Despite the flamboyance that Kiss represents in the modern world, the band had incredibly humble beginnings.
Gene Simmons was playing in a band, Paul Stanley was playing in a band, and the two met and decided it might be a good idea to start making music together. Granted, there was some tension at first, but that soon smoothed itself out.
“Paul didn’t like me at all,” said Simmons, recounting the moment he first asked Stanley if he’d like to be in a band together. Stanley admitted, “I think he thought Lennon, McCartney and Gene were the only three songwriters in the world, and all of a sudden he had to make room for a fourth.”
Luckily, the two managed to overcome their initial issues, and as a result, they were able to form what is now renowned as one of the greatest rock bands in the world. They had similar music tastes and writing styles, which helped with the creative process, but they also had very similar ideologies, which helped a great deal when it came to them creating an image for themselves as a band.
One of the most common questions that Kiss receives is, “Where did the idea for the make-up come from?” And the answer surprises most people: The Beatles. Paul Stanley admitted in an interview that one of the things the band hated about the music industry in the 1970s was that bands didn’t look like bands anymore.
“Those ‘60s British groups all looked like real bands,” he said. “No member of The Beatles could have fit into The Stones. No member of The Who could have been in the Dave Clark Five. You had unified images of those bands, and at the same time, there was an emphasis on the individual members.”
Kiss wanted to try to recreate that mindset by using their makeup. In doing so, they gave off the image of a unified band, and they also developed engaging characters that people took an individual interest in. It worked a treat, as the band stood out, how freedom within their music was because of how unified they were, and it became easy to market. This is great for any band attempting to stand out in a crowded market; however, the blessing became a curse when label executives realised just how much of an impact the make-up was having.
Peter Criss was the band’s drummer throughout the ‘70s, and he said that while things started off well, their image ended up being their downfall. They stopped focusing on being a band and instead started focusing on being these characters.
“The men behind us became sort of money crazy and money hungry in realising we were like a circus and that you can sell us as superheroes,” he said. “For Christ sakes, we put out our own kind of comic book. I think we were losing all touch with music. Wait a minute, we’re a rock band, man, we’re not The Monkees.”
Kiss did go on to make music without their make-up, but the iconic look is still embedded in them as a musical outfit and is what most fans think of when the band’s name is mentioned. It was a great move as far as unity and creative freedom are concerned, but the look turned out to be a double-edged blade.
