Essay Help on the band Kiss?

Kiss is a band from New York City that first formed in 1973. Bassist Gene Simmons and guitarist Paul Stanley had just left a band called Wicked Lester, and were looking for new members to play with. They acquired drummer Peter Criss when they responded to an ad that he left in Rolling Stone Magazine, stating "Drummer willing to do anything to make it". They later hired guitarist Ace Frehley, after he walked into their loft wearing one red shoe and one orange shoe. He began playing as they were talking to Bob Kulick, older brother of Bruce Kulick. Simmons and Stanley were prepared to offer the guitarist position to Kulick, but Frehley's image and guitar sound was just what the band was looking for, and the original lineup was finally completed.

They began by playing small clubs in New York City. They later started wearing their trademark makeup after seeing Alice Cooper in concert. After months of continuous club dates, they landed a record deal with the newly-formed Casablanca Records. Their first album, Kiss, was released in February, 1974. The horrific album cover of the members decked out in makeup scared potential fans, and critics thought Kiss was a joke. But what really increased Kiss' popularity was their live shows. Simmons, as the demon, would spit blood and breathe fire at every show, and set his hair on fire several times, which concert-goers thought was part of the show. Songs from the first album, including "Deuce" and "Firehouse", became classic hits, and pushed album sales to gold.

The second album, Hotter Than Hell, was released in October, 1974. It also went gold. Casablanca president Neil Bogart was looking for bigger album sales, but it was a slow climb. Hits like the title track and "Parasite" increased the band's popularity, but the live shows were what people were going nuts for. Headlining bands began shutting Kiss out of concerts, because Kiss was attracting more popularity.

Refusing to tone down their live shows, the band started headlining their own shows. They only toured for about two months, before going back to New York City to record their third album, Dressed To Kill, which was released in March, 1975. Kiss was one of few bands to have three consecutive albums released in one year's time. The band was convinced to write an anthem-type song, and one of Kiss' most popular songs to date, "Rock And Roll All Nite", was released on the album. However, it would not get popular until the next album.

It was at this time that the band decided to release a live album, documenting the intensity of a Kiss concert. That live album, titled Alive, was released in September, 1975. By January, 1976, the album reached platinum status, and eventually multi platinum status. This was Kiss' first big success, and even sales of the first three albums began to soar, as Kiss gained new fans. The onslaught was underway.

After Alive, they released the next album called Destroyer which contained a lot of the best songs like Shout It Out Loud, Detroit Rock City and the award winning ballad Beth.

Rock And Roll Over, Love Gun, Alive 2 and Double Platinum were released after Destroyer.

In 1978, each member released a solo album, showcasing the individual tastes in music. Ace Frehley's one sold the most, primarily due to his cover of Hello's New York Groove.

After the solo albums they released the disco influenced album Dynasty which had their most well known song, I Was Made For Loving You. This angered the proper KISS fans which were expecting a rock album like the previous albums, but this gave KISS a bigger fan base as disco was the thing at that time. Unmasked followed which was another disco album but only went Gold, not platinum like Dynasty. Music From The Elder followed after that which was a concept album, they didn't even tour for that. They went back to their rock roots and released Creatures Of The Night, too much too late unfortunately, cancelling the tour half way through due to poor attendance. It was on this tour that they played to 200,000 people in Rio de Janiero, there biggest crowd.

They took the makeup off in 1983 and kept it off until the reunion in 1996. They've worn the makeup ever since 1996.