Kiss got its name from a drummer's old band called Lips
Driving around New York, Peter Criss mentioned he had once played in a group called Lips. Paul Stanley answered: what about Kiss? The band that followed painted its faces, breathed fire and earned 30 gold albums, more than any other American group, before playing its final show in 2023.
The story begins with Wicked Lester, a New York band led by Gene Simmons and Stanley whose only album was shelved by Epic Records. The pair ditched it late in 1972, answered a Rolling Stone advert placed by Criss, and after hearing him sing in a nightclub brought him in for a much heavier sound. Guitarist Ace Frehley impressed them enough in January 1973 to earn a second audition, and the classic line-up was complete. Frehley sketched the lightning-bolt logo over the old band's name on a club poster; Stanley later redrew it freehand with a marker and a ruler, leaving the two letters slightly out of line, and refused to have it tidied.
Makeup turned each member into a comic-book figure: Stanley the Starchild, Simmons the Demon, Frehley the Spaceman and Criss the Catman. Shows featured smoking guitars, rockets, a levitating drum kit and plenty of pyrotechnics. By the late 1970s Kiss was among America's biggest rock acts and a pop-culture craze.
Sales sagged in the early 1980s, so in 1983 the band took the paint off. Lick It Up went platinum, MTV played its videos, and the unmasked years lasted until 1996. By then Criss had long gone, replaced by Eric Carr in 1980, and only Stanley and Simmons would remain constant. Mid-1990s nostalgia brought the original four back in full costume, and their 1996 to 1997 reunion tour grossed $143.7 million, the band's most lucrative ever.
A farewell world tour began in January 2019 and ended with a last concert in New York in December 2023, though members have since reunited for occasional events and new recordings. Alongside those 30 gold records came 14 platinum albums. All four founders were welcomed into rock's hall of fame in April 2014, and critics routinely rank Kiss among the most influential and best-selling rock bands ever.
Source: Kiss (band)
