History Music / KISS

* RatedMForManly: ...Besides the informed ballads.

In his autobioraphy, Gene Simmons claimed that the album's budget was too low to afford overdubs, as the band was in poor shape financially and Casablanca Records was in dire straits because their ''Series/TheTonightShow'' compilation ''Here's Johnny'' had flopped; Peter Criss (in ''his'' autobiography) claimed that his drums were the only thing remaining from the original live recordings; Paul Stanley said on the ''[[Wrestling/ChrisJericho Talk Is Jericho]]'' podcast that overdubs were only used to correct live mistakes and sound levels; and producer Eddie Kramer has agreed with Criss ''and'' Stanley's stories at different points.

** ''Revenge'' includes not just a heavier sound, but also ''God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II'', a PowerBallad that doubles as a tribute for Eric Carr.

KISS is an American heavy metal rock band, formed in [[TheSeventies 1973]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. It is well known for the face paint and complex costumes worn by the band-members, and its [[GreatBallsOfFire theatrical concerts]], which involve, among other things, fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and [[ImpressivePyrotechnics lots of pyrotechnics]]. The [[FaceOfTheBand most well-known members]] are front-man Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar; his stage persona is "Starchild", due to being a "starry-eyed lover" and "hopeless romantic", a little ironic as he's now HappilyMarried) and of course Gene Simmons (bass; the "Demon", cynical and fan of dark elements, and also known for [[OverlyLongTongue his enormous tongue]]). The two other founding members are the guitarist Ace Frehley (the "Spaceman", a reflection of his fondness for science fiction and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} supposedly being from another planet]]) and drummer Peter Criss (the "Catman", in accordance with the belief that [[CatsHaveNineLives he had nine lives]] because of his rough childhood in Brooklyn.), whose make-ups are still worn by their current replacements, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer (respectively).

* FunWithAcronyms: Subverted. KISS is often spelled in all-caps, and has been rumoured to be an acronym (which it isn't), with meanings such as "Knights In Satan's Service" or "Kids In your Sister's Skirt", but has been shown to be false.

** Apparently their breakthrough album ''Alive!'' had guitar overdubs, sound-check songs with the audience added in the studio, and other less-than-live shenanigans (over and above the normal studio mixing and whatnot), to compensate for the quality issues of the original live recording. In his autobiography, Simmons denied this was the case, stating that at that point the band was in a bad financial situation, and their label Casablanca Records was also in dire straits after their double album of Johnny Carson monologues, leaving them with a meagre budget for the album. However, Criss (in his autobiography) and producer Eddie Kramer both claim that the only thing remaining from the original live recordings is Criss' drums, though Kramer at a much earlier period mostly agreed with Simmons that only few overdubs to correct the most obvious mistakes were applied. Paul Stanley has come down the middle. On a ''[[Wrestling/ChrisJericho Talk Is Jericho]]'' podcast he said that overdubs were used to fine-tune the songs (fixing slight note errors or evening out the sound), but what is on the album is still essentially the live performance.
** ''Dynasty'' credits Peter Criss with drums and vocals. In reality, he only played drums on his song, "Dirty Livin'", the rest of the songs being recorded by studio drummer Anton Fig.
** ''Unmasked'' credits Criss, once again, with drums, percussion, and vocals, while also featuring him on the album's cover and appearing on the album's single "Shandi" video. In reality, he wasn't involved ''at all'' with the recording of the album, with Fig (for a second, uncredited time) taking his place on the recording, while Eric Carr replaced Criss on the album's tour and eventually as a band member.
** Similarly, ''Creatures of the Night'' credits Ace Frehley with lead guitars while also featuring him on the album's cover and appearing on the album's single "I Love It Loud" video. In reality, he's ''completely absent'', Bob Kulick, Steve Ferris and Vinnie Vincent played lead guitars on the recording, the latter taking his place on the album's tour and eventually as a band member.
** ''Psycho Circus'' was widely announced as the first studio album in over a decade by the band's original line-up. In reality, only one of the album's songs, "Into the Void", was recorded with all 4 band members, this song being also the only one where Criss actually played drums. Ace Frehley only played lead guitars on three songs and vocals on three other songs. The rest of the songs were recorded with studio musicians Kevin Valentine (drums) and Tommy Thayer (lead guitar; he later picked up the "Spaceman" make-up).

* DyeHard: Eric Singer is a natural blonde. When he originally joined during the ''Revenge'' era, Gene and Paul had serious meetings about the first "blonde" member of KISS before they realized that was silly of them.

* CoverAlbum:.

%% CoverAlbum

* CoverAlbum:.

KISS is an American hard rock band, formed in [[TheSeventies 1973]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. It is well known for the face paint and complex costumes worn by the band-members, and its [[GreatBallsOfFire theatrical concerts]], which involve, among other things, fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and [[ImpressivePyrotechnics lots of pyrotechnics]]. The [[FaceOfTheBand most well-known members]] are front-man Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar; his stage persona is "Starchild", due to being a "starry-eyed lover" and "hopeless romantic", a little ironic as he's now HappilyMarried) and of course Gene Simmons (bass; the "Demon", cynical and fan of dark elements, and also known for [[OverlyLongTongue his enormous tongue]]). The two other founding members are the guitarist Ace Frehley (the "Spaceman", a reflection of his fondness for science fiction and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} supposedly being from another planet]]) and drummer Peter Criss (the "Catman", in accordance with the belief that [[CatsHaveNineLives he had nine lives]] because of his rough childhood in Brooklyn.), whose make-ups are still worn by their current replacements, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer (respectively).

* 1985 – ''Music/{{Asylum|1985}}''

* 1985 – ''Music/{{Asylum}}''

** BareYourMidriff: Paul in ''Creatures of the Night''.

* AnAxeToGrind: One of Gene's signature basses is a huge battleaxe.

Not to be confused with {{kissing|Tropes}}, a song by ''Music/{{Prince}}'', the book ''Literature/{{Kiss}}'', or the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle KISS principle]].

The band also made movies: first, a made-for-TV flick, ''Film/KISSMeetsThePhantomOfThePark'' (1978). [[OldShame They don't like to talk about it, or at least two still don't like to.]] Two decades later, they tried again with ''Film/DetroitRockCity,'' a nostalgia film about TheSeventies sometimes compared to ''Film/DazedAndConfused''. In ''DRC'', the band is simultaneously the focus of the action and limited in appearance to one song in concert (guess which). It was initially a bigger flop than the 1978 picture, but has found a niche as a CultClassic. All of the original four have written biographies giving their perspectives on their time with the band, as well. Gene (of course) goes even further, having written three ''self-help'' books based on his own success: ''Me, Inc.,'' ''On Power,'' and ''Sex Money Kiss.''

** BlindIdiotTranslation: On the other hand, the members' names are a little... ''off''. In particular, Frehley's name being rendered as エイス フューリ ([[TheAce Ace]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Fury]]) instead of エースフレーリー.

** NiceShoes: Very cool-looking boots, but special mention goes to [[http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2010/7/2/87%20KISS%20My%20Feet_thumb.jpg Gene's "Monster Boots"]].

* NoSwastikas: Due to German law, the band's normal logo cannot be used in Germany, due to the lightning bolt-styled S's resembling the [[StateSec Schutzstaffel]] logo. While the band has been accused of being Nazis, it seems unlikely that Simmons and Stanley (both being ''Jewish descendants of concentration camp survivors'') intended the logo that way. Hence, the alternate logo with two backwards Z's in place of the S's.

** "2000 Man" by Music/TheRollingStones on ''Dynasty''. It was even played by the band on the New Years' Eve concert leading to 2000.

** On first album, Peter Criss sang in "Nothin' to Lose" (shared with Gene), "Black Diamond" (shared with Paul), "Kissin' Time" (shared with [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both Gene and Paul]]). His first solo vocal credits came in ''Hotter Than Hell'', with "Mainline" and "Strange Ways", followed by "Getaway" (''Dressed to Kill''), "Beth" (''Destroyer'', the best-known example), "Baby Driver", "Hard Luck Woman" (''Rock and Roll Over''), the aforementioned "Dirty Livin'" and "I Finally Found My Way" (''Psycho Circus''). Ace, meanwhile, debuted with "Shock Me" from ''Love Gun''. Subsequently he followed with "Rocket Ride" from ''Alive II'', "2,000 Man" (a Music/TheRollingStones cover), "Hard Times", "Save Your Love" (all three from ''Dynasty''), "Talk to Me", "Two Sides of the Coin", "Torpedo Girl" (all three from ''Unmasked''), "Dark Light" (''Music from The Elder'') and "Into the Void" and "In Your Face" (both from ''Psycho Circus'', although the latter is only a japan edition bonus). Both of them also shared vocals with Stanley and Simmons on another ''Psycho Circus'' track, "You Wanted the Best", this being the only song to feature all then-current four members on lead vocals.

->''"Alright, Wiki/TVTropes! You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world, KISS!"''

** NiceHat: Stanley has a couple - his fireman helmet, which he wears when playing "Firehouse", and his top hat in ''Unmasked'', notably when performing "I Was Made For Lovin' You".

* BiggerIsBetter: '''EVERYTHING'''. ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap'' may have been the Trope Namer for UpToEleven, but KISS got there a decade early. Gene told ''Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine'' that he was inspired by how much bigger everything in America was compared to Israel. He mentioned "the abundance of food, the idea of markets being ''supermarkets.'' In other countries, you have Charlemagne or someone like that, but in America you have ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. And he's from another planet. How perfect." He also compared the idea of Kiss performing only in small clubs to having an elephant in your kitchen.

** Paul Stanley starred in the titular role of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' in Toronto in 1999 and was praised for his performance in the role. He's also been involved with charities aimed at helping people with deformities.

* ProfessionalWrestling: In summer 1999, Kiss and Wrestling/{{WCW}} set up a deal to introduce a wrestling character based on Gene's Demon persona. The August 23rd episode of ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'' ended with Kiss faking "God of Thunder," with wrestler Wrestling/BrianAdams emerging from a sarcophagus as the Demon. This was supposed to lead to a feud with Canadian wrestler [[Characters/WCWFinalYears El Vampiro]] that would culminate in a special New Year's Eve[[note]]New Year's fell on a Friday night that year, and, since the rise of the Wrestling/MondayNightWars in 1995, wrestling [=PPV=]s are almost always held on Sundays.[[/note]] [=PPV=]. The storyline would have involved Vampiro attempting to straighten out the Demon, who would have been revealed at some point to be the son of {{Satan}}. These plans were abandoned when then-boss Wrestling/EricBischoff was canned for poor TV ratings and wasting the company's money on guests such as KISS. Adams never wrestled a single match in the gimmick. Instead, the gimmick was given to {{Jobber}} [[Characters/WCWFinalYears Dale Torborg]], who would feud with Vampiro in June-July 2000 before joining his {{Juggalo}} {{Heel}} PowerStable the Dark Carnival, which included Kiss-haters (see ArchEnemy above) the Insane Clown Posse. The gimmick never really got over, and, as part of Wrestling/{{Sting}}'s feud with Vampiro, Sting {{Squash|Match}}ed the Demon in 53 seconds at the abysmal ''New Blood Rising'' [=PPV=] on August 13th.
** FromBadToWorse: He was wheeled out in a sarcophagus for a match at a February 15 (aired February 26), 2000 taping of WCW's weekend {{B Show}} ''WCW Worldwide.'' To quote the February 21st edition of ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter.''
--->"In Philadelphia, apparently the [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap hydraulics didn't work and The Demon was stuck in his coffin for about three minutes before they could get him out."]]

** ''Music from "The Elder"'' was an attempt at a ProgressiveRock ConceptAlbum (described by Simmons later as sounding like a bad {{Music/Genesis}} record).