The original line-up of Kiss moved around plenty during their time as a band. For instance, there was a big debate within the group between Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley, as the two of them were at odds over how the band should run and creative differences. Frehley eventually left for what he said was stress; meanwhile, Simmons said he kicked Frehley out because of his substance abuse.
Why am I bringing this up? Simply put, it’s to highlight the two superpowers that Kiss had. Both of these powers came with their make-up, and the first was that the internal conflict within the band never affected them as a whole. You have people who are obsessed with the band and know each member, but your more casual fans don’t know individual members, and instead know the characters they represent.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are now considered staples within the band, but there have been a number of guitarists and drummers playing their parts throughout the years, and it has never gotten in the way of Kiss selling out stadiums. When Ace Frehley left, people might have been sad, but from the outside looking in, the group still looked intact, as the character remained, even though the original inhabitant of said character was gone.
The other superpower the band had was the fact that they were free to play around with different sounds and styles. Once again, this was because of their makeup. They developed such a distinct brand and image that whatever album they released, regardless of what kind of music they were playing, it was still undeniably Kiss.
These two powers combined to give the band creative freedom that not many others had or have. If you want to move away from one genre of music and embrace something else, you can do that. Additionally, if band members aren’t happy with the new direction of the band, you can just find others. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had permission throughout their careers to try as many musical hats, and it resulted in a relatively diverse catalogue of music attached to Kiss.
While the majority of their music centres around rock ‘n’ roll, they haven’t been afraid to alter within that genre. For instance, Dynasty had a disco sound ringing throughout it, meanwhile Psycho Circus incorporated sounds from the circus in a bid to give different soundbites to the record.
It begs the question: With this much freedom and variety throughout their career, what album has Kiss released that resonated the most with fans?
So, what is Kiss’ best-selling album of all time?
It won’t come as a surprise to fans that Kiss’ best-selling album of all time is the 1975 classic Alive! As a band who were frequently celebrated for their live performances, you can’t be too shocked that it’s one of their live albums that people wanted to listen to the most. Over nine million people bought this album to put it on and pretend they were experiencing the electricity of a Kiss live show.
The next best-selling Kiss album didn’t even manage to do half the amount of sales that Alive! did. Love Gun managed to sell a total of four million copies. After that, you have Alive II, Destroyer and Smashes, Trashes and Hits, which all managed to sell around two million copies. All are great albums and highlight the fun freedom they had, but none of them came close to being as successful as Alive!
