In
1983, GENE SIMMONS turned down the male, romantic, leading
role in "Flashdance," in fear of hurting his image.
PETER is a high school dropout and ex-member of a Brooklyn
street gang called "The Phantom Lords".
The KISS logo is banned in Germany because the "SS"
looks Nazi-esque. The band uses a modified logo when
touring there.
The photo shoot for KISS' first album almost ended in
disaster. The photographer knew the band wore fACE paint,
but misunderstood that they were serious about their
look. He brought balloons, straw hats and red rubber
noses to the shoot.
The newscast heard at the beginning of "Detroit Rock
City" on the "Destroyer" album was actually read by
GENE SIMMONS himself.
KISS' outfits would get so sweaty that the band members
had to hang their leather costumes to dry. If KISS had
a few days off, mold would grow in their boots - the
guys had to spray Lysol in them to keep the mold out.
Right before joining Kiss in 1982, VINNIE VINCENT was
a staff songwriter for the TV program, "Happy Days,"
writing all the songs that Joanie and Chachi sang on
the show.
Kiss had originally planned to record Elvis Presley's
"Jailhouse Rock" for the fourth side of "Alive II."
Some of the equipment that appeared in the labratory
scenes of the original movie "Frankenstein" was actually
used onstage by KISS, and was provided by Ken Strickfadden,
the man who built it for the 1931 movie.
The piano heard on the song "Christine Sixteen" was
played by GENE SIMMONS.
The KISS Army began in Indiana when locals marched on
a radio station to protest their not playing KISS.
In his early years, GENE SIMMONS entered a Jewish Rabbinical
school to become a Rabbi.
One of PETER's musical idols was big band drummer GENE
Krupa. He says he loves Big Band music.
Out of the 4 1978 solo albums, PETER's was the only
one not to have had a Billboard Hot 100 Chart single,
yet his was the only one to have had 2 singles released
from it.
ERIC CARR's early name for a KISS stage name was Rusty
Blade.The name was nixed,but ERIC used it as his hotel
check-in name when on tour.
On June 22, 1974, PAUL STANLEY collapsed on stage from
exhaustion.
The guitar solos on the songs "All AmERICan Man" and
"Exciter" were played by Rick Derringer ("Rock and Roll
Hoochie Koo" fame).
The photo cover to "Alive!" - KISS first live album
- looks like the band's playing during a concert. The
picture was actually taken in an empty theater to get
the perfect photo.
The solo album morph that is seen on the video screens
right before the encores during the Kiss reunion concerts
was created by ACE FREHLEY on his home computer system.
BRUCE Kulick and Bob Ezrin played the bass parts on
"Everytime I Look At You".
By 1995 TOMMY THAYER was essentially working for the
KISS Company. Man Friday, coffee maker, researcher,
and advance guard, whatever was required to be done
TOMMY would do. When once asked if he'd always wanted
to work with KISS TOMMY responded, "Not really, but
it's a job".
GENE SIMMONS was taught how to breathe fire by a magician
named Amaze-O.
PAUL STANLEY's lead guitar solo debut on a Kiss recording
was the intro to "C'mon and Love Me" on "Dressed to
Kill" in 1975
Once, the band was on a tour where the road manager
for a rival band cut the power to the stage so KISS
couldn't do encores. That all changed one night when
KISS' road manager held his rival at knife-point and
locked him in an equipment case.
VINNIE VINCENT's Egyptian Warrior character was actually
conceived and created by PAUL STANLEY in late 1982
Half of ACE FREHLEY's fACE on the cover of the album
"Hotter Than Hell" was super-imposed because he cut
it in a small car crash and could'nt apply make-up to
the cut part of his fACE.
Because of the contract Kiss signed with Phonogram Records
in 1980, PETER CRISS received royalties on albums he
didn't play on, including "Lick it Up," "Animalize,"
and "Asylum." PAUL and GENE bought out PETER's share
in 1987
ACE onced superglued virtually every piece of furniture
in his hotel room to the ceiling.
In 1979, Kiss and their management company purchased
over 190 acres in Cincinnati, OH for a Kiss amusement
park, which of course was never built.
KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was the second most
watched program in 1978.
Before GENE became The Demon, he was a sixth grade school
teacher.
ERIC SINGER recalled, "I started taking lessons when
I was 11 - which is when I started playing officially".
Animalize is KISS's biggest selling 80's album, having
sold over 2 million copies.
"All Hell's Breakin' Loose" is the only KISS video to
ever be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. It was
nominated for Best Cinamagraphy in 1984
Prior to joining Kiss in late 1972, ACE FREHLEY recorded
an album for RCA Records with a group called Millemo
that was never released.
During one of KISS' tours of Japan, the band's mischievous
side took over. They bought little bicycles to ride
up and down the hotel hallways, and - donning helmets
and goggles - shot reporters with toy guns.
GENE is one of the top fire-breathers in the world.
The world record is a 20 ft. flame. GENE can hit 15
ft..
ACE considers himself the "black sheep" of his family.
His sister has a masters degree in chemistry,and his
brother is a classical guitariST.
In 1982, PAUL STANLEY had made his acting debut in a
cameo role in the comedy movie "Young Doctor's in Love."
He played himself, in makeup, but as a patient who had
accidentally swallowed a microphone onstage. Unfortunately,
PAUL's scene was cut out of the final print of the movie.
Before they chose the name KISS, the group considered
the names "Albatross" and "F**k".
In 1979, Kiss spent over $1 million on a special laser
effects system for the "Dynasty" tour, which included
an effect where PAUL shot a laser from his eye. The
entire system, however was never used on the tour.
BRUCE Kulick played the guitar solo on "Lonely Is The
Hunter" because MARK ST.JOHN could'nt get it right.
When Kiss had to replace ACE FREHLEY in 1982, well known
guitarists such as Punky Meadows from Angel, Richie
Sambora from Bon Jovi, and even Eddie Van Halen wanted
to audition for the group.
In the early years, KISS was well known for stacking
lots of speaker cabinets at shows, creating a "wall
of sound" to blast the audience away. But a lot of those
cabinets were empty - KISS was thundering through shows
with only a handful of speakers.
In 1978, Kiss was the first band offered the role of
F.V.B (Future Villain Band) in the movie "Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band," that starred PETER Frampton
and the Bee Gees. Kiss turned down the role in fear
of hurting their "super hero" image, and it was then
given to Aerosmith.
In 1994, Kiss was offered $1 million dollars to reunite
in makeup with ACE and PETER and headline the Woodstock
II festival. PAUL and GENE were quick to turn it down.
ACE FREHLEY revealed, "Every time I ever record a lead
vocal, I've had to do it on my back. If I stand up and
try to sing, I can't hit the notes sometimes.
The first thing PETER bought with his KISS royalties
was a tombstone for his grandmother.
At one time PAUL wanted to be an anthropologiST.
ACE was an art student, and he designed the KISS logo.
GENE SIMMONS played guitar on "Plaster Caster","Almost
Human","Killer","Cadillac Dreams" and 'Great Expectations"
(among others).
In January 2000, KISS Veteran, ERIC SINGER was recruited
by KISS to fill in for the AWOL kitty, even donning
the Cat makeup to fulfill KISS' tour plans in Japan
and Australia.
In 1988, BRUCE Kulick auditioned to play lead guitar
on Mick Jagger's "Primitive Cool" solo album, but lost
out to Jeff Beck.
It takes an average of 45 minutes to put their make-up
on perfectly. It could be done in 25 minutes in a pinch.
Even though "Alive II" is said to be recorded in Los
Angeles during the "Love Gun" tour, the version of "Beth"
on the album was recorded in Tokyo, Japan a few months
prior, during the "Rock and Roll Over" tour.
ERIC CARR played bass guitar parts on "Escape From The
Island", "I Still Love You", and "Little Ceasar".
All the lead guitar work on PAUL STANLEY's songs off
the "Unmasked" album was actually played by PAUL himself.
The KISS blood taken from them for their comic book's
dye vats, was delivered to the printer in an armored
truck.
The photo that was to be used for the cover of the 1972
unreleased Wicked Lester album featuring PAUL STANLEY
and GENE SIMMONS was used in 1979 for an album by a
group called the Laughing Dogs.
When ERIC CARR recorded his vocal for "Beth" in 1988,
he actually sat in the same exact stool that PETER CRISS
sat on during the original recording of the song in
1976
GENE speaks four languages fluently - English,Hebrew,German,and
Hungarian.
Before deciding on "Revenge," Kiss was actually considering
calling their 1992 album "Destroyer II."
PAUL grew up on classical music, since that's what his
parents liked.When he was a little kid, he was a big
fan of Italian opera.
Kiss was originally planning on calling the "Crazy Nights"
album either "Who Dares Wins" or "Condomnation."
ERIC CARR was left handed in everything he did, except
play drums.
TOMMY's early contributions with KISS were the massive
9lb coffee table KISStory book, and laying the groundwork
for the 1995 KISS Konvention tour.
Jean Beaviour (formerly of the Plasmatics) played bass
parts on "Get All You Can Take" and "Thrills In The
Night".
The announcer who says "You wanted the beST...." on
the first "Alive" album is Junior Smalling, who was
the band's first road manager.
GENE's tongue has been measured at over 7 inches long.
Before joining KISS, PETER had 11 years of musical experience.
PAUL attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhatten.
In 1980, Kiss was planning on putting out a line of
designer jeans with the KISS logo on the rear right
pocket. A prototype was made, but the line was never
put out to the public.
ERIC SINGER worked in the parts department of a Ford
dealership too.
When ERIC CARR joined the band in 1980, there was talk
of him actually recording a KISS solo album, so the
band commissioned the same artist who painted the 4
solo album covers to paint one of ERIC. The painting
is now is ERIC's family's possession.
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