Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The biggest single bit of marketing genius attributable to this band is the makeup-wearing schtick. I mean really, there must be ten thousand guitar players in the U.S. capable of stepping in to fill a vacancy such as this, and with the addition of a little face paint, who's gonna know? It's workin' for the Blue Man Group.

(Okay, the foot-long tongue might take a little more auditioning to replace, but it wouldn't be impossible...)

There was a Simmons impersonator working the crowds at NAMM--complete with a prosthetic curly tongue that he carried in his pocket.

Their marketing genius comes from merchandising. KISS is the Harley Davidson of the music biz.

But it took them FIVE years of Poverty to get that far, Paul Stanley had to drive a cab and Gene Simmons was working as a school teacher just to make ends meets in between gigs. Their first three albums didn't sell and nobody wanted to hire them as opening act because they upstaged the headliners every single time. The band was 20 000 dollars in DEPT.

That the "Alive" album became a Quadruple platinum seller they themselves could never predicted. It actually was meant as a "Well-this-isn't-working-so-we'd-better call-it-quits-with-a-live-album."

Say about Kiss what you want but you can't deny that they worked their butts off to get where they are now.

Unlike Guns N Roses or other acts who disrespect their fans, Kiss knows who got them where they are now.

We did the same thing 15 years ago at a gig that was supposed to be our video shoot. Between sound check & the gig, our singer suffered a cut and had to be stitched up at a nearby hospital & sent home. I filled in on lead vocals, even though my singing voice is extremely limited and our lead singer is female. We took requests from the audience and as long as I knew one verse and the chorus, we played the song. No offense to our singer, but that was one of the most enjoyable shows we ever played because there was absolutely no pressure.

Wouter, I thought of Alive, from interviews and such that I have read, to be more of an effort to capture the energy of their successful stage show, which they had been unable to translate onto the 3 first 3 albums, onto an album.

They thought since people loved their live show, they would go for an album that had that same energy. And, they did.

The Bill Aucoin story about financing the Dressed to Kill tour with his AmEx is always one of my favorites.

Regardless of thoughts about fraud and whatnot, any time you take a well oiled machine and remove a member for a show, it's not an easy feat to pull off. If anything, it makes the remaining members step up and think a bit more about what the're playing.

Which can be a fun thing!

Alive wasn't really very live.

Overdub city, I know, but better than the studio versions...

There's nothing new about Kiss playing with empty Marshall cabinets. They started doing that in 1973 and they're proud of it.

Apparently they scored their first record deal with the fledgling Casablanca label on the strength of their Eddie Kramer produced demo, recorded at Electric Lady Studios (if memory serves me correctly). The story goes that they were signed WITHOUT the label seeing the band in person and completely unaware of the whole makeup thing.

The cancellation of a performance under such circumstances would have been covered by the promoter's insurance underwriters. The administrative costs of ticket refunds etc would have been covered.

"Alive" is, and will always be, high on my list of 10 Desert Island albums.

And to think, I don't even have any Kiss tattoos even!

Jeeesh...and all this time I thought they were the epitome of all that was wrong with Rock.

I never cared for Alive or Alive II. Gimme the studio LPs anytime.

"There's nothing new about Kiss playing with empty Marshall cabinets. They started doing that in 1973 and they're proud of it."

I guess there is nothing new about it...I seem to encounter people doing absolutely moronic things they're proud of every day...

Kiss is will always be one of the all time greatest bands ever. As a kid, I was totally into them. As an adult, I have a lot of respect for them. I'd love to see a show.

Take them for what they are: a decent band with a great idea and a great sense of humor. I like some of their stuff and dislike some of their stuff, but on the whole I respect what they did in their career. Tachycardia at 190 BPM for an hour is pretty serious if unexplained, he should have headed into the ER sooner than that, that is a long time.