In a recent – and wide-ranging – interview with Michael Franzese, Gene Simmons revisited the origins of KISS, recounting how a perfect mix of talent, timing, and sheer audacity propelled the band from obscurity to rock superstardom. Simmons described this as a kind of cosmic alignment, a rare “singularity” that allowed KISS to capture the world’s imagination.
“Scientists talk about this kind of a thing. And there is such a thing as singularity. Things happen, and that means that it doesn’t often happen, just occasionally, that could be a millennium, or something just happens when the planets align; you have the right thing at the right place at the right time,” Simmons explained when reflecting about the inception of the band.
The first of these alignments, according to Simmons, was meeting Paul Stanley. “The first right thing at the right place at the right time was when I met Paul Stanley, my partner, who knew stuff I didn’t know, and hopefully, at least he told me, I knew stuff he didn’t know. And then one plus one equals three. And then we decided to put together the band we never saw on stage.”
Their vision for KISS included a focus on visuals, inspired by the likes of The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles. Simmons elaborated: “We wanted to get the songs and everything, but we noticed that the bands we liked… had unique visuals so that if you closed your eyes, you saw it. And there were lots of hits on the radio where if you closed your eyes, you couldn’t tell… Foreigner was a very good band that had a lot of hits. You close your eyes, you have no idea who’s in the band and you don’t care. And predominantly that’s the thing. And so we wanted the visuals to be part of it. And we didn’t know that it would become a multi-billion-dollar industry. I mean, KISS continues to be — everything from KISS caskets and KISS condoms; we’ll get you cumming and we’ll get you going.”
Recruiting the right band members was another stroke of luck. “So, once we got Ace and Peter, the two original guys, and it’s worth noting Paul and I went to see Peter play in a gentleman’s club, very small, but where they went, they played in a trio and the drummer wore — Peter Criss — had scarves on and he was singing Wilson Pickett, you know, R&B songs. And he had the right voice and the vibe.”
However, Simmons recognized that not everyone has the endurance to stay in the race: “Not everybody has the genes, not everybody can run a marathon. There are some people whose genes, whose DNA, are more akin to running a short race, which is why very few bands last a long time. The Beatles lasted seven years — shockingly. We’ve been around 52 years, with different members and all that, because not everybody lasts.”
Simmons vividly recalled a pivotal moment during their early days: “We’re sitting around in our rat-infested loft, 10 East 23rd Street, and we’d been rehearsing. It’s a rat trap and a fire trap. No windows, nothing. And after the rehearsal, one of us — I don’t know who — said, ‘Hey, let’s go down to Woolworth’s.’ … And so we somehow veered towards the Halloween area, and there was clown makeup. Stein’s clown white, a jar, and Stein’s black lipstick. For some reason, Paul Stanley went to the red lipstick thing — I don’t know why — and we just bought the stuff and we bought two mirrors… And nobody said, ‘I have an idea. Let’s sit down. We’ll do this.’ Like, if you’d look at it, you’d say, ‘Okay, who’s telling you what to do?’ No, it’s just happening.”
Each member’s makeup reflected their personality. “Peter Criss liked cats, so he was doing that. I was always been fascinated by horror movies and sci-fi, imagery. And Ace always talked about that he’s from another planet and stuff… Paul Stanley, originally the makeup was a circle, or black, around his eye. And we looked around, and we go, ‘What the hell is that?’ … So he decided just to use one.”
The transformation was immediate. “Between that first application of the makeup to about three weeks later, I called up a local… club, the Coventry, and convinced them to book us sight unseen or anything else for 35 bucks. 35 bucks! Wow. And I remember there may have been 10 or 15 people there… And that was it. But we were on stage in makeup, like, getting off. Something was going on. Within a year and a half of the band forming, end of 1973, we were headlining Anaheim Stadium before MTV, before digital. We didn’t even have hit records. Something happened. It just pervaded culture.”
Reflecting on the band’s success, Simmons said, “We had no manager. Paul and I had a record contract from before with Epic for a band called Wicked Lester. And we finished the album, we got 40, 50 grand, whatever… And we fired the other three guys and went back to square one and decided to get new guys and write different kinds of songs… And right away it clicked.”
“In a very strange way, KISS became a very big band without hit songs,” Simmons noted. “It was about the live shows… We would literally blow away any act that dared put us on stage. We’d just blow them off the stage.”
Finally, Simmons reflected on the importance of timing and visuals. “I keep going back to the right thing at the right place at the right time. If you take any one of those away, your chances diminish. In the quote golden age of rock and roll… there’s that thing. But certainly, I think, it’s a big puzzle, and it helps, certainly helps… Visuals help.”
From their humble beginnings to their groundbreaking influence on rock culture, KISS’s legacy is a testament to the creativity, boldness, and power of being at the right place at the right time.