KISS News Bits

[Terry]

So what you are saying is based on the music they were releasing they were not likely to pick up new fans?

I think there was generally a downward trajectory in record sales for KISS after Animalize up until Hot In The Shade...basically, KISS were struggling to make platinum sales with Asylum and Crazy Nights.

I believe there was a slight uptick in sales for Hot In The Shade, and Revenge sold well, but then Alive 3 pretty much tanked.

I mean, there was a reason KISS were doing those conventions in 1994 and 1995, and it wasn't because they were selling albums and filling concert halls like they were in the mid to late 1970s.

I'd imagine the band might have picked up a few new fans in the 80s, but by the time Lick It Up rolled around and the greasepaint came off, KISS were old hat. The band had trouble getting financing and production start-up costs to mount a tour and stay on the road and there were a lot of half-filled halls on those 1980s KISS tours. I mean, the band went into a structured bankruptcy in 1989, resulting from a combination of bad business deals, advances on albums that didn't end up selling well and shrinking tour guarantees.

That reunion tour in 1996 came along at just the right time...and not just for Ace and Peter, either.

[rockhead]

Speaking of Peter Criss, has anyone ready his biography, i got it for xmas and still going through it, but fuck he unleashes on Paul and Gene, mainly how Paul and Genes ego fucked the band.Of all the songs Peter sung on i always love "Dirty Livin", i love the song and also Ace's guitar playing in it.

[philouze]

If Peter bashes Gene, that's totally fair. $immon$ always bashed Criss back in the 80s. Still does.
That's what it is, IMHO: fair game.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Speaking of Peter Criss, has anyone ready his biography, i got it for xmas and still going through it, but fuck he unleashes on Paul and Gene

Do you think that would be unjustified ?? Chaim and Stanley have been shitting on Ace and Peter for decades....

[fraroc]

I'm not surprised at all that Peter would talk bad about Gene and Paul for what they're doing. Peter constantly shits on Tommy Thayer for taking Ace's place, and he even outright said in youtube interview "You know, to me it's not Kiss anymore. It's a cover band." And scores of former KissArmy members will agree with him. I for one agree and disagree. Kiss sounds pretty good today, Tommy Thayer is one hell of a guitarist, Eric Singer is a great drummer. Paul unfortunatly still has bad days with his voice. But I do wish that Gene and Paul will let Tommy and Eric have their own makeup designs and let them be their own characters on stage.

[Dave's Bitch]

But can you imagine how much money it would cost to come up with two new characters for Tommy and Eric.Kiss is a brand as much as it is a band and they have made it very clear to them Kiss are the characters,not the musicians themselves.They would need to stop all the current merchandise with Ace and Peter's makeup on and design and produce a whole new range with these new characters. Financially it would be a very bad move

[silverfish]

But can you imagine how much money it would cost to come up with two new characters for Tommy and Eric.Kiss is a brand as much as it is a band ....

Yep, and one guess who'd wanna own the ©/™ to any new KISS characters.
Even if they were given the freedom to create a character, no way are Tommy
& Eric gonna be allowed to own anything they come up with. Best to keep filling
the shoes and collecting a paycheck.

[fraroc]

I read his book in its entirety. I loved it. Out of all of the Kiss autobios, Peter's seems to be the most brutally honest of them all. He is relentless in his opinions, and he tells the absolute truth. Ace admitted that he can't remember years of his life and Gene's book, as good as it is, is very biased.

Somehow I expected Peter would end his tenure with Kiss with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer being Public Enemy No.1, 2 and 3.

[Terry]

I read his book in its entirety. I loved it. Out of all of the Kiss autobios, Peter's seems to be the most brutally honest of them all. He is relentless in his opinions, and he tells the absolute truth. Ace admitted that he can't remember years of his life and Gene's book, as good as it is, is very biased.

Somehow I expected Peter would end his tenure with Kiss with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer being Public Enemy No.1, 2 and 3.

Oh, yeah, brutally honest to the point where reading some of the things he said about HIMSELF made me wince...

The stuff about Simmons and Stanley wasn't that shocking: even among entertainers, those two guys embrace naked greed in a manner that never fails to astound. Who really gives a hoot about Tommy Thayer? At least Eric Singer has played with other really good bands and acts besides KISS. Thayer played with, at best, a 3rd string 80s hair band and is now an Ace Frehley clone. I'm sure the pay is great, but he's barely even worth talking about.

He was pretty unsparing about virtually everybody else as well (who knew that Mark St. John was into kiddie porn?), but there was a level of honesty that definitely set it apart from many other rock autobios...many of which tend to be whitewashes. I mean, some of the stuff in that book made Motley Crue look like a bunch of lightweights.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Monster was a shit album.

Did you actually listen to it, or are you just saying it's shit?

[Mr. Vengeance]

I think there was generally a downward trajectory in record sales for KISS after Animalize up until Hot In The Shade...basically, KISS were struggling to make platinum sales with Asylum and Crazy Nights.

.

Seems to me both Asylum and Crazy Nights sold pretty well. Both albums had hits and videos in rotation. Asylum had "Tears are Falling", "Uh All Night" and "Who Wants To Be Lonely?"

[fraroc]

Oh, yeah, brutally honest to the point where reading some of the things he said about HIMSELF made me wince...

The stuff about Simmons and Stanley wasn't that shocking: even among entertainers, those two guys embrace naked greed in a manner that never fails to astound. Who really gives a hoot about Tommy Thayer? At least Eric Singer has played with other really good bands and acts besides KISS. Thayer played with, at best, a 3rd string 80s hair band and is now an Ace Frehley clone. I'm sure the pay is great, but he's barely even worth talking about.

He was pretty unsparing about virtually everybody else as well (who knew that Mark St. John was into kiddie porn?), but there was a level of honesty that definitely set it apart from many other rock autobios...many of which tend to be whitewashes. I mean, some of the stuff in that book made Motley Crue look like a bunch of lightweights.

I agree, some of the stuff he said was unfuckingbelievable. But however, I feel that Paul is more...human than Gene. Gene is a lost cause when it comes to being addicted to money. Paul is at least a human being that cares about other people. I do feel that especially now in 2012, Paul is Gene's puppet.

And about Mark St. John, who'da thunk it? It was probably underrage teen girls.

[Terry]

Seems to me both Asylum and Crazy Nights sold pretty well. Both albums had hits and videos in rotation. Asylum had "Tears are Falling", "Uh All Night" and "Who Wants To Be Lonely?"

I'd have to recheck the stats, but at the time of their inital release they both went gold fairly quickly but didn't break the million mark for a few years...

I mean, hey, most bands would kill just to sell half a million records, but the sales of Asylum and Crazy Nights were a bit of step down the ladder for a band that less than a decade earlier had to chutzpah to release a greatest hits compilation titled Double Platinum...

[Mr. Vengeance]

I'd have to recheck the stats, but at the time of their inital release they both went gold fairly quickly but didn't break the million mark for a few years...

I mean, hey, most bands would kill just to sell half a million records, but the sales of Asylum and Crazy Nights were a bit of step down the ladder for a band that less than a decade earlier had to chutzpah to release a greatest hits compilation titled Double Platinum...

I always tell people that want to experience KISS' heyday and don't own any albums to buy Double Platinum. You get pretty much all the hits without having to spend all the cash.

[kissfan1976]

I think Creatures Of The Night is a very underrated KISS album.
Great heavy tunes like the title track, War Machine, I Love It Loud, Killer.
I think because of Music From The Elder alot of people and fans ignored it when first released.