KISS (US rock band)

~ Group

Annotation

Despite the name "KISS" appearing on the title for marketing purposes, the 4 1978 albums that were released under each members' names were solo albums. As such, you will find them listed under their respective artist names: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss.

Annotation last modified on 2006-01-14 08:53 UTC.

Wikipedia

Kiss (often styled as KISS) was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass guitar), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, vocals). Known for their face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock-style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band went through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons remaining the only consistent members. The final lineup consisted of them, Tommy Thayer (lead guitar, vocals), and Eric Singer (drums, vocals).

With their makeup and costumes, the band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss). Beginning with their 1975 live album Alive!, Kiss became one of America's most successful rock bands and a pop culture phenomenon during the second half of the 1970s. Due to creative differences, Criss departed the band in 1980, followed by Frehley in 1982. They were replaced by Eric Carr (the Fox) and Vinnie Vincent (the Ankh Warrior), respectively. The band's commercial success declined during the early 1980s before experiencing a resurgence in 1983, when they began performing without makeup and costumes, marking the beginning of the band's "unmasked" era that would last until 1996. The first album of this era, 1983's platinum-certified Lick It Up, successfully introduced them to a new generation of fans, and its music videos received regular airplay on MTV. Vincent left the band in 1984, being replaced briefly by Mark St. John before Bruce Kulick joined the band for the next twelve years. Eric Carr died in 1991 of heart cancer and was replaced by Eric Singer.

In response to a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the mid-1990s, the original lineup reunited in 1996, which also saw the return of their makeup and stage costumes. The resulting 1996–1997 reunion tour was highly successful, grossing $143.7 million, making it the band's most successful tour. Criss and Frehley subsequently left the band again following the 2000–2001 tour, which at the time was intended to be Kiss' last. Criss and Frehley were replaced by Singer and Tommy Thayer (Criss briefly rejoined the band from 2002 to 2004), respectively. The band continued with its original stage makeup, with Singer and Thayer using the original Catman and Spaceman makeup respectively. After 46 years of recording and performing, Kiss began a four-year-long farewell tour, the End of the Road World Tour, in January 2019 and disbanded after performing their final show in New York City in December 2023.

Kiss is regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of all time, as well as one of the best selling bands of all time, claiming to have sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 21 million RIAA-certified albums. Kiss has also earned 30 Gold albums, the most of any band from the United States. Kiss has 14 Platinum albums, three of which earned multi-Platinum. On April 10, 2014, the four original members of Kiss were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kiss was ranked by MTV as the ninth "Greatest Metal Band of All Time", and placed tenth on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list, as well as being ranked as the third "Best Metal and Hard Rock Live Band of All Time" by Loudwire magazine.

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Discography

Album

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
1974KISSKISS3.834
1974Hotter Than HellKISS3.533
1975Dressed to KillKISS3.3533
1976DestroyerKISS3.454
1976Rock and Roll OverKISS3.535
1977Love GunKISS3.541
1979DynastyKISS431
1980UnmaskedKISS424
1981Music From “The Elder”KISS430
1982Creatures of the NightKISS3.6536
1983Lick It UpKISS427
1984AnimalizeKISS325
1985AsylumKISS325
1987Crazy NightsKISS224
1989Hot in the ShadeKISS222
1992RevengeKISS323
1997Carnival of Souls: The Final SessionsKISS18
1998Psycho CircusKISS417
2009Sonic BoomKISS317
2012MonsterKISS422
SolosKISS1

Album + Compilation

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
1976The OriginalsKISS3
1978The Originals IIKISS1
1978Double PlatinumKISS325
1978The Best of Solo-AlbumsKISS2
1982KillersKISS318
1988ChikaraKISS31
1988Smashes, Thrashes & HitsKISS4.516
1996You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!!KISS11
1996Greatest KISSKISS524
1997Greatest HitsKISS31
1998The Originals 1974–1979KISS1
2001Box SetKISS6
2002The Very Best of KISSKISS3.6510
200320th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of KISSKISS7
200420th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of KISS, Volume 2KISS2
2004KISS GoldKISS10
200620th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of KISS, Volume 3KISS2
2008Playlist Plus: KISSKISS5
2008ClassicsKISS1
2008DiscoveriesKISS1
2008FavoritesKISS1
2008The Complete Collection 45KISS1
2008Playlist Your WayKISS2
2008地獄烈伝〜ニュー・レコーディング・ベスト〜KISS2
2008IkonsKISS4
20092 for 1: Destroyer + Rock and Roll OverKISS1
2010Icon 2KISS2
2010The Greatest HitsKISS1
2012The Casablanca Singles 1974–1982KISS2
2012StarboulevardKISS1
2014KISS 40: Decades of DecibelsKISS10
2015KISS 40: Decades of DecibelsKISS33
2016Heavy HitsKISS1
2017KISSWORLD: The Best of KISSKISS59
2018The Solo Albums: 40th Anniversary CollectionKISS1

Album + Compilation + Live

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
2006KISS Alive! 1975–2000KISS7
2015Greatest Live HitsKISS1

Album + Live

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
1975Alive!KISS3.5535
1977Alive IIKISS429
1993Alive IIIKISS327
1996MTV UnpluggedKISS418
2003KISS Symphony: Alive IVKISS4.512
2003KISS Symphony: The DVDKISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Selma, TX 06/10/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Smirnoff Music Centre, Dallas, TX 06/11/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston, TX 06/12/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Journal Pavilion, Albuquerque, NM 06/16/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ 06/18/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine, CA 06/19/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Chronicle Pavilion, Concord, CA 06/20/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Clark County Amphitheatre, Ridgefield, WA 06/22/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Float‐Rite Amphitheatre, Somerset, WI 06/26/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Bonner Springs, KS 06/27/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: UMB Bank Pavilion, Maryland Heights, MO 06/28/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI 06/30/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Starwood Amphitheatre, Nashville, TN 07/02/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN 07/03/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Post‐Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA 07/04/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Marcus Amphitheater, Milwaukee, WI 07/07/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Tweeter Center, Tinley Park, IL 07/09/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Germain Amphitheatre, Columbus, OH 07/10/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH 07/11/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Tweeter Waterfront, Camden, NJ 07/13/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Darien Lake PAC, Darien Center, NY 07/14/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA 07/16/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ 07/17/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Hersheypark Pavilion, Hershey, PA 07/18/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY 07/21/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Ford Pavilion at Montage Mountain, Scranton, PA 07/23/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, VA 07/24/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Virginia Beach, VA 07/25/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek, Raleigh, NC 07/27/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Charlotte, NC 07/28/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Sound Advice Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, FL 07/30/04KISS1
2004Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Verizon Wireless Music Center-Birmingham, Pelham, AL 08/03/04KISS1
2006Alive: The Millennium ConcertKISS6
2008KISS Alive 35: Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland 27.5.2008KISS2
2008KISS Alive 35: Stockholms Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden 30.5.2008KISS1
2008KISS Alive 35: Valhall, Oslo, Norway 31.5.2008KISS1

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