After a series of disco blunders and pop influenced failures, KISS was looking to recapture the height of their late 70′s fandom. With members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley also having left the group ahead of their latest album ‘Creatures Of The Night’ in 1982 - KISS were looking to reignite their career.
Fans tuned in around the world as the MTV Special: ;KISS Unmasking’ launched on September 18, 1983. According to sources at Yahoo.com, ‘MTV execs stuck KISS’s press conference in the graveyard timeslot of 11 p.m. on a Sunday night’ giving the band’s already big swing on their new image a rocky start. Along with various production ‘why’ decisions such as a panel table, no audience, and no excitement on the set - it’s easy to see why some of KISS’ remaining fandom had trouble coping with the band’s new look.
After the premiere of the special, the band spoke to fanzine Porkchops & Applesauce in 1995 to promote the all-star tribute album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved. Gene Simmons admitted, “Everybody hated it. It was exciting to finally see us, but people were disappointed. They didn’t want the paint to come off. But you know what? Tough. It had to happen. You want your heroes to stay the same forever, but then the consequence of that is you get bored with them.”
Kiss kept the ‘no-makeup’ look for many years, until KISS’s full-face paint reunion tour kicked off in June 1996, less than a year after Simmons’s assertion that reapplying the makeup would be a “sellout” move. Kiss will forever be associated with their crazy, youthful and makeup caked attitude of their early career, even if some fans have eventually warmed up to their ‘real life’ personas as band members continue to tour separately, speak at engagements and appear on the occasional TV show. Band members including Simmons have also given plenty of interviews to assert that they were playing the hands they were dealt at the time - attempting to reinvent the wheel, and selling out a bit in the process.
The real question for KISS fans - Which KISS do you remember? - and which would you rather forget?