“Fashionable to slag them off”: Kiss were the laughing stock but they revolutionised the entire rock landscape
When Kiss’ Gene Simmons appeared on The Mike Douglas Show in 1974 to promote the band’s debut album, the whole thing played out more like a scene from reality television than a serious musician attempting to gain reputability.
“What are you?” asked Douglas following a round of playful jest about his attire, including his shoes, and really, the entire get-up. “I’m really just a member of Kiss,” answered Simmons, before insisting that he’s actually “evil incarnate” and joking he’d like to feast on the audience. Simmons had, of course, arrived decked out in full Kiss clothing and make-up, and leaned into the band’s theatrical otherworldliness, likely hoping his off-kilter, menacing performance would pique interest and sell the music.
In many ways, it worked. But looking at the rock community at large, Kiss seemed precisely what you’d expect: a passing fad that used theatricality to hide the fact that they lacked in the talent department, and even more so when it came to anything close to truly revolutionary. Of course, that’s about as up for debate as Simmons’ devil-may-care attitude, but the real reason why they made it into the big leagues – beyond actually being good – is that they put in the work. Lots of it.
They also surpassed initial impressions of being a musical act based solely on theatrical entertainment by reinventing what it meant to blend the spectacle with that quintessential stadium rock sound, establishing a space where rock could feel like a fully-fledged show, and not just a bunch of everyday guys standing up on stage and playing songs they already knew people liked.
All of this feels especially poignant because, in all of rock history, few come as close to being as influential or historically significant as Kiss, not just in terms of influence and going against the grain when most of their peers made them into a laughing stock, but in bridging the gap between so-called niche artistry and commercial appeal. After all, you have to have something special to become one of the best-selling bands in history, and for Kiss, it was often enough to create catchy hooks and infectious melodies, even if people didn’t feel endeared by their image.
Where many of their peers had comprehensive musical know-how or more complex capabilities, Kiss also played at the more basic level, keeping things simple but in a way that could easily blow the socks off an entire stadium. Lacking technicality might have also contributed to them becoming the butt of their own jokes, but no one could argue with their popularity or baseline appeal – all of which also allowed them to sit in a separate lane, where their aesthetic and broader appeal created something truly worth paying attention to.
However, that sense that they belonged elsewhere, or that their talent was disproportionate to their success, is something that stuck around long after they established their position as rock stalwarts. In fact, attempts to tear them down actually intensified as they exploded and became major players, and to this day, some circles still regard them as the general target of ridicule they seemed to be back then.
Others, however, recognise that, while this misconception still lingers, it’s nothing compared to how much they mean to the rock world; how much they still mean. As Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell told Louder, “Kiss get a lot of flak, it’s very fashionable to slag them off, but I think they were a very important band in rock history.”
He went on, recalling how they were a major influence when he was younger, and that their “good, basic rock songs” and “larger-than-life” persona were enough to shake any aspiring musician into action. He added, “For a young kid, that was an important period. Those old records have some amazing songs.”
