The Kiss group: music, show, history, outrageousness - it's a legend! KISS, Kiss group, history, biography - Rock music, Encyclopedia Kiss group

Who gave the group the name "KISS"? Why did the group's text logo lead to accusations of its members being Nazism? What did the KISS musicians come up with to be different from the rest? Why did the first KISS albums sell poorly, and how did managers manage to promote the group and save Casablanca Records from bankruptcy? What cunning strategy helped KISS become number one in album sales and become the most popular band in America? Why did rock musicians gradually lose popularity in the 80s, and what did they have to do to regain public interest?

Creating an image

The history of the KISS group, which “blew up” the world rock scene in the 70s, began in 1972, when New York guys Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley organized Wicked Lester. The group played a mixture of rock and roll and glam rock, but did not last long. Simmons and Stanley decided to radically change their approach to music and left the group with the intention of organizing a new group.

Gene and Paul were soon joined by drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley. According to legend, Fraley impressed the other contestants with his eccentricity by showing up to the audition wearing two different shoes. Whether this was done intentionally is unknown, but everyone liked the eccentric Frehley, and he was accepted into the group.

According to Simmons, Stanley came up with the name "KISS" while they were riding on a train together, and Frehley designed the text logo. Later, when it came to selling records, musicians discovered that their letters

The s in the form of lightning are similar to the Sieg rune, which was used in the symbolism of the SS troops of Nazi Germany. Despite the provocative image, they decided not to change the logo, but they still had to publish special covers in Germany.

The numerous accusations of Nazism against KISS were extremely ridiculous. If only because Simmons is a native of Israel, and Stanley has Jewish roots. The guys just liked the image of the letters SS as lightning bolts and didn't care what anyone else thought. Much more important was the stage image of the KISS members, which not only distinguished them from other groups, but also became the subject of imitation.

It was Simmons and Stanley's idea to put makeup on the face. They decided that this would differentiate them from other bands and make them memorable. The rest of the group supported the idea. So Stanley became the “Star Child,” Simmons became the “Demon,” Frehley became the “Cosmic Ace,” and Criss became

"The cat." Throughout their career, they changed their makeup several times, but still remained true to their images.

On the way to glory

KISS's first show took place at the Popcorn Club on January 30, 1973. In November of the same year, the musicians signed a contract with producer Neil Bogart, who was the head of the Casablanca Records label. The group went on their first tour to Canada, and soon recorded their debut album, simply titled "KISS" (1974).

Despite their growing popularity, KISS's first albums sold poorly. Casablanca Records was on the verge of bankruptcy, but Bogart's attempts to change the sound came to nothing. This was not the case, of course. For example, KISS concerts were a great success. And this is not surprising, because there was a real show on stage with fireworks, smoke bombs and various tricks that the musicians performed. The group quickly acquired st.

atus the most spectacular, but still few people knew about it. A financial breakthrough was needed, otherwise the group could cease to exist. And soon a solution was found.

Given that KISS concerts were extremely popular, it was decided to release a recording of the live concert. From a commercial point of view, the move was brilliant. Live album "Alive!" (1975) not only brought the group worldwide fame, but also saved the Casablanca Records label from bankruptcy.

Riding the wave of incredible success, KISS recorded their most ambitious album, "Destroyer" (1976). It was followed by the successful "Rock and Roll Over" (1976) and "Love Gun" (1977). All of them received platinum status, proving that the band members are capable of not only putting on a spectacular show, but making high-quality, beautiful music. Their image and manner of performance predetermined the emergence of such a genre as glam rock and had a huge influence on the form

roving hard rock.

In the late 70s, KISS became the most popular band in America. However, the managers decided to take the group to a new level. For this, a cunning strategy was invented, which can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part is the simultaneous release of solo albums by all four participants. Each of them found its listener, but the most successful, according to critics, was Ace Frehley's disc with the radio hit "New York Groove".

The second part of the cunning plan involved creating a movie that would portray the KISS characters as superheroes. It was released in 1978 under the title "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park" and was trashed by film critics. Despite the negative reviews, fans of the group appreciated the film and elevated it to the status of a cult.

Thanks to successful management, KISS earned an impressive amount and reached the peak of fame. However, the law soon happened

dimensional crisis. It was connected with disagreements between the members of the team. Peter Criss left the group in 1982, followed by Ace Frehley two years later. This affected not only KISS’s music, but also album sales, as some fans, dissatisfied with the dismissal of their idols, declared a boycott.

To save their popularity, the musicians took a decisive step and appeared in public without makeup! This action returned public interest in the shocking group, but not for long. In the 80s, glam rock and hard rock, between which KISS maneuvered, gradually lost their audience, and with the advent of grunge came new era, which put an end to the work of many hard rock bands.

However, KISS remained a huge fan base, which is still one of the largest fan groups to this day. In 1996, after repeated changes in band members, the musicians announced a reunion in the original

different composition. The group went on the world tour "Alive/Worldwide Tour", which was carried out on a wide scale and was a huge success. This was the last big tour of the legendary KISS. Soon, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley left the group forever, and in 2000 the musicians announced a farewell tour.

However, KISS did not retire. In 2002, Paul Stanley stated that the group would continue to exist in updated composition. Eric Singer replaced Criss on drums, and guitarist Tommy Thayer replaced Frehley. With the new lineup, KISS released two albums – “Sonic Boom” (2009) and “Monster” (2012), which are the rockers’ latest works to date.

During their musical career, KISS sold more than 100 million albums, becoming one of the most successful rock bands in history. Their influence on the formation of rock music is difficult to overestimate. Now "KISS" is called nothing less than living legends of glam rock

Mar 5, 2014

For more than 40 years now, with each new generation, the number of fans of the legendary American rock band Kiss has only increased. But since they took the stage, many new musicians, new shocking groups and performers have appeared. But lovers of high-quality glam rock and shock rock are still loyal to Kiss. It is from their creativity that one begins to get acquainted with the specifics of this rock movement and, as a rule, this acquaintance develops into love for life. So why does Kiss’ music still have a ton of fans today, and why are their releases successfully sold and bought? Why does every (!) 10th inhabitant of our planet have at least one Kiss album? Why the hell are they so loved?

Start

The team was formed in the USA, in New York in 1973.

Kiss was originally called Wicked Lester. It was a team of musicians performing the rising glam rock wave, as well as rock and roll. To be more precise, they played a kind of shake from these two directions. The group Wicked Lester was created by two then unknown guys - Paul Stanley (Stanley Harvey Eisen) and Gene Simmons (Chaim Witz - his real name).

The guys were not afraid, but, on the contrary, loved to experiment with sound, so they often played music, boldly mixing different directions and styles. But success was in a hurry and was not in a hurry. Wicked Lester were even able to record an official album, which, alas, was doomed to gather dust on the distant shelves of Epic Records. Feeling the hopelessness of the whole situation over and over again, Stanley and Simmons nevertheless decided to leave Wicked Lester. And already at the beginning of 72, the guys gradually began to create a new musical group.

Time passed, but already at the end of 72 the musicians accidentally stumbled upon Rolling Stone to a job advertisement for Peter Criss. Peter Criss was a distinguished and already very famous drummer in the fashionable club scene of the New York music scene. Once upon a time this guy even played in the Chelsea band. In general, Peter was accepted into the new squad former group Wicked Lester, no questions asked. So there were already three of them.

When Criss became a member of the band, the musicians began to try to play in a harder style than before. In addition, the guys were incredibly inspired by the incredibly popular proto-punk band New York Dolls at that time. Theatricality, “staging”, spectacular images, makeup, style and demeanor on stage - all this very attracted and inspired the musicians, so they realized that it was time to do own show on stage - the time has come to experiment with image.

Later, Ace Frehley (Paul Daniel Frehley, guitarist) joins the band. The group was stunned by Frehley's energy and eccentricity. He came to the audition wearing two different shoes: one was red, the other was orange. He behaved relaxed and a little defiantly, which the group really liked. He quickly endeared himself to all members of the team. And after a couple of weeks the four of them played.

One day, when the musicians were traveling by train to New York, Criss mentioned that at one time he was a member of a group called the Lips. And Stanley asked him, “How about we call our band Kiss?” Ace Frehley penciled a logo on a piece of notebook paper so that the “S” in “Kiss” looked like lightning bolts. Later, the similarity of these “lightning bolts” with the “Zig” rune, which was a well-known symbol of the Nazi troops, was noticed. In Germany these symbols were banned. Because of this, most of the Kiss albums that came off the German assembly line after 79 had a special cover that had been edited. The "S" in the band's name logo was depicted as a mirror image of the "Z". And all the ridiculous rumors regarding the Nazi concept of Kiss’ creativity were dispelled once and for all. In addition, at one time there was a very widespread myth according to which the name of the group is nothing more than an acronym for the name Knights In Satan’s Service (“Knights in the service of Satan”). But in fact, this phrase is an acronym for programmers, and it appeared significantly later period, when Kiss started calling themselves that. The group has always rejected any mystical, satanic or other ridiculous reasons for choosing a new name.

Soon Simmons and Stanley offered the team new idea- create unique stage makeup for your performances. It was approved and received with a bang. Using traditional theatrical makeup, each member of Kiss created an original and conceptual make-up based on the images of their favorite characters from horror films, comic books and other curious characters that the musicians liked:

• Paul Stanley - the image of the “Star Child”, but later changed the chosen makeup to the image of the “Bandit”, but still after some time returned to the original variation;
• Peter Criss - the image of "Cat";
• Gene Simmons came up with the "Demon" makeup for himself;
• Ace Frehley - Space Ace makeup.

The first concert of the group under the new name Kiss took place in January 73, literally for 3 spectators at the Popcorn Club in Queens. And in the spring, Kiss recorded their first demo with five compositions.

Less than a year later, Kiss left for the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Canada. And the first full-length album, with a name coinciding with the name of the Kiss group, appeared on the shelves of music stores in the winter of 74.

Kiss toured a lot, constantly gave concerts, often appeared on TV, and were recognizable. And despite this, the first edition did not bring them the desired commercial success - sales of the group's debut album could not exceed 75,000 copies. Because of this, everyone suffered losses: both the band itself and the record company Casablanca Records, which published Kiss’s debut record.

In the late summer of '74, the team traveled to Los Angeles to begin work on their second release, Hotter Than Hell. And this release also could not fully recoup all the finances invested in it and, of course, the efforts of the Kiss musicians.

After this near-failure, Neil Bogart (head of the record company Casablanca Records) personally began producing the group's activities and began working on their new album. He recommended changing the style, its basis - making the team's dark, hard and rather rough sound cleaner and richer, in contrast to the sound that can be heard on Hotter Than Hell.

Soon (75) the third Kiss album appeared, entitled Dressed to Kill. It brought success, but still the album did not sell in large quantities.

Yes, indeed, the circulation of the first Kiss music releases could never be called incredible. Why did this happen, given that the group became very popular by its third album, acquired an army of fans and became truly in demand? Some critics believe that Kiss became rock glam stars and still are, largely due to their incredibly exciting, interesting, shocking, colorful and outrageous shows. Every Kiss performance is an unforgettable spectacle! Therefore, it just so happened that this group is always associated first of all with their enchanting show program, and only then with their music and its specifics.

Finding success

At the end of 75, the Casablanca music label began to suffer heavy losses. The company was seriously threatened with bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Kiss lived and worked under the weight of losing their contract with Casablanca. And, both for one and for the other, a material takeoff was needed, like a breath of air. The long-awaited breakthrough in financial terms came with the first recording of their live concert. Musicians have long wanted to express and preserve all the delight, energy and inspiration that permeate each of their public performances. This was realized by the first Kiss “live album” published in September 75, called Alive!

The release was certified Gold and was hailed as Kiss' first Top 40 release. best singles. This is how success found its owners.

In general, in 78 Kiss were truly at the peak of their commercial and public popularity.

Between '76 and '78, Kiss received approximately $17,000,000 in both copyright and publishing payments for their music. According to the results of the Gallup poll in 1977, Kiss were declared the most popular group in the United States of America. By the way, in other countries of the world musicians also had incredible success. For example, in Japan, the group performed five of their shocking grand shows at the legendary Budokan arena, thereby breaking the previous record previously held by the group The Beatles. It is worth noting that since the late 70s, sales of products with the Kiss symbols and logo have become an independent source of income for musicians: T-shirts, baseball caps, keychains, etc. Among all these gizmos, two unusual comics published by Marvel can be distinguished (experts and collectors claim that the paint in the illustrations of these publications included a particle of the blood of Kiss members).

Solo games

The band's manager, Bill Aucoin, decided not to stop there and began making efforts to take Kiss to a new level of popularity. An interesting strategy was conceived for this.

At first, a simultaneous, parallel release of their own “solo albums” by all 4 members of Kiss was planned. All the musicians' releases were named simply but tastefully: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

After this, a large-scale and long-awaited project was released - Dynasty - their 5th studio album.

Also, in the format of the newly created strategy, it was planned to make a film in which the members of Kiss would play superheroes. The start of work on the painting was indicated in September 1978. The result was Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. It was first shown on TV on NBC on October 20 of the same year. And, turning a blind eye to the terrible reviews and reviews of critics, this frankly ridiculous picture from an artistic point of view became one of the popular films of the year and was even subsequently shown outside the country under the name Attack of the Phantoms.

The group members themselves called the process of their work in cinema embarrassing and funny.

Recession

The Dynasty album was recorded with a session drummer named Anton Fidge, at the personal request of producer Vini Ponzia, who for some reason did not like and always strongly doubted the talent of drummer Peter Criss.
In general, after the release of the new album Unmasked, Criss was officially removed from the group.

All drum parts on the album are recorded by Anton Fidge. And at the same time, the album did not achieve the desired success. And in the late spring of 1980, Eric Carr was appointed as Kiss' permanent drummer.

The situation was supposed to be saved by the release of Music from “The Elder”, where there were a lot of brass and string instruments, as well as piercing synths. The record turned out to be very far from true hard rock, but it was definitely harsher in sound than the previous one. So what is the result of all these experiments with style and sound?

All attempts to make best album led to Kiss losing loyal fans who loved their signature style and sound, and the band also lost Bill Aucoin and Ace Frehley... Sad.

In the fall of 1982, a work called Creatures of the Night was born, on which fans again heard the heavy and traditional sound of Kiss. But this again did not help to revive the former love of fans and popularity.

Later, due to frequent scandals with Paul and Gene, as well as serious problems with drugs and health, Ace Frehley left the group. Instead, they took Vinnie Vincent, who took the stage image of the ancient Egyptian god.

All of them at that moment dreamed only of saving their reputation and preserving Kiss as a group.

Back to the roots

In 1983, Kiss took a step that shattered all the canons - they decided to perform in front of the public for the first time without makeup. This action brought good dividends, and the album Lick It Up finally returned Kiss to the musical Olympus.

The group's next three releases, strictly in the glam metal style, allowed the band to consolidate their newly gained success. And in the spring of 84, Animalize vinyl recording began.

In 1985, the group Kiss released their next new album- Asulym, which essentially became a continuation of Animalize. In 86, Kiss took a time out for a while, but in 87 another Kiss release called Crazy Nights was released. Next: 88 - the compilation Smashes, Thrashes & Hits is published with 2 fresh songs from Paul Stanley.

By the end of 89 it was introduced new job Hot in the Shade, with the legendary ballad Kiss - Forever.

But tragedy awaited Kiss...

In 91, Eric Carr died from a rare and terrible disease - heart cancer. Kiss survived the huge loss with dignity and, with new drummer Eric Singer, was able to finish the begun release Revenge. Moreover, the group broke through into the top 10 with this publication!

In 1995, at one of Kiss’ acoustic performances, Peter Criss took the stage and sang with the musicians “Hard Luck Woman.” And at the end of the summer of the same year, the group performed on MTV (the Unplugged show), where at the end of the program the musicians were joined by Peter Criss along with Ace Frehley.

And confirming the wandering rumors about the team's reunion, in 1996 Kiss openly announced a return to the original lineup of the team. Tickets for the 1st official speech of the reunited musicians in Detroit at Tiger Stadium were completely sold out in just 40 (!) minutes.

In the fall of 1998, a brand new studio album, Psycho Circus, was released. The album received gold status. And touring in support of the new musical work Kiss started on Halloween night in 1998 in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.

In 2000, a statement was made about the start of a farewell tour (Farewell Tour) and the final cessation of the musical activities of the Kiss group as a single group. But in Charleston, before the concert began, Criss left the group again. This time, the reason lay in the insufficient amount for signing the last contract. The tour was naturally cancelled. Until 2001, no one knew anything about the fate of the group, until it was announced that Eric Singer would be replaced by Criss. It was with this lineup that the Farewell Tour in Australia and Japan continued.

Kiss performed at the closing ceremony in 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. This was Ace Frehley's last performance with the group. Meanwhile, the Kiss group did not want to say goodbye completely... and did not say goodbye.

It was decided that Kiss would continue its activities!

Our days

Tommy Thayer is finally recognized as a full member of the group as lead guitarist. And most importantly, Peter Criss is returning to Kiss.

In Australia in 2003, a grandiose show-concert of the Kiss group took place with the assistance of the world-famous Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The result was the magnificent live album Kiss Symphony: Alive IV.

Next came the World Domination Tour, which became one of the most successful in America.

The composition of the group changed several times. Now the current Kiss lineup is:

• Paul Stanley (73 - present);
• Gene Simmons (73 - present day);
• Eric Singer (1991 - 1996, 2001 - 2002, 2004 - present);
• Tommy Thayer (2002 - present day).

In 2009, the album Sonic Boom was released, and in the fall of 2012, the Kiss musicians released the album Monster. And we deeply believe that this is not their last work.

And, by the way, the question of why Kiss is still in demand can be answered briefly and truthfully - because they are professionals!
These are the best musicians in their field, and they know how to put on the best shows in the world!

Tell your friends:

Kiss(Kiss) is an American rock band that gained immense popularity in the 1970-1980s, playing in the genres of glam, shock, hard rock and known for its stage makeup and concert shows, accompanied by various pyrotechnic effects. It was formed in New York in January 1973.

The most famous songs are "Strutter" (1974), "Black Diamond" (1974), "Rock and Roll All Night" (1975), "Detroit Rock City" (1976), "I Was Made For Lovin' You" (1979) ), “Lick It Up” (1983), “Heaven's On Fire” (1984), “Forever” (1989), “God Gave Rock and Roll To You II” (1992), “Psycho circus” (1998) . As of 2007, they have over forty-five gold and platinum albums and over 150 million records sold.

History of Kiss

Early years and struggle (1971-1975)

Formation

Kiss takes its roots from Wicked Lester, a New York rock and roll (glam band) group created by Gene Simmons (a native of Haifa, Israel, born on August 25, 1949 with the native name Chaim Witz) and Paul Stanley (born as Stanley Harvey Eisen in Queens, New York January 20, 1952). Wicked Lester, mixing different musical styles never achieved success. They recorded one album, which was shelved by Epic Records, and performed live shows. Simmons and Stanley, feeling the need for a new direction for musical career left Wicked Lester in 1972 and began forming a new band.

In late 1972, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley found an advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine written by Peter Criss, a veteran drummer of the New York club scene who had come from the band Chelsea. Criss (born George Peter John Criscaula on December 20, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York) auditioned and was accepted into updated version"Wicked Lester" The trio focused on a much harder style of rock than that played by Wicked Lester. Inspired by the theatricality of the New York Dolls, they also began to experiment with their image, wearing makeup and different costumes. In November 1972, the group attended an audition held by Epic Records director Don Alice in hopes of securing a collaboration. Although the production went well, Alice did not like the band's image and style of music. He actually hated them, and when he was about to leave, Chris's brother spat at him.

In December 1972, guitarist Ace Frehley (born Paul Daniel Frehley on February 22, 1955 in the Bronx, New York) joined the band. According to the book "Kiss & Tell", written by best friends Asa Frehley Gordon G.G. Gebert and Bob McAdams (who accompanied Ace at the audition), the eccentric Frehley impressed the group at the first audition, although he showed up wearing two different shoes (one red, the other orange) and was just warming up on guitar while the group listened to what - another guitarist. A couple of weeks later, Frehley joined Wicked Lester, which was renamed Kiss.

Creation of symbolism

Stanley came up with the name when he, Simmons and Criss were traveling to New York on a train. Criss mentioned that he used to be in the Lips, so Stanley asked, “What about KISS?” (Gene Simmons recalls this in the Exposed video). Frehley created the text logo (where he made the letters "SS" look like lightning bolts) when he went to paint the word "Kiss" over a Wicked Lester poster outside the club they were going to play at. Later, the visual similarity of these lightning letters with the Sieg rune, which was used in the symbolism of the SS, the Nazi troops, during World War II was accidentally discovered. However, in Germany it is prohibited to use these symbols, therefore, in order to avoid misunderstandings, most of the group’s albums released after 1979 in Germany had a special cover edition in which the letters “SS” looked like mirror reflection"ZZ" Rumors accusing Kiss of being Nazis are extremely ridiculous, since Gene Simmons is a native of Israel and Paul Stanley is of Jewish descent, thus two of the band's regular members are Jewish. Other rumors suggest the band's name is an acronym for Knights In Satan's Service or an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. None of these rumors have any basis in fact, and the group has consistently rejected them.

The makeup idea came from Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The idea was received positively and, using theatrical makeup, each participant came up with his own unique makeup. The participants' hobbies, such as comic books, horror films, etc., had a clear influence on makeup. Gene Simmons began to wear makeup as "Demon", Peter Criss - as "Cat", Ace Frehley - as "Space Ace", and Paul Stanley first became “Star Child”, immediately changed his image to “Bandit”, but almost immediately returned to the original version.

First achievements

Kiss's first performance took place on January 30, 1973, for three spectators at the Popcorn Club (soon renamed Coventry) in Queens. In March of the same year, the band recorded their first 5-song demo with producer Eddie Kramer. Former TV director Bill Aucoin, who had seen the group at a few shows in the summer of 1973, offered to manage them in October. Kiss agreed to the terms offered to them by Oikon and signed a recording contract within two weeks. On November 1, 1973, Kiss signed their first contract with renowned pop artist and Buddha Records head Neil Bogart to collaborate with his new label, Emerald City Records (which was soon renamed Casablanca Records).

The band entered New York's Bell Sound Studios on October 10, 1973 to record their first album. On December 31, the group received an official opportunity to perform at the Academy of Music (New York), opening for Blue Öyster Cult. At this concert, Simmons accidentally set his hair (which had been styled with alcohol spray) on fire while performing his later popular "Fire Breath" stunt for the first time, in which he put kerosene in his mouth and sprayed out a stream of fire.

Kiss's first tour began on February 5, 1974 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Kiss' debut self-titled album was released on February 18. Casablanca and Kiss vigorously promoted the album throughout the spring and summer of 1974. On February 19, the band performed "Nothin' to Lose," "Firehouse," and "Black Diamond" for their first television appearance, on ABC's Dick Clark's In concert. Concert (aired March 29) On April 29, the band performed "Firehouse" on The Mike Douglas Show. This broadcast included Simmons' first television interview and an argument with Mike Douglas, in which Simmons revealed himself to be "evil incarnate", causing him to laugh nervously. to the confused and depressed audience of viewers. Guest comedian Totie Fields noted that it would be funny if, under all that makeup, he turned out to be just a “handsome Jewish boy.” Simmons cleverly reflected this remark with neither confirmation nor denial, but simply a phrase. : “You just have to know.” To which she replied: “Yes, I know. You can’t hide the hook,” a sly reference to Gene Simmons’ nose.

Becoming

Despite this publicity and constant touring, Kiss initially sold only 75,000 copies. Meanwhile, the band and Casablanca Records were rapidly losing money. The group flew to Los Angeles in August 1974, they recorded their second album, Hotter Than Hell, which was released on October 22, 1974. The only single, "Let Me Go, Rock "n" Roll," failed, and the album stalled at #100.

With Hotter Than Hell quickly losing ground, Kiss were rushed off their tour to record their next album. Casablanca head Neil Bograt took on the production of the new album himself, changing the dark and rough sound of Hotter Than Hell to a cleaner sound. Dressed to Kill, released March 19, 1975, did much better commercially than Hotter Than Hell. It also contained one of the band's most famous and future popular songs, "Rock and Roll All Nite" (Sound sample).

Although Kiss albums did not sell large numbers, the group quickly acquired the status of the most spectacular. Kiss concerts included many different stunts and gimmicks, such as Gene Simmons spitting blood (which was actually a mixture of yogurt, juices and food coloring that he fed on) or "fire breathing" (when Gene Simmons took kerosene into his mouth and squirted him to the torch); fireworks from Ace Frilly's guitar during the solo (fireworks, lights and smoke bombs shoved into the guitar); Rising to heights drum kit with Peter Criss, giving off sparks; Paul Stanley smashing his guitar in the style of Pete Townshend; and plenty of pyrotechnics throughout the show.

At the end of 1975 Casablanca nearly went bankrupt and Kiss were in danger of losing their contract. Both sides desperately needed a financial breakthrough to stay afloat. This breakthrough took an unusual form - recordings of a live concert.

Rise to fame and success (1975-1978)

Kiss wanted to express the excitement that was felt at their concerts and the excitement that, unfortunately for them, their studio albums could not convey with their first live album. Released on September 10, 1975, Alive! was certified gold, and spawned Kiss' first Top 40 single, a live version of "Rock And Roll All Nite." This was the first version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" to feature a guitar solo, and this recording successfully introduced the definitive version of the song, eclipsing and supplanting the studio original. In later years, the band noted that the extra crowd noise was added to the album not to fool fans, but to add more "excitement and realism" to the show.

Success Alive! not only gave Kiss the break they were looking for, but also possibly saved the Casablanca label, which was close to bankruptcy. Following this success, Kiss partnered with producer Bob Etzrin, who had previously worked with Alice Cooper. The result was Destroyer (released March 15, 1976), Kiss's most musically ambitious studio album to date. Destroyer, with its rather intricate and complex production (adding orchestral sounds, boys' choirs, elevator drums, radio message-style intros and other effects), moved away from the raw and unpolished sound of the first three studio albums groups. While the album sold well and became the band's second gold album, it quickly lost ground on the charts. It wasn't until the ballad "Beth" (Sound sample) was released as a single that the album took off again in sales. "Beth" was a #7 hit for the group and its success revived both the album (which reached platinum status by the end of 1976) and Kiss product sales.

In October 1976, Kiss appeared on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, performing backing tracks of "Detroit Rock City", "Beth" and "King of the Night Time World". For many teenagers, this was their first memory of Kiss' dramatic appearance. Bill Aucoin co-produced the show. In addition to this production, Kiss was the subject of a brief comedy "interview" conducted by Paul Lynde himself. The interview included a statement he made when he heard the band members' names

During next year Two more highly successful albums were released - Rock and Roll Over (November 11, 1976) and Love Gun (June 30, 1977). In 1977, the second live album, Alive II, was also released, namely on October 14, 1977. All three albums went platinum shortly after their release. Between 1976 and 1978, Kiss received $17.7 million in royalties and music publishing fees. A 1977 Gallup poll named Kiss the most popular band in America. In Japan, Kiss performed five grand shows at the Budokan arena, breaking the previous record of four held by the Beatles.

Double Platinum, the first of many Kiss Greatest Hits compilations, was released on April 2, 1978. This double album included many remixed versions of their hits, such as "Strutter "78", a re-recorded version of one of the band's signature songs. At the request of Neil Bogart, the song was played in a style similar to the then popular disco music.

During this period, sales of Kiss merchandise became a significant source of income for the group. Some of the products released included

1. A couple of comic books published by Marvel (the first of them, among the red color, contained, in addition to ink, the blood of the group members, which they donated specifically for this purpose).
2. Pinball machine
3. Kiss dolls
4. Cosmetics kits “Kiss Your Face Makeup”
5. Halloween masks
6. Toy medicines "Pets"
7. Board games
8. Toys

And many other memorabilia. The Kiss Army fan organization was created. Between 1977 and 1979, worldwide sales (in stores and on tour) reached a whopping $100 million.

Divergence in Solo (1978)

Kiss were at the height of their commercial popularity by 1978—Alive II became the band's fourth platinum album in two years, and the ensuing concert tour had the largest attendance (560,550) in the band's history. In addition, their annual income for 1977 was US$10.2 million. Kiss, together with their creative manager Bill Aucoin, came up with the idea of ​​​​bringing the group to a new level of popularity. For this purpose, they invented a cunning strategy for 1978.

The first part involved the simultaneous release of solo albums by four members of the groups. Although the band complained that the release of four solo albums was intended to ease growing tensions with the group, their 1976 contract called for four solo albums before a major release of a fifth. Although each album was a purely solo effort (neither member played on the other's album), they were labeled and released as Kiss albums (with similar covers and posters inside). This was the only time that all four members released a solo album on the same day.

It was a chance for the band members to showcase their musical tastes and stylistic inclinations outside of Kiss (Simmons' album included appearances by Aerosmith members Joe Perry, Cheap Trick: Rick Nielsen, disco diva Donna Summer, Bob Seger, and later Cher's friend). Stanley's and Frilly's albums were close to the hard rock, glam rock and metal used by Kiss, while Criss's album included elements of R&B and was heavy on ballads. Simmons' album was the most eclectic, real hard rock, pop in the best tradition of the Beatles, ballads, and ended with a cover version of the song "When You Wish upon a Star" (from the cartoon "Pinocchio").

In September 1978, Kiss set another precedent: they released four albums in one day. solo album, named simply but tastefully - "Peter Criss", "Ace Frehley", "Paul Stanley" and "Gene Simmons". It must be said that in the struggle for the hearts of the fans, the strength of the musicians turned out to be approximately equal; by the end of the year, each of the discs sold more than 1,250,000 copies, and the total circulation exceeded 5 million. The most popular radio hit is the song from Ace Frehley's album “New York Groove”, which reaches number 2 in the sales ranking.

The second part of Kiss and the producer's vision was to shoot a film in which the band's characters would be portrayed as superheroes. Filming was scheduled for September 1978. Although the film was conceived as a cross between A Hard Day's Night and Star Wars. Episode IV. New Hope,” the final results were extremely far from these samples. The script went through multiple rewrites by different writers, and the group (especially Criss and Frilly) were overwhelmed by the tediousness of filming. Peter Criss completely refused to take part in the voice acting after filming, and he was voiced by another actor.

Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, which was produced by Hanna-Barbera, aired on NBC on October 20, 1978. Despite disastrous reviews from critics, the film became one of the best films of the year, and was subsequently released outside the United States in 1979 under the title Attack of the Phantoms . In later interviews, the group recalls the filming of the film as something unusual, funny, humorous and embarrassingly funny, however, dissatisfied with the final result of the acting work, they noted that in the film they were shown more as clowns than superheroes. The artistic failure of the film created a wall between the group and Aucoin, who was blamed.

Later years in cosmetics

The band's first album of new material in two years, Dynasty, released on May 22, 1979, continued their platinum streak. The album contained a song that later became the most famous single and business card group - “I Was Made For Lovin" You.” The song, combining elements of hard rock and disco music popular at the time, became a hit, entering the top 10 around the world (reaching its highest position of #11 in the US). Dynasty was recorded with session drummer Anton Fidge, at the request of producer Vinnie Ponchi, who strongly doubted the validity of Peter Criss's drumming skills. The only contribution of the gradually distant Peter Criss to the Dynasty album was the song "Dirty Livin", which he wrote and played (on drums). and sang.

Billed as "The Return of Kiss", the Dynasty Tour was expected by the band and manager to surpass all previous concert tours in their history. According to the plans, a transportable amusement park made in the Kiss theme and called Kiss World was supposed to travel together with the group, but this idea was abandoned because it required too serious funds and investments for implementation. The “The Return of Kiss” concert tour ended up not being the most successful tour in the band’s history, but even collected several less people compared to the previous ones.

Concerts

Kiss was also known for their electrifying concerts, which featured a variety of effects such as flashy fireworks, exploding/smoking guitars (smoke/gunpowder bombs were placed inside the guitar and then ignited), blood splashes (the blood was usually made from food coloring or yogurt), " breath of fire" (Gene Simmons, taking kerosene into his mouth, spat fire), and raising the drummer or guitarists to a height using hydraulic lifts. It is worth noting that live albums and concert video releases have always been a great success; for example, the great success of the album Alive! (which went four times platinum) saved the band and label from bankruptcy.

Kiss is one of the most visited and successful live bands in the world.

The Kiss concert in Rio de Janeiro in June 1983 attracted an audience of 247 thousand people.