Kiss

KISS is known for their on stage feats that includes, but is not limited to, fire breathing, blood spiting, and extensive pyrotechnics. KISS is one of the oldest rock bands, which was founded in 1972 in New York City by the founding members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Before Simmons and Stanley came up with the idea of forming KISS, they were band members of the band named Wicked Lester, however due to their music style, the band didn't do well commercially, which is why both of them left Wicked Lester, to form up a new band. Sooner than later Stanley and Simmons saw an ad given by the drummer, Peter Criss, who was also in need of band members. The trio formed up a band together, and played much harder version of rock than they did back in the Wicked Lester days. Apart from that, they also started wearing face paints and experimented different outfits, like other rock bands of that era. Later in the December of 1972, the band welcomed Ace Frehley as the lead guitarist of the band. Soon after his arrival in the band, the band changed its name for Wicked Lester to KISS. The name KISS for the band was suggest by the band member Stanley, after Criss mentioned that he was the former band member of the band named Lips.

With the new name and line up, the band performed for the first time on January 30, 1973 at then Popcorn Club, which is currently known as Coventry in Queens. In the same year, in March, the band recorded its first 5 track demo tape, which was produced by Eddie Kramer. The band also hired Bill Aucoin as its general manager in mid of October, who got the band, a record deal with then newly created Emerald City Records, now known as Casablanca Records.

The band started recording their debut album on October 10, 1973 and went on brief national tour on February 5, 1974. The very same year on February 18, KISS' self titled debut album was released. Although the release was followed by extensive publicity, but group nor Casablanca Records were able to sell more than 75000 units of their debut album. Later on the band released their second studio album, Hotter than Hell, on October 22, 1974, which peaked at # 100 on Albums Chart.

Following the insignificant sales of their second album as well the band decided to cancel their tour and record their third studio album instead. Their third studio album entitled Dressed to kill was released on March 19, 1975 and was produced by Neil Bogart. Although the album didn't do very well commercially, but still it did well as compared to band's previous album.

Even though KISS didn't do very well when it came to selling albums, but they did however earned quite a fame due to their live performances that incorporated acts like, fire breathing, blood spiting, flaming guitars, extensive pyrotechnics and many more.

Due to poor album sales, Casablanca was almost bankrupt; hence both the group and record company needed a breakthrough album that could keep both the band and the record company going. Hence KISS utilized their live performances at the hour of the need as those live performances were KISS' strong points; hence the band released their first live album entitled "Alive!" on September 10, 1975. The album proved out to be just the break through the band and Casablanca needed in order to survive, as the album received certified Gold Status.

After that a number of live and studio albums followed that did comparatively well, commercially as compared to the band's earlier albums, when the band was struggling. As of today, KISS has released a total of 18 studio albums and 8 Live Albums. Their most recent studio album was Psycho Circus that was released back in 1998. KISS released its latest compilation album Ikons on October 21, 2008, which didn't feature any new content.

This fall KISS would be performing live on their first ever fan routed tour national tour, specifically for the North American region. The official announcement of the tour was made on April 7, 2009, in which the members of the band's fan site would vote and decided in which cities of North America they would like to see KISS perform.

Considered as one of the most successful hard rock and metal bands of all time, Kiss personifies the real madness of rock music. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with elaborate live performances, flamboyant stage outfits, and painted faces of the band's members serving as its USP. The band struggled a bit during the 1980s due to personal differences among its members but they finally reunited to create the old magic of Kiss one more time. Having sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, Kiss is surely the most identifiable rock act of today. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and company always ensure a valuable live experience for the rock lovers; so getting Kiss Tickets is the best deal that you can make!