75 KISS FACTS
1. Some of the equipment that appeared in the labratory scenes of the original
movie "Frankenstein" was actually used onstage by KISS, and was provided
by Ken Strickfadden, the man who built it for the 1931 movie.
2. Paul grew up on classical music, since that's what his parents liked.When
he was a little kid, he was a big fan of Italian opera.
3. Ace considers himself the "black sheep" of his family. His sister has
a masters degree in chemistry,and his brother is a classical guitarist.
4. Paul says he does'nt listen to his own music much.
5. One of Peter's musical idols was big band drummer Gene Krupa.
He says he loves Big Band music.
6. Ace was an art student, and he designed the KISS logo.
7. Peter is a high school dropout and ex-member of a Brooklyn street gang
called "The Phantom Lords".
8. Gene is one of the top fire-breathers in the world.
The world record is a 20 ft. flame. Gene can hit 15 ft..
9. It takes an average of 45 minutes to put their make-up on perfectly.
It could be done in 25 minutes in a
pinch.
10. The KISS blood taken from them for their comic book's dye vats, was delivered
to the printer in an armored
truck.
11. The KISS Army began in Indiana when locals marched on a radio station
to protest their not playing
KISS.
12. Before they chose the name KISS, the group considered the names "Albatross"
and "F**k".
13. Ace says that one of his ambitions in life is to go to another
planet.
14. Before Gene became The Demon, he was a
sixth grade school
teacher.
15. At one time Paul wanted to be an
anthropologist.
16. Paul attended the High School of Music and Art in
Manhatten.
17. Before joining KISS, Peter had 11 years of musical
experience.
18. The first thing Peter bought with his KISS royalties was a tombstone
for his
grandmother.
19. Ace Frehley revealed, "Every time I ever record a lead vocal,
I've had to do it on my back. If I stand up and try to sing,
I can't hit the notes
sometimes.
20. Gene's tongue has been measured at over 7 inches
long.
21. Gene speaks four languages fluently -
English,Hebrew,German,and
Hungarian.
22. Paul is a culinary sophisticate and fine wine collector -
German white wines are his
specialty.
23. Eric Carr was left handed in everything he did, except play
drums.
24. Gene Simmons was taught how to breathe fire by a magician named
Amaze-O.
25. In the late 80's, Gene Simmons filmed a pilot for an ABC series called
"Jon Sable," but turned down his role for the fall season due to his conflicting
Kiss
schedule.
26. In 1988, Bruce Kulick auditioned to play lead guitar on Mick Jagger's
"Primitive Cool" solo album, but lost out to Jeff
Beck.
27. Currently, the Kiss Unplugged show is the second highest rated MTV Unplugged
special right behind Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
28. The piano heard on the song "Christine Sixteen" was played by Gene
Simmons.
29. Because of the contract Kiss signed with Phonogram Records in 1980, Peter
Criss received royalties on albums he didn't play on, including "Lick it
Up," "Animalize," and "Asylum." Paul and Gene bought out Peter's share in
1987.
30. In 1979, Kiss and their management company purchased over 190 acres in
Cincinnati, OH for a Kiss amusement park, which of course was never
built.
31. When Eric Carr recorded his vocal for "Beth" in 1988, he actually sat
in the same exact stool that Peter Criss sat on during the original recording
of the song in
1976.
32. Prior to joining Kiss in late 1972, Ace Frehley recorded an album for
RCA Records with a group called Millemo that was never
released.
33. The photo that was to be used for the cover of the 1972 unreleased Wicked
Lester album featuring Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons was used in 1979 for
an album by a group called the Laughing
Dogs.
34. In 1994, Kiss was offered $1 million dollars to reunite in makeup with
Ace and Peter and headline the Woodstock II festival. Paul and Gene were
quick to turn it
down.
35. In 1979, Kiss spent over $1 million on a special laser effects system
for the "Dynasty" tour, which included an effect where Paul shot a laser
from his eye. The entire system, however was never used on the
tour.
36. In 1978, Kiss was the first band offered the role of F.V.B (Future Villain
Band) in the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," that starred
Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. Kiss turned down the role in fear of hurting
their "super hero" image, and it was then given to
Aerosmith.
37. In his early years, Gene Simmons entered a Jewish Rabbinical school to
become a
Rabbi.
38. When Eric Carr joined the band in 1980, there was talk of him actually
recording a KISS solo album, so the band commissioned the same artist who
painted the 4 solo album covers to paint one of Eric. The painting is now
is Eric's family's
possession.
39. In 1980, Kiss was planning on putting out a line of designer jeans with
the KISS logo on the rear right pocket. A prototype was made, but the line
was never put out to the
public.
40. Vinnie Vincent's Egyptian Warrior character was actually conceived and
created by Paul Stanley in late
1982.
41. Kiss was originally planning on calling the "Crazy Nights" album either
"Who Dares Wins" or
"Condomnation."
42. In late 1987, Paul Stanley was slated to produce Poison's second album,
"Open Up and Say Ahh," as well as an album from Cher, but had to pull out
due to the "Crazy Nights" tour
schedule.
43. The newscast heard at the beginning of "Detroit Rock City" on the "Destroyer"
album was actually read by Gene Simmons
himself.
44. Before deciding on "Revenge," Kiss was actually considering calling their
1992 album "Destroyer
II."
45. When Kiss had to replace Ace Frehley in 1982, well known guitarists such
as Punky Meadows from Angel, Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi, and even Eddie
Van Halen wanted to audition for the
group.
46. Paul Stanley's lead guitar solo debut on a Kiss recording was the intro
to "C'mon and Love Me" on "Dressed to Kill" in
1975.
47. The announcer who says "You wanted the best...." on the first "Alive"
album is Junior Smalling, who was the band's first road
manager.
48. The guitar solos on the songs "All American Man" and "Exciter" were played
by Rick Derringer ("Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo"
fame).
49. All the lead guitar work on Paul Stanley's songs off the "Unmasked" album
was actually played by Paul
himself.
50. The solo album morph that is seen on the video screens right before the
encores during the Kiss reunion concerts was created by Ace Frehley on his
home computer
system.
51. Kiss had originally planned to record Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock"
for the fourth side of "Alive
II."
52. Even though "Alive II" is said to be recorded in Los Angeles during the
"Love Gun" tour, the version of "Beth" on the album was recorded in Tokyo,
Japan a few months prior, during the "Rock and Roll Over"
tour.
53. Right before joining Kiss in 1982, Vinnie Vincent was a staff songwriter
for the TV program, "Happy Days," writing all the songs that Joanie and Chachi
sang on the
show.
54. Out of the 4 1978 solo albums, Peter's was the only one not to have had
a Billboard Hot 100 Chart single, yet his was the only one to have had 2
singles released from
it.
55. In 1982, Paul Stanley had made his acting debut in a cameo role in the
comedy movie "Young Doctor's in Love." He played himself, in makeup, but
as a patient who had accidentally swallowed a microphone onstage. Unfortunately,
Paul's scene was cut out of the final print of the
movie.
56. In 1983, Gene Simmons turned down the male, romantic, leading role in
"Flashdance," in fear of hurting his
image.
57. Gene Simmons played guitar on "Plaster Caster","Almost
Human","Killer","Cadillac Dreams" and 'Great Expectations" (among
others).
58. Eric Carr played bass guitar parts on "Escape From The Island", "I Still
Love You", and "Little
Ceasar".
59. Animalize is KISS's biggest selling 80's album, having sold over 2 million
copies.
60. Bruce Kulick played the guitar solo on "Lonely Is The Hunter" because
Mark St.John could'nt get it
right.
61. Half of Ace Frehley's face on the cover of the album "Hotter Than Hell"
was super-imposed because he cut it in a small car crash and could'nt apply
make-up to the cut part of his
face.
62. Jean Beaviour (formerly of the Plasmatics) played bass parts on "Get
All You Can Take" and "Thrills In The
Night".
63. Bruce Kulick and Bob Ezrin played the bass parts on "Everytime I Look
At You".
64. Eric Carr's early name for a KISS stage name was Rusty Blade.The name
was nixed,but Eric used it as his hotel check-in name when on
tour.
65. "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" is the only KISS video to ever be nominated
for an MTV Video Music Award. It was nominated for Best Cinamagraphy in
1984.
66. In the early years, KISS was well known for stacking lots of speaker
cabinets at shows, creating a "wall of sound" to blast the audience away.
But a lot of those cabinets were empty - KISS was thundering through shows
with only a handful of
speakers.
67. The photo shoot for KISS' first album almost ended in disaster. The
photographer knew the band wore face paint, but misunderstood that they were
serious about their look. He brought balloons, straw hats and red rubber
noses to the
shoot.
68. KISS' outfits would get so sweaty that the band members had to hang their
leather costumes to dry. If KISS had a few days off, mold would grow in their
boots - the guys had to spray Lysol in them to keep the mold
out.
69. Ace onced superglued virtually every piece of furniture in his hotel
room to the
ceiling.
70. The KISS logo is banned in Germany because the "SS" looks Nazi-esque.
The band uses a modified logo when touring
there.
71. The photo cover to "Alive!" - KISS first live album - looks like the
band's playing during a concert. The picture was actually taken in an empty
theater to get the perfect
photo.
72. Once, the band was on a tour where the road manager for a rival band
would cut the power to the stage so KISS could'nt do encores. That all changed
one night when KISS' road manager held his rival at knife-point and locked
him in an equipment
case.
73. During one of KISS' tours of Japan, the band's mischievous side took
over. They bought little bicycles to ride up and down the hotel hallways,
and - donning helmets and goggles - shot reporters with toy
guns.
74. On June 22, 1974, Paul Stanley collapsed on stage from
exhaustion.
75. KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was the second most watched program
in 1978.
