How Led Zeppelin and “God’s work” transformed Paul Stanley and Kiss
A lot of people don’t realise that Kiss had a big advantage as a band. While they are renowned for their make-up and strong use of pyrotechnics, they are often pigeonholed as a stadium rock band and nothing more. However, their face paint and the characters they created on stage meant that the band had complete creative freedom when it came to exploring various sounds and trying different things with their music.
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons admitted in an interview that they decided to paint their faces for their live sets. While many might think this was for marketing reasons, Kiss came forward and said it was because they wanted to look like a unit. They didn’t think many bands actually looked like a band, and they wanted it to be unmistakable that they were making music together.
In the same interview, Gene Simmons also spoke about the advantage it gave them as a band. He admitted that it meant they didn’t need to stick within a specific genre because their identity was protected by how they looked. Whether they dabbled in rock, acoustic, or disco, it was still a Kiss album because it came packaged and parcelled with that iconic Kiss image.
The whole thing came together in their live shows, as each sound that they explored came through during exciting sets of great rock music. This is why their live album, Alive!, is considered one of their greatest pieces of work. Paul Stanley would also agree, as he said he felt like the record was one of the best they ever made.
“We constructed the ultimate Kiss album and the ultimate live album in Kiss Alive!“, he said. “We wanted to immerse you in the audience at a Kiss show – to hear the noise of people around you, for the explosions to be as loud as if you were there.”
So, Kiss was a band that dabbled in multiple genres and who were best experienced during live performances. I wonder if there was another rock band that came before them that could also be described as that? Yes, it won’t surprise you to hear that when it came to putting together the Kiss blueprint, Paul Stanley was significantly inspired by none other than Led Zeppelin.
He saw the band play live in the 1960s, and like many people who saw Led Zeppelin perform live, it changed his life. “And of course I saw Zeppelin in ’69 and that was transformative. As I would put it that was God’s work,” said Stanley. “When you see a band that are so tied to each other and the synergy within the band, and not only the music, but the sexuality of the band.”
He concluded, “Everything was so potent and so perfect. That was a transformative moment for me. Probably more than any other was seeing Zeppelin live, really, when I believe they were at their peak.” Led Zeppelin’s fearlessness when tackling multiple genres at once resonated with a lot of musicians who heard them, and Kiss are no exception. They took that ethos and applied it to their attitude moving forward.
