By Grace Cornell

We had barely scanned our tickets when four men passed me wearing platform shoes and full faces of makeup. They towered over me and walked with ease in the heeled shoes. Their leather jackets looked like they could swallow me whole, and the studs on the back could probably injure someone. My dad immediately started laughing at my bewildered face. He knew then that I was in for a wild ride. He was right. I’d never seen anything like it, and they weren’t even the real thing.

The rock band KISS was founded in New York in 1973. Over the next 40-plus years, they went on to play thousands of sold out shows over 30-plus tours, lose and gain members, set various pieces of clothing and props on fire, don exotic makeup, shock the world by not wearing makeup for 17 years, and, in 2016, completely change the life of a thirteen-year-old girl. 

Photo credit: Wikimedia user KissBoy25.

I was in eighth grade when my dad Todd Cornell, an executive at Wells Fargo by day, took me to the Richmond Coliseum to see KISS on their Freedom To Rock Tour; the same band my grandmother and dad saw for his first concert ever, 39 years earlier at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, on December 20, 1977. Before going to see KISS, I had been to three large stadium concerts. I’d seen One Direction twice, in Raleigh at the PNC Arena and in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, and Taylor Swift once, in Washington, D.C at Nationals Park. I didn’t think that I was someone who you would find at a KISS concert; the band had been around for over 40 years, and I was only 13 at the time. However, my dad said it would be fun, which I will now say is the understatement of the century. 

There’s nothing like going to see live music, but there’s definitely nothing like a KISS concert. The energy there is on a completely different scale. Before we went, my dad explained to me that KISS starts every one of their concerts the same way. An announcer will yell, “All right (insert city here)! You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world, KISS!” 

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see when the curtain dropped to reveal the band playing the opening chords of “Detroit Rock City,” but it was electric watching them play on top of raised platforms with thousands of flashing lights all around. My ears were ringing for hours after the concert, and I was slightly scared from watching bassist and singer Gene Simmons spit blood, but I can confidently say it was one of the best nights of my life.

KISS was founded in 1973 after lead singer and guitarist Paul Stanley and singer/bassist Gene Simmons left their original band, Wicked Lester, and eventually met drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley. The band recorded their first album, KISS, in late 1973, and it was released on February 18, 1974. Their following album, Hotter Than Hell, was released on October 22, 1974 and did not sell well. However, the band’s live shows were starting to gain attention. Their wild theatrical makeup and outrageous stunts shocked audiences and made people notice them. The more attention they gained, the stunts became more outlandish, and the heels grew taller. 

KISS made the decision to wear their wild makeup and costumes as a way of showing respect to the stages they were playing on. Simmons says that “getting up onstage was almost a holy place for us, like church, so being onstage looking like a bum wasn’t my idea of respect. That’s where the makeup and dressing up came in.” 

Each member created a personality with their makeup. Stanley was “Star Child,” Simmons was the “Demon,” Criss was “Catman,” and Frehley was “Spaceman.” The black and white makeup and distinct personalities were the band’s way of separating themselves from the ever-growing drag scene of the 70s, and from other hard-rock bands like the New York Dolls. KISS’ makeup was more dramatic, the characters were their own, and no one else was spitting “gallons of (presumably fake) blood onto the stage,” like Simmons. 

KISS is recognizable because of their makeup, and Simmons told CNN Wire that, “by some estimates, KISS are the four most recognized faces on planet Earth. I’ll prove it to you. Do you know what the king of Sweden looks like? That’s funny, because everybody in Sweden knows what KISS looks like.” The band is well aware that their iconic looks are a large part of their immense success. So what made them take off their makeup on September 18, 1983?

KISS appeared without makeup for the first time on television while doing an interview with MTV in 1983. The band was promoting their newest album, Lick it Up, which would be the start of their fresh-faced era. The reveal shocked millions and sparked backlash from longtime KISS fans. However, the disappointment did not affect album sales, which skyrocketed, and Lick it Up would eventually go platinum. No matter what the fans’ reactions were, the band was happy with their decision and defended it on multiple occasions. Both Stanley and Simmons gave reasons for “unmasking” themselves during the initial MTV interview, and they spoke about how the only thing changing was the makeup, nothing else. Stanley said, “The makeup never had anything to do with the [special effects smoke] bombs so or doing splits.” Simmons added to his point by saying, “the makeup was just a sort of a stage manifestation of who we are… KISS is still KISS. The same energy and drive and commitment to doing everything short of killing ourselves to give people the best show in the world.” 

KISS’ decision to take off the makeup also stemmed from the comings and goings of original band members Criss and Frehley. Criss left in May 1980 and was replaced by drummer Eric Carr, who created a new character, the Fox. Two years later, Frehley left to pursue a solo career, and guitarist Vinny Vincent replaced him and took on the new persona of the Egyptian ankh. The two new members were with the band during the unmasking and year following. Sadly, Carr passed away on November 24, 1991 from a form of heart cancer. Carr was replaced by Eric Singer in December  1991. 

Singer and Vincent remained with the band until Criss and Frehley returned in anticipation of a reunion tour in 1996. All four original members reunited on stage, in full makeup and costumes, at the 38th Grammy Awards on February 28, 1996. This was their first time in full KISS personas, together, in 17 years. They were introduced by the late Tupac (2Pac) Shakur, who said, “You know how the Grammys used to be all straight-lookin’ folks with suits, everybody lookin’ tired, no surprises. We tired of that… So let’s shock the people.” As he spoke, the original members of KISS made their way onto the stage and officially announced their reunion tour, Alive/Worldwide. 

In February 2001, Criss left the band again and Singer returned, this time taking on the Catman persona and makeup. The public did not receive Singer in the Catman makeup positively. They were upset that someone other than Criss was wearing the character. Fan unrest grew when Frehley left in March 2002 and was replaced by Tommy Thayer, who wore Frehley’s iconic Spaceman makeup and costume. Fans weren’t shy to express their criticism of the new members wearing the old ones’ looks. However, the members of KISS weren’t too worried about what the public was saying. Simmons bluntly told Rolling Stone, “Why wouldn’t we use the classic makeup?… We own it.”

Simmons’ simple response was very on-brand for the band, as they regularly speak their minds, not caring about what people were going to think. Stanley says, “Our only rule has been there’s no rules… That’s hard for some people to accept… We don’t listen to the status quo, and that we don’t listen to what other people are doing. We trust our own judgment.” Their “listen to nobody” attitude is why so many people love them, and it’s been there since the start. For those reasons, my father has loved the band for decades, because there is truly no other band like them. 

Photo credit: Dustin Gaffke.

My dad first started listening to KISS when he was ten years old, in 1976, and their personas are why he began to like them so much. He describes KISS as “superheroes meet music.” His favorite era of KISS was the 70s because, according to him, it had the best music, and it was “different than anything else I’d ever heard.” My dad also says that during that time, “a lot of people were into disco, and KISS was definitely better than disco.” Over his life, my dad has attended seven KISS concerts, seeing all the original members and their replacements. In 1977, KISS played two nights at the Capital Centre in Maryland. My dad attended one show, and his soon-to-be-best friend, Chuck Graves, attended the other night. They didn’t realize the coincidence for years, but now there’s not a dinner where they don’t bring it up. KISS is a connecting force for them, just as it is for my father and I, and for millions of fans. 

Tony Bennett, a writer for the Duluth News Tribune, writes, “when you’re standing in the crowd, the lights go down, and the band emerges in a fusillade of pyro and blinding flashes and drops the undeniable anthem ‘Detroit Rock City,’ it’s hard to not crack a smile.” He’s right. Even if you’ve never seen KISS or heard any of their music, you can’t help being amazed at the stage production they put on night after night. Their concerts have provided some incredible memories for my dad and I. Surprisingly, seeing parent-child duos at the concerts is quite common. Del Furano, the president of Live Nation Merchandising, the company that licenses KISS merch, remarks, “if you go to a KISS concert now, it’s remarkable. You see multi-generations. A lot of it just comes from Paul and Gene, and what they’ve created.” His statement is true on many levels, as I’ve seen people old enough to be my grandfather walk through the concert holding the hand of a child younger than me. Age doesn’t matter at KISS concerts, because everyone is just there to have a good time. Guitarist Tommy Thayer also sums up the KISS concert experience perfectly, saying, “Our crowd is so diverse, I mean everybody comes to a KISS show… Everybody wants to go out, and it’s a must-see, and everybody has to check it out.” 

In my dad’s words, “It’s always special to share something you like with your kids, and it allowed us to have some fun 1:1 adventures.” Two years after the concert at the Coliseum, and after some persistent begging, I saw KISS again, this time at Madison Square Garden in New York City, an arena they’ve sold out 15 times, on my birthday, March 27, 2019. It was supposed to be the last KISS concert my dad and I would ever see, because it was their final tour. I put this trip up on a pedestal in my mind, because of all the surrounding circumstances: New York City (one of my favorite places in the world), on my 16th birthday (a pretty important date, in my opinion). However, that was not the last time we saw KISS. As my mom and I were leaving a UVA basketball game on December 8, 2019, I almost walked straight into a cardboard cutout of the band outside our section, and I knew it was a sign. I immediately texted my dad, and, eleven months after Madison Square Garden, we saw KISS in Charlottesville at John Paul Jones Arena on February 7, 2020, a place where I’d watched basketball games for 16 years, and once again it was even better than the previous concert. I felt very fortunate to be able to attend a concert for one of my favorite bands just over a month before concerts in general stopped happening. It was the perfect concert to hold in my memory as the last concert I saw before the pandemic. 

I have loved blasting their music through my headphones in my room, reminding me of the concerts I’ve been to. I’ll wear my KISS t-shirt, hoping someone asks me about it so I can flaunt that I listen to them and have been to concerts. I loved seeing the shocked faces of teachers and other adults when I told them I love KISS. No one expects me to love a 40-year-old rock band with painted faces, and maybe that’s why I like to astound people with my love of KISS. 

Aspects of my life are predictable, like my clothes and the tv shows I watch, but KISS isn’t. When I’m at a KISS concert, I’m bonding with my dad, I’m jumping up and down with thousands of people, I’m completely out of my comfort zone, wearing ripped jeans, a band t-shirt, and heavy eyeliner. I can let go during KISS concerts because the music and the atmosphere allows me to. I love KISS because it surprises grown ups and confuses my friends, but most importantly, it’s something I’ll be able to share with my dad forever.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Grace Cornell.