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KISS

KISS

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Kiss: Destroyer (Casablanca)

Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 17 April 1976

WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that the total eccentricity of approach, the gross make-up and the blanket heavy metal music would have eventually ensured that Kiss ...

Kiss: Inside Kastle Kiss

Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 February 1982

"What Alice Cooper was to dead babies and corpses, Kiss became to fire breathing and sadomasochism. With Kabuki-whitened faces, they leap on stage puking blood, ...

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All That Glitters Is Not Rock

Report by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 19 August 1973

Being a Partial Compendium of Some of the More (Or Less) Outstanding New York Unknowns ...

Kiss: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Bob Merlis, Circular, 21 January 1974

Kiss Blitz Fillmore East — AND HOW! ...

Music on TV

Report by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, April 1974

IN CONCERT, Midnight Special and Rock Concert will herald mutations, they'll create new music concepts after they themselves are long retired. Dick Clark foresees pop ...

Kiss: Kiss (Casablanca Records 9001)

Review by Harold Tribune, Zoo World, 11 April 1974

SOME RECORDS by new groups on new labels might be looked on with considerably more disinterest than what's greeted this release. Just as Casablanca Records ...

Kiss: Hotter Than Hell

Review by Alan Betrock, Phonograph Record, February 1975

OUT OF THE ASHES of the New York rock scene came Kiss. They have clearly been elevated (symbolically echoing the ascent their drummer makes during ...

Kiss: Kiss and Tell

Report and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975

LOS ANGELES: "We sold out two houses in Detroit at 12,000 each and were the biggest thing to hit the city since the Beatles. People ...

Kiss: Kiss (Casablanca)

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975

UP UNTIL Max Bell gave us his reasoned defence of Kiss a couple of weeks ago, I had assumed they were simply an also ran ...

Kiss: "Big Bands Hate Us 'Cause We Steal Their Audiences"

Interview by Dan Nooger, Circus, March 1975

...

Kiss, Jo Jo Gunne: Beacon Theater, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 12 April 1975

AS KISS thundered onstage March 21, for the first of two shows, it was clearly a case of "hail the conquering heroes." The sold-out crowd ...

Stanley Kissed Off At Cult

Report and Interview by Ron Ross, Circus, July 1975

THE FLAMING ROCK 'n' holocaust that Kiss brings to the stage has caused many intimidated headlining groups to ban the New York nitro-rockers from appearing ...

I Dreamed I Was Onstage With KISS In My Maidenform Bra

Report and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, August 1975

WELL, NOT exactly my idea of the perfect fantasy, but I was curious about life on the other side of the foot-lights. Armed with an ...

Kiss: Alive! (Casablanca)

Review by Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, December 1975

KISS IS THE musical answer to what to do after Mark Famer goes home to the farm to chase cows one last time, and Alice ...

Casablanca Records' Neil Bogart (1976) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Jim Esposito, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1976

This is a transcript of Jim's 1976 interview with the Casablanca disco mogul. Listen to the audio of this interview.  ...

Kiss: Destroyer (Casablanca NBLP 7025)

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, 1976

KISS CAME into prominence, to put it simplistically, by combining Alice Cooper's horrific visuals and theatrics with Grand Funk's heavy-rock simplicity and lyrical solidarity with ...

Kiss: Pssst! Wanna Buy the Sistine Chapel?

Special Feature by Robert Duncan, Creem, March 1976

"Business art is the step that comes after Art... Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippie era people ...

Kiss: Destroyer

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976

IF EVER A GROUP have made it huge in America by carefully manipulated saturation in terms of records, concerts and promotion then Kiss are that ...

Kiss: Kiss Of Life

Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 15 May 1976

"I DON'T feel I have to defend myself to you, and I won't take your criticism either. I'd take the criticism of a fan, though. ...

Kiss: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 22 May 1976

MAN, KISS HAD everything; every single effect in the book. They had a perfect lighting system; dry ice; smoke bombs; a fire-eater; a huge lighted ...

Kiss: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976

THE LADY on the door was most persuasive. "Would you take a Kiss mask? Please...go on have a couple, we're trying to get rid of ...

Kiss: Where No Band Has Tread Before

Profile by Michael Gross, Marvel Comics, 1977

THE BEST WAY to understand KISS is to look at the faces in the concert-going crowd, tens of thousands of faces attached to the fans ...

The Day the Earth Stood KISS

Report and Interview by Robert Duncan, Creem, January 1977

OR THE GENERAL TAKES ON THE BAT LIZARD AND THE PIRATE DOG by Robert Duncan W.L.A.O.R.G.K.* ...

Kiss: Rock And Roll Over (Casablanca Import)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977

The Red Carpet, but no Heat Treatment ...

Kiss: "Rock And Roll O-O-O-Over"

Interview by Dan Nooger, Circus, 17 January 1977

Kiss Captures the Searing Sound, Live in the Studio ...

Starz: Starz

Review by Lester Bangs, Circus, 31 January 1977

I LOVE KISS. They can do absolutely no wrong by my book (Sybil). The reason they can do no wrong is that they can do ...

The Day the Earth Stood KISS, Pt. 2

Interview by Robert Duncan, Creem, February 1977

THE CREEM GENE SIMMONS RODENT OF PREY INTERVIEW ...

Kiss: Rock and Roll Over

Review by Lester Bangs, Circus, 14 February 1977

LIKE MANY OTHER citizens of Lower Manhattan, I feel guilty. The reason I feel guilty is, however, not the same as the other 2,833,756 culpable ...

Rock Stars Talk Back

Comment by Susan Whitall, Creem, May 1977

Dozens listen. ...

Pinocchio Reversed

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977

From human beings to cardboard cut-outs. Kiss defy orthopaedic surgery... ...

Kiss: Love Gun

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977

"Hey, Gene.""What, Peter?""What are we doing in one of Farren's record reviews?" ...

Kiss: Love Gun Is a Real Bazooka

Interview by Wesley Strick, Circus, 4 August 1977

Behind the Scenes of the First Kiss Simulated Concept LP ...

Kiss Zaps Japan

Report and Interview by Michael Gross, Swank, September 1977

Why four American rockers are the hottest thing since the Enola Gay ...

Kiss: Los Angeles Forum, LA

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 September 1977

'LOS ANGELES Police Department reminds you the use of fire works is illegal,' warned the notice outside the Los Angeles Forum. With all the bravado ...

Bay City Rollers: It's A Game (Arista AL 7004); Kiss: Love Gun (Casablanca NBLP 7057)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, October 1977

KISSING OFF BAY CITY'S ROLES ...

Kiss and Tell

Memoir by Danny Goldberg, Circus, 13 October 1977

Behind the Make-Up With Their Former Press Agent ...

Love Gun: Kiss, Love it or Leave it!

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Creem, Fall 1977

REMEMBER THE old 'Grand Funk Understand' riff? Well, maybe so, and maybe not — it was a long time ago back in the year of ...

Kiss: Speak For Yourself, Gene

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, 1978

Grooves: So what kind of kid would you characterize yourself as? ...

The Well-Kept Kiss Secret

Report and Interview by Wesley Strick, Circus, 5 January 1978

Photographing Gene Simmons Reveals the Minds Behind the Masquerade ...

Kiss: The Tongue Has It

Essay by Robert Duncan, Creem, February 1978

Dreams Realized, Generations Defined and KISS ALIVE! ...

Kiss: Is This Man A Prat?

Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978

TWENTY-EIGHT year-old Gene Simmons of New York City, New York, is sitting in his hotel-room near Marble Arch. It's four o'clock on a humid Friday ...

KISS Without Tears

Special Feature by Robert Duncan, Rock Scene, September 1978

So the dream is over. Again. ...

Kiss: An Interview With Ace Frehley

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, October 1978

Grooves: As a kid, were you tough? Were you a street kid? Were you a quiet kid or...class clown or what? ...

Kiss

Interview by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, December 1978

WINTER 1974: When I saw the cover of the first Kiss album, I laughed. I mean, here were these four geeks looking like rejects from ...

Kiss: The Timeless Quality Of Platform Boots

Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 3 February 1979

KISS' PAUL STANLEY, GEOFF BARTON AND 'PERHAPS THE GREATEST INTERVIEW OF ALL TIME' ...

Kiss: Bat Lizard Rocks The Boat

Interview by Susan Whitall, Creem, April 1979

There was an appointed place: a hotel room in the gleaming steel rod Henry the Deuce built on the Detroit River to atone for the ...

Queen: Live Killers (EMI)/KISS: Dynasty (Casablanca)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979

PROFESSIONAL ENTERTAINMENT! It's the best, it never quits, there's nothing like it. It's the real thing! It's sound and light and colour and spectacle to ...

Kiss: Ecstasy in the Garden of Eden

Report by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 11 August 1979

AN UNAPOLOGETICALLY OVER THE TOP REPORT OF KISS IN NEW YORK. BY GEOFF BARTON, OUR MAN WITH THE FRIED FLESH AND SINGED EYEBROWS ...

Kiss: Dynasty (Casablanca)

Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, October 1979

"We had some good times, but now they're gone. So long." -- Ace Frehley, 'Save Your Love' ...

Kiss: Empire Pool, Wembley

Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980

AWWWRIGHT LONDON!! ARE YA STARTING TO SWEAT?! ...

Kiss: Creature Feature

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 18 December 1982

BACK IN the days before Asteroids took over, Kiss was the pagan religion for America's pimpled adolescents. ...

Spheeris of Influence

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989

The macho world of Heavy Metal is not the most likely place to find a female film director, but PENELOPE SPHEERIS took her camera and ...

Kiss: The Curse of the Sphinx

Report and Interview by Steve Mascord, Kerrang!, 16 June 1990

In the inauspicious surroundings of small town America it sounds like a storm is brewing. It's the eve of the new KISS world tour and ...

Heavy Metal Mania: It's More Than Music

Overview by Deanne Stillman, The New York Times, 12 May 1991

With myriad clubs, fanzines and hair salons, rude dudeness (tattoos included) is a way of life. ...

Kiss: Who You Calling Gay?

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, June 1992

Shameless image-mongers? Absolutely. Cynical marketing merchants? Good point. Purveyors of welterweight pop metal? Fair comment. But gay? "You’ll meet enough women who’ll tell you we’re ...

Kiss: The Tongue Remains The Same

Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 6 June 1992

Wise up puckers! Are Neanderthal Moz-bashers KISS born-again rawk monsters or lip-smackin' duds? Ironic or moronic? Sexy or sexist? DAVID QUANTICK trades, ahem, licks with ...

Kiss Off

Report and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, GQ, January 1994

As the nation turns its lonely eyes to the Seventies for inspiration, they alight fondly on Kiss, who were stupider and crasser than anyone — ...

My Weirdest Gig

Report and Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, February 1994

Collapsing stages in Japan! Elephant farts in Vegas! Eskimo shows in Alaska! A Survey of Abominable Venues and Disastrous Shows! ...

KISS — the Tribute Album

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Kerrang!, 1996

KISS MY ASS, they're thinking of calling the KISS tribute album . "If people think I'm smug about any of this stuff", says Gene Simmons, ...

Kiss: Palace Of Auburn Hills, Detroit

Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, January 1997

CAN NOTHING stop these brutes? ...

KISS: Back catalogue reissues

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1998

Kiss/ Hotter Than Hell// Dressed To Kill/ Alive!/ Destroyer/ Rock And Roll Over/ Love Gun/ Alive II/ Double Platinum/ Dynasty/ Unmasked/ Music From The Elder/ ...

Kiss and Tell: The Ultimate Show Band Talk about Music, Makeup, and More

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 6 November 1998

TAKE A LOOK at the picture of KISS accompanying this story. You may now stop reading, if you wish, or so says KISS bassist-singer Gene ...

An Interview with Bruce Kulick

Interview by Joe Matera, Powerplay, 2002

Former KISS six-stringer Bruce Kulick needs no introduction. He is a well-respected musician, songwriter and guitarist in his own right. After his stint in one ...

Gene Simmons: Kiss and Make-up - The Autobiography of Gene Simmons (Century)

Review by Tim Clifford, Rock's Backpages, March 2002

THEY WANTED to dress like comic-book superheroes and write football-terrace anthems like Slade. Out of such dumb genius, vast fortunes are made. Kiss were also ...

Kiss and Cher: the minder reveals all

Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 3 September 2003

For 30 years, Michael Francis has been a bodyguard and fixer to some of rocks least controllable artists. He tells Mick Brown what it takes ...

Kiss: Masters of the Universe

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2006

They came from Detroit City but could have leapt from the pages of a DC comic. Thirty years ago, KISS — the biggest and trashiest ...

Gene Simmons: Into The Belly Of The Beast

Interview by Elmo Keep, www.fasterlouder.com.au, 20 February 2008

"This is Gene Simmons," says the voice on the phone. There I was, sitting – more correctly, innocently lounging – in the meeting room of ...

Kiss: Overblown, Overpaid And Over Here

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 May 2008

For the headliners of Download heavy metal festival, there are millions to be made, fans to ogle (and sometimes sleep with), and platform boots to ...

Paul Stanley: Face the Music – A Life Exposed (HarperOne)

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 9 April 2014

WITH THE publication of this glitter-, greasepaint- and leather-slathered tome, all four original members of KISS have now penned their autobiographies. ...

What happened when Kiss went to Moscow

Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 18 May 2017

WHEN GENE SIMMONS decided he wanted to be a rock star, he made a deal with his mother: be in a band but show me how ...

Gene Simmons

Report and Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, 11 December 2018

The Demon looks back on a year of booming business – and ahead to the KISS split. ...

see also Frehley's Comet

see also Gene Simmons

see also Bruce Kulick

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