How Kiss Stuck Around Together For So Long

Ever wonder how on EARTH can a band be around for THAT long? Well tonight or today, we’re gonna find out.

In order to find out how they stayed together as a band for so long, we must go back to when it ALL started. That cold rainy, wintery night …. oh not that night. (laughing) But the day that.. well actually BEFORE they started.

When they were together, they didn’t have the name KISS. Didn’t even THINK of the band KISS yet.

Before They Became A Band

The first two future members of Kiss, [The band KISS had not formed yet]. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley first met Peter Criss in a night club after he placed an ad saying [drummer willing to do anything.] They liked that he said he was willing to do anything because this would cause them to become larger than life in the future, as they were ready to take it to the next level.

And a BIG level at that. As they began contemplating how they would transform themselves into a behemoth and have WORLD WIDE domination. They came up with a plan to invent larger than life characters. They wanted a macho image.

Sick and tired of the weak glam looking, poor glam looking image of its time, they took to the studio to invent their characters…. Make-up in hand and monstrous scary looking shoes and flames in mouth, as Gene Simmons would later do…. Out comes the image they always dreamed of. Later they would continue to make there image look way better as they progressed forward. Ace Frehley was also a part of this, as he joined the band after he impressed them at his first audition.

Before they came up with this big image, they changed their bands name to KISS. Paul Stanley came up with the name as they were driving around in New York City after Peter Criss told them he used to be in a band called Lips. Paul Stanley yelled out KISS as a reaction to Peter Criss saying his own former bands name, Lips.

A Strong Bond Is Formed Among The New Band Mates

Niel Bogart, there Executive told them the musics ok, everything ok, but the make-ups gotta go and KISS tells him, it’s our way or the highway! And then Neil Bogart says, you sure? Because we can do the shots without it….and they told him, we would BE KISS or we would be nothing!

Bill Aucoin, KISS manager, spurted them into a Super beyond belief magicians extravaganza, literally. Had them squirting out fire from their mouths. Had them lighting, just like magicians, paper on fire. Had them floating in the air with drum sticks in hand as Peter Chris, the drummer is lifted up real high. Fireworks is cracking and popping everywhere and blood sprayed out of Gene Simmons mouth, as it’s mixed with fire….the works!

Neil Bogart and Bill Aucoin made the bands what they are. And helped the band mates form a strong bond with each other. As we know a consistency and a strong group mentality and a team effort is what’s needed to to keep a band on the upper echelon of success.

These two people, Neil Bogart and Bill Aucoin, were instrumental in keeping the band name alive. But could they hold the band, the band called KISS, together forever? Even though both men have passed away. People speculate from time to time, will the band KISS stay forever a band?

Even with the leaving of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, the band KISS still lives on without them. And it’s not a beast that dies simply because it’s members quit. Rumors keep happening, and quite frequently, as to when the original line up will return or not. Everywhere from newspapers to magazines to websites, especially gossip websites won’t let these rumors die down.

What’s Keeping Kiss Alive?

So what’s keeping the band KISS alive? After all these years they still have large crowds, large venues, lots of fans. Even going on American IDOL and America’s Got Talent. From older fans to younger fans. They never alienated their old fans. They’ve garnered in even younger fans as they keep refreshing them in every year. The train never stops picking up more and more fans.

Is it the band KISS itself that is keeping them alive?… Is it the fans?… Or maybe it’s their merchandise…..  Or maybe it’s their money, It’s been reported that they have a net worth of 300 million dollars as a band.

You know what they say, that money’s a motivator….but it’s gotta be more than that because you know as they say, that a man gets tired unless he lives for a cause. Look at Warren Bates, he already has a lot of money but he still works and not only works but works ALL the time. And he’s always investing. And not only investing but telling others how to invest. The man already makes a lot of money, but he keeps on moving and won’t stop.

Is the band KISS like Warren Bates ? Is that why they won’t stop moving? Is this why the band is still going? Is still alive?

Even when the band first started, they all wanted to be famous. Maybe it’s the fame that is keeping them alive. Fame is often a motivating factor for for people wanting to be famous, that keeps them alive long enough to become famous, if they become famous.

Maybe it’s the public backlash—the fear that the public will get mad if you don’t keep playing. People are a very real danger if you don’t give them what they want. And you take away what they’ve seen of KISS for 45 years…. and you tell me there won’t be people getting mad over it?

And if you think that tour coming up called: One Last Kiss: End Of The Road Tour, in 2019 is gonna stop them from playing after this tour, you got another thing coming. Even Gene Simmons said he’s not doing this because it’s their last tour, he said he’s doing it to trademark the name:  The End Of The Road Tour.

Before they even do this tour, they will as a band, have made an estimated net worth of “between one and five billion dollars”…..if you include everything like the 100 million dollar albums that they sold. And include there licensing of their name on over 3,000 products from, cologne, deodorant, board games, toy guitars, real guitars, even coffins and thousands of other things.

And if that ain’t enough, they’ve even gone digital in their licensing, some of which are emojis, digital mobile video games and KISS sticker packs for mobile messaging. And if that STILL isn’t enough, they even have parks and entertainment centers. They even have a KISS high performance racing bike.

MAYBE THAT’S what’s keeping them alive. All these things that they are licensing. They are doing what every other band has been doing by licensing things….except KISS does licensing better than them all.

Not Every Band Is Staying Alive

And not every band is still staying alive by still playing in a band with each other. In fact, most bands nowadays don’t stay a band continually with each other for a good length of time anymore. They keep on taking a break from each other and then coming back to each other, off and on.

No wonder people are feeling bad nowadays because bands split up with each other and keep coming back to each other. That’s what One Direction is doing right now, they are split up with each other, right now. Now they’ll probably be back with each other, later on, but do they know what that is doing to their fans? Does KISS know what that’ll do to their fans, if they as KISS, ever split up?

Maybe that’s why the band KISS is still together because they know it will devastate their fans if they ever break up. Because by KISS or other bands not staying together, it will cause some fans mental anguish. There have been studies to prove that fans have had mental break downs because of bands breaking up. And even because of bands splitting up for a time, while they take a break from each other.

One fan that I know of said she can’t cope with the band One Direction breaking up and they aren’t even permanently broke up, they are just split up for now. If this one fan is worried about this young band splitting up,  just think what would happen if KISS broke up. And they are a older band that has been around for a long time.

Why Bands Break up

The main reason bands break up is because of money. One guy said that bands get tired of living far below the poverty line when they have struggled for years. They have a falling away from each other, in some cases because of it. But the band KISS never had a falling away because of money. They may of had a falling away because of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. But that was because of alcohol and substance abuse problems but never because of money.

We see that with KISS. When KISS had money problems what did they do? Buckle under? No they let their Executives and Managers handle it. They were smart enough to say, my way or the highway. But of course they just rode the wave and let them worry about the money.

Clashing personalities has caused some bands to break up and not stay together. Everyone to Axl Rose to Slash. Sting and Andy Summers, to the not so famous bands. Bands that clash with each other are prone to want to get away from each other, and some do because they can’t stand to be around each other.  It’s not that KISS ever clashed with each other, if they did clash a lot, I don’t think they would still be around together as a band any more. But again they didn’t clash with Peter Criss or Ace Frehley, they just thought that they were tearing the band apart by their party hardy ways.

Ego has never broke up the band KISS. Imagine that! …  They would of never stay together for one second had they let their ego stop them. But they never had egos towards each other but towards others they have focused their egos, like saying, we the best, baddest, extravaganza, high time, big time, spectacle band of ALL time. But ego has killed bands before because members in the band can think that they are better than each other. Or think that they don’t make mistakes because there ego won’t let them.

KISS had goals to be the baddest band out there. And have pretty much sealed them all, don’t you think?  Because no one out performs their larger than life shows that they put on. But other bands are crushed when they are unable to live up to their own goals because after the pressure of constant playing of shows and delivering a stunning performance and putting on a good show, they buckle under the pressure and are not able to keep delivering them to hungry crowds, who just want to see a good show. All because they didn’t stick to it because of all kinds of things, and some of them being fatigue and tiredness. They have no goals to keep going after all this, some of them.

Some bands split up because of musical differences. One band member wants to do this song. And the other wants to do other types of songs. Clashes happen if they can’t come to a conscientious. And agree on playing the songs that they want to play, then a split begins to happen. Unlike KISS, they would of just released solo albums and make money off them, and stay together, which they have done.

Sometimes Significant Others can be why some bands don’t stick together. A wife, a girlfriend, a significant other, friends, family, don’t want the musician to play anymore. Because they don’t like the fact that they are not spending time with them, because they are always playing shows and concerts. They sometimes listen to them, and thus their band is broke up because of it. Kiss never let that stop them. Some people don’t even know that they have families too.

Alcohol has derailed many a musician because they are unable to perform at their best, if they become to obliterated and are stumbling around and stuff…. Crowds come…. musician is unable to play at all or to his full potential. So the band has to decide if they should get rid of such players. It can sometimes cause them to not be a band anymore, which almost happened to KISS in their early days, of which happened to Peter Criss and Ace Frehley…. where alcohol was a factor. But it didn’t derail the band when they had to get rid of them because of alcohol problems.

So we see bands can break up because of:

1. Money
2. Clashing Personalities
3. Egos
4. No Goals
5. Musical Differences
6. Significant Others
7. Alcohol

Don’t let that happen to you if you want to be a band. Especially if you want to someday be better than Kiss.

So How Has Kiss Stuck Around Together For So Long?

Well if you’ve listened to Gene Simmons lately, you would SEE how they have stuck around together for so long. They say a man can be figured out by his words…. Hear what they say…. And Gene Simmons been saying: KEEPING MOVING FORWARD.  Because if you take breaks it ALL adds up. In other words he saying: Chase your dreams and the money will follow!   He decides to keep it running (his band) so KISS will never die. Cause he’s been quoted as saying, KISS can run with out me and Paul Stanley. So when he and Paul Stanley leaves…. KISS… will STILL exist. Because the other members after them, will keep it going.

Related Questions

How old is Kiss? The band Kiss is 46 years old. The band members are anywhere from 60 to 72 years old according to date. The band Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley.

Who started Kiss? All of them, because after they were together, they were a group already. They didn’t come up with the band name until Peter Criss said he used to be in a band called Lips and Paul Stanley’s reaction to it was Kiss. It was then that they decided on calling their band Kiss.

What are the stage names of Kiss? Paul Stanley is the Starchild. Ace Frehley is the Spaceman. Gene Simmons is the Demon. Peter Criss is the Catman. Eric Carr is the Fox. Vinnie Vincent is the Ankh Warrior. Eric Singer is the Catman, also. And Tommy Thayer is the Spaceman, also.

Photo credits:

© Copyright 1982 Cashbox Mag photo courtesy of Cashbox Mag. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiss,Creatures_of_the_Night(1982).png

KISS being lifted up on stage real high photo courtesy of Raph_PH:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en – https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiss_-The_O2-Wednesday_31st_May_2017_KissO2310517-39(34709062690).jpg

Color photo of KISS all four including drummer in background playing their instruments photo courtesy of KissBoy25: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en – https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiss-live-at-allphones-arena-070.jpg

Gene Simmons playing bass and Paul Stanley holding guitar and waving hands in the air photo courtesy of Raph_PH https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en –https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiss_-The_O2-Wednesday_31st_May_2017_KissO2310517-52(34252056684).jpg