers
-Creatures of the Night ended up being far better than they thought, with the hard rock track "I Love It Loud"

-Frehley's last show with the band was in the video for "I Love It Loud". Right after he left, he was replaced by Vinnie Vincent, who took on the persona the Egyptian Ankh Warrior, due to his lanky frame

Vinnie wanted to his use his birth name, Vincent Cusano, but Simmons thought it sounded "too ethnic", making him sound "like a fruit vendor" according to Simmons

-Vinnie does appear, along with all the other then members of Kiss, without makeup on the front of their Lick It Up album

1983-1996

-They appeared without makeup in public on Sept. 18, 1983, on MTV. By this time, Vinnie left the band and was replaced by Mark St. John. With him there, they began work on their album Animalize, which was released on Sept. 13, 1984

-In 1989, they released another ballad, "Forever" from the Hot in the Shade album. This ballad ended up doing just as well as "Beth"

-In Feb. 1991, tragedy struck. When Eric Carr had gone to the doctor, thinking he was suffering from some kind of flu, but instead it was discovered he had a small tumor on his heart. It was successfully removed in surgery, but then more tumors turned up. After receiving chemotherapy, he was declared cancer free in July. But in September, he suffered two cerebral hemorrhages. He died on Nov. 24, 1991, the same day as Freddie Mercury of Queen, who ended up getting more coverage of his death than Carr, which is an offensive slap in the face

-To replace Carr, the band brought in Eric Singer, who performed in bands like Black Sabbath, Lita Ford and Alice Cooper

On May 19, 1992, they released their Revenge album. This album featured a more hard edged, hard rock sound

1996-2001
-At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, the band got a standing ovation and an intro from rapper Tupac Shakur. The band had appeared, in full makeup and gear
-In Sept. 1998, they released the song "Psycho Circus" and the tour for this even opened on Halloween night at Dodge Stadium in Los Angeles
-On Aug. 11, 1999, there was a Kiss themed movie released, called Detroit Rock City. Which is about four teens willing to do anything to get into a sold out Kiss concert in Detroit in 1978

2001-2008

-After Criss had joined the band again, he up and left once more, on Jan. 31, 2001, on the eve of the Farewell tour. Now, Singer had the duty, which most fans considered almost sacrilege, of putting on the Cat makeup

-On March 6, 2002, Frehley was officially replaced with Black N' Blue guitarist Tommy Thayer, who assumed the Space Man costume and makeup

-During the summer of 2004, Kiss and Poison toured together, on a tour called Rock the Nation. During this tour, Stanley started having trouble with his hip. He had already had two prior hip replacements and will probably have more in the future, due to the way he moves with the platform heels on
-Kiss, along with Queen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest were honored at the VH1 Rock Honors in Vegas on May 25, 2006
-Even though the band was eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1999/2000, they were not inducted until 2009

Members

Gene Simmons