Rooted in the campy theatrics of Alice Cooper and the sleazy hard rock of glam rockers the New York Dolls, Kiss became a favorite of 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 — 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. 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." A 1977 Gallup poll named Kiss the most popular band in America. Kiss mania was in full swing and thousands of pieces of merchandise hit the marketplace. The group had two comic books released by Marvel, pinball machines, makeup and masks, board games, and a live-action TV movie, Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park. The group was never seen in public without wearing their makeup 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. 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, their 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, 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 their 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. For the rest of the decade, Kiss turned out a series of best-selling albums, culminating in the early 1990 hit ballad "Forever," which was their biggest single since "Beth." Kiss was 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. 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, the original lineup of Kiss — featuring Simmons, Stanley, Frehley, and Criss — reunited to perform an international tour, complete with their notorious makeup and special effects. The tour was one of the most successful of 1996, and in 1998 the reunited group issued Psycho Circus. While the ensuing tour in support of Psycho Circus was a success, sales of Kiss' reunion album weren't as stellar as anticipated. Reminiscent of the band's late-'70s unfocused period, few tracks on Psycho Circus featured all four members playing together (most tracks were supplemented with session musicians), as the band seemed more interested in flooding the marketplace with merchandise yet again instead of making the music their top priority. 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 a bang as 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 a wig-wearing Tommy Thayer, but no one was fooled and the band looked especially awful while pretending to play their instruments during the pre-recorded track. The appearance was an embarrassment for the group and for their fans, but Simmons was quick to dismiss the performance as another in a long series of money-oriented decisions.

 

CURRENT MEMBERS

Paul Stanley - Guitar/Vocals (The Dudes Of Wrath, Paul Stanley)

Gene Simmons - Bass/Vocals

Tommy Thayer - Guitar/Vocals

Eric Singer - Drums/Vocals (1991-1996, 2001-) (Black Sabbath, Badlands, Alice Cooper, E.S.P., Lita Ford, Stream, Avantasia)

FORMER MEMBERS:

Guitar:

Ace Frehley (1973-1982, 1995-2003) (Ace Frehley, Frehley's Comet)

Vinnie Vincent (1982-1984, 1992) (Warrior, Vinnie Vincent Invasion)

Mark St.John (1984 for a brief period) (White Tiger, Mark St.John Project)

Bruce Kulick (1984-1995) (Blackjack, The Good Rats, Union, E.S.P.)

Drums:

Peter Criss (1972-1980, 1995-2001) (Peter Criss, Chelsea)

Eric Carr (1980-1991) (R.I.P. July 15th, 1950-November 21st, 1991, cancer)

Kiss (1974)

1.Strutter

2.Nothin' To Lose

3.Firehouse

4.Cold Gin

5.Let Me Know

6.Kissin' Time

7.Deuce

8.Love Theme From Kiss

9.100,000 Years

10.Black Diamond

Hotter Than Hell (1974)
1.Got To Choose

2.Parasite

3.Goin' Blind

4.Hotter Than Hell

5.Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll

6.All The Way

7.Watchin' You

8.Mainline

9.Comin' Home

10.Strange Ways

Dressed To Kill (1975)

1.Room Service

2.Two Timer

3.Ladies In Waiting

4.Getaway

5.Rock Bottom

6.C'mon And Love Me

7.Anything For My Baby

8.She

9.Love Her All I Can

10.Rock And Roll All Nite

Alive! (1975)

Disc 1:

1.)Deuce

2.)Strutter

3.)Got To Choose

4.)Hotter Than Hell

5.)Firehouse

6.)Nothin' To Lose

7.)C'mon And Love Me

8.)Parasite

9.)She

Disc 2:

1.)Watchin' You

2.)100,000 Years

3.)Black Diamond

4.)Rock Bottom

5.)Cold Gin

6.)Rock And Roll All Nite

7.)Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll

Destroyer (1976)

1.)Detroit Rock City

2.)King Of The Night Time World

3.)God Of Thunder

4.)Great Expectations

5.)Flaming Youth

6.)Sweet Pain

7.)Shout It Out Loud

8.)Beth

9.)Do You Love Me?

10.)Untitled Outro

Rock And Roll Over (1976)

1.)I Want You

2.)Take Me

3.)Calling Dr. Love

4.)Ladies Room

5.)Baby Driver

6.)Love 'Em And Leave 'Em

7.)Mr. Speed

8.)See You In Your Dreams

9.)Hard Luck Woman

10.)Makin' Love

Love Gun (1977)

1.)I Stole Your Love

2.)Christine Sixteen

3.)Got Love For Sale

4.)Shock Me

5.)Tomorrow And Tonight

6.)Love Gun

7.)Hooligan

8.)Almost Human

9.)Plaster Caster

10.)Then She Kissed Me

Alive II (1977)

Disc 1:

1.)Detroit Rock City

2.)King Of The Night Time World

3.)Ladie's Room

4.)Makin' Love

5.)Love Gun

6.)Calling Dr. Love

7.)Christine Sixteen

8.)Shock Me

9.)Hard Luck Woman

10.)Tomorrow And Tonight

Disc 2:

1.)I Stole Your Love

2.)Beth

3.)God Of Thunder

4.)I Want You

5.)Shout It Out Loud

6.)All-American Man (Studio)

7.)Rockin' In The USA (Studio)

8.)Larger Than Life (Studio)

9.)Rocket Ride (Studio)

10.)Any Way You Want It (Studio)

Ace Frehley (1978)

1.)Rip It Out

2.)Speedin' Back To My Baby

3.)Snowblind

4.)Ozone

5.)What's On Your Mind?

6.)New York Groove

7.)I'm In Need Of Love

8.)Wiped-Out

9.)Fractured Mirror

Gene Simmons (1978)

1.)Radioactive

2.)Burning Up With Fever

3.)See You Tonite

4.)Tunnel Of Love

5.)True Confessions

6.)Living In Sin

7.)Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide

8.)Man Of 1,000 Faces

9.)Mr. Make Believe

10.)See You In Your Dreams

11.)When You Wish Upon A Star

Paul Stanley (1978)

1.)Tonight You Belong To Me

2.)Move On

3.)Ain't Quite Right

4.)Wouldn't You Like To Know Me?

5.)Take Me Away (Together As One)

6.)It's Alright

7.)Hold Me, Touch Me (Think Of Me When We're Apart)

8.)Love In Chains

9.)Goodbye

Peter Criss (1978)

1.)I'm Gonna Love You

2.)You Matter To Me

3.)Tossin' And Turnin'

4.)Don't You Let Me Down

5.)That's The Kind Of Sugar Poppa Likes

6.)Easy Thing

7.)Rock Me, Baby

8.)Kiss The Girl Goodbye

9.)Hooked On Rock 'N' Roll

10.)I Can't Stop The Rain

Double Platinum (1978)

1.)Strutter '78

2.)Do You Love Me?

3.)Hard Luck Woman

4.)Calling Dr. Love

5.)Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll

6.)Love Gun

7.)God Of Thunder

8.)Firehouse

9.)Hotter Than Hell

10.)I Want You

11.)Deuce

12.)100,000 Years

13.)Detroit Rock City

14.)Rock Bottom (Intro)/She

15.)Rock And Roll All Nite

16.)Beth

17.)Makin Love

18.)C'mon And Love Me

19.)Cold Gin

20.)Black Diamond

Dynasty (1979)

1.)I Was Made For Lovin' You

2.)2,000 Man

3.)Sure Know Something

4.)Dirty Livin'

5.)Charisma

6.)Magic Touch

7.)Hard Times

8.)X-Ray Eyes

9.)Save Your Love

Unmasked (1980)

1.)Is That You?

2.)Shandi

3.)Talk To Me

4.)Naked City

5.)What Makes The World Go 'Round

6.)Tomorrow

7.)Two Sides Of The Coin

8.)She's So European

9.)Easy As It Seems

10.)Torpedo Girl

11.)You're All That I Want

Music From The Elder (1981)

1.)Fanfare

2.)Just A Boy

3.)Odyssey

4.)Only You

5.)Under The Rose

6.)Dark Light

7.)A World Without Heroes

8.)The Oath

9.)Mr.Blackwell

10.)Escape From The Island

11.)I

Japenese cover

German cover

Killers (1982)

1.)I'm A Legend Tonight

2.)Down On Your Knees

3.)Cold Gin

4.)Love Gun

5.)Shout It Out Loud

6.)Escape From The Island [Only on Japenese version]

7.)Sure Know Something

8.)Nowhere To Run

9.)Partners In Crime

10.)Detroit Rock City

11.)God Of Thunder

12.)I Was Made For Loving You

13.)Shandi [Only on Japenese version]

14.)Rock And Roll All Nite

Note: I'm A Legend Tonight, Down On Your Knees, Nowhere To Run, and Partners In Crime were written to help regain interest in the band after a few lackluster albums and an extreme decrease in popularity. There's 2 versions in print, a German and a Japenese. The Japenese has 2 extra tracks, and the regular logo, the German version has the altered logo, both are pictured.

Vinnie Vincent cover

Ace Frehley cover

Creatures Of The Night (1982)

1.)Creatures Of The Night

2.)Saint And Sinner

3.)Keep Me Comin'

4.)Rock And Roll Hell

5.)Danger

6.)I Love It Loud

7.)I Still Love You

8.)Killer

9.)War Machine

Note: There's 3 different covers for this album, one featuring Vinnie Vincent's face (the only accurate cover but was only released in Brazil), one with Ace Frehley's, and one with the band without make-up with Bruce Kulick. Neither Kulick or Frehley had anything to do with the album. Two out of the three are pictured. This was Vinnie Vincent's first full-length album with the band, although he only plays on about half of it. There was a promo video done for "I Love It Loud", the video features Ace playing rhythm guitar in the video although Vincent played this song on the album (along with co writing it).

Review: WOW! Kiss really kicks your brain in the balls with this one, after a foray to disco and pop, then the commercial flop (albeit a GREAT album) with the Elder, they return with their heaviest album ever, CREATURES OF THE NIGHT! The first key piece to the sound on this album is none other than the amazing guitarist and songwriter that is Vinnie Vincent. Everything is just huge and LOUD on this drums, guitars, rhythms, everything, and Kiss just keeps cranking them out one after another whether its the smashing closer of WAR MACHINE, the heavy and very soulful ballad of I STILL LOVE YOU, the anthem in I LOVE IT LOUD or the kicking title track, this album rocks from beginning to end. If you only ever own one Kiss album, make this one it.

Lick It Up (1983)

1.)Exciter

2.)Not For The Innocent

3.)Lick It Up

4.)Young And Wasted

5.)Gimme More

6.)All Hell's Breakin' Loose

7.)A Million To One

8.)Fits Like A Glove

9.)Dance All Over Your Face

10.)And On The 8th Day

Animalize (1984)

1.)I've Had Enough (Into The Fire)

2.)Heaven's On Fire

3.)Burn Bitch Burn

4.)Get All You Can Take

5.)Lonely Is The Hunter

6.)Under The Gun

7.)Thrills In The Night

8.)While The City Sleeps

9.)Murder In High Heels

Note: Vinnie Vincent is replaced by Mark St. John on this one. St. John developed Riter's syndrome during the tour and left the band, Kulick took his place. Kiss lost the best guitar player they ever had on this, that being Vinnie Vincent. Makes me wonder what they would've been like had he stayed.

Asylum (1985)

1.)King Of The Mountain

2.)Any Way You Slice It

3.)Who Wants To Be Lonely

4.)Trial By Fire

5.)I'm Alive

6.)Love's A Deadly Weapon

7.)Tears Are Falling

8.)Secretly Cruel

9.)Radar For Love

10.)Uh! All Night

Note: Bruce Kulick's first album with the band.

Crazy Nights (1987)

1.)Crazy Crazy Nights

2.)I'll Fight Hell To Hold You

3.)Bang Bang You

4.)No, No, No

5.)Hell Or High Water

6.)My Way

7.)When Your Walls Come Down

8.)Reason To Live

9.)Good Girl Gone Bad

10.)Turn On The Night

11.)Theif In The Night

Smashes, Thrashes, & Hits (1988)

1.)Let's Put The X In Sex

2.)Rock Hard (You Make Me)

3.)Love Gun

4.)Detroit Rock City

5.)I Love It Loud

6.)Deuce

7.)Lick It Up

8.)Heaven's On Fire

9.)Calling Dr. Love

10.)Strutter

11.)Beth

12.)Tears Are Falling

13.)I Was Made For Lovin' You

14.)Rock And Roll All Night

15.)Shout It Out Loud

Note: Let's Put The X In Sex, and Rock Hard (You Make Me) are exclusive to this album.

Hot In The Shade (1989)

1.)Rise To It

2.)Betrayed

3.)Hide Your Heart

4.)Prisoner Of Love

5.)Read My Body

6.)Love's A Slap In The Face

7.)Forever

8.)Silver Spoon

9.)Cadillac Dreams

10.)King Of Hearts

11.)The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away

12.)You Love Me To Hate You

13.)Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell

14.)Little Caesar

15.)Boomerang

Revenge (1992)

1.)Unholy

2.)Take It Off

3.)Tough Love

4.)Spit

5.)God Gave Rock & Roll To You II

6.)Domino

7.)Heart Of Chrome

8.)Thou Shalt Not

9.)Every Time I Look At You

10.)Paralyzed

11.)I Just Wanna

12.)Carr Jamm 1981

Note: Their first album after Eric Carr's untimely death. Was done as tribute to him. Vinnie Vincent returns to co-write and play on the songs Unholy, Heart Of Chrome, and I Just Wanna. Eric Singer steps in on drums.

Alive III (1993)

1.)Creatures Of The Night

2.)Deuce

3.)I Just Wanna

4.)Unholy

5.)Heaven's On Fire

6.)Watchin' You

7.)Domino

8.)I Was Mad For Lovin' You

9.)I Still Love You

10.)Rock And Roll All Night

11.)Lick It Up

12.)Forever

13.)I Love It Loud

14.)Detroit Rock City

15.)God Gave Rock And Roll To You II

16.)Star Spangled Banner

Unplugged (1996)

1.)Comin' Home

2.)Plaster Caster

3.)Goin' Blind

4.)Do You Love Me

5.)Domino

6.)Sure Know Something

7.)A World Without Heroes

8.)Rock Bottom

9.)See You Tonight

10.)I Still Love You

11.)Every Time I Look At You

12.)2,000 Man

13.)Beth

14.)Nothin' To Lose

15.)Rock And Roll All Nite

Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)

1.)Hate

2.)Rain

3.)Master & Slave

4.)Childhood's End

5.)I Will Be There

6.)Jungle

7.)In My Head

8.)It Never Goes Away

9.)Seduction Of The Innocent

10.)I Confess

11.)In The Mirror

12.)I Walk Alone

Note: This album was actually recorded in 1995, prior to Ace Frehley's and Peter Criss' re-entry into the band.

Psycho Circus (1998)

1.)Psycho Circus

2.)Within

3.)I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll

4.)Into The Void

5.)We Are One

6.)You Wanted The Best

7.)Raise Your Glasses

8.)I Finally Found My Way

9.)Dreamin'

10.)Journey Of 1,000 Years

Note: This features the original line up reunited.

Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (Live 2003)

Disc 1:

1.)Deuce

2.)Strutter

3.)Let Me Go Rock N' Roll

4.)Lick It Up

5.)Calling Dr. Love

6.)Psycho Circus

7.)Beth

8.)Forever

9.)Goin' Blind

10.Sure Know Something

11.)Shandi

Disc 2:

1.)Detroit Rock City

2.)King Of The Night Time World

3.)Do You Love Me

4.)Great Expectations

5.)Shout It Out Loud

6.)God Of Thunder

7.)Love Gun

8.)Black Diamond

9.)Great Expectations

10.)I Was Made For Lovin' You

11.)Rock And Roll All Nite