The long ‘Kiss’ goodbye is tonight.
Fifty years ago, four young New Yorkers dragged their guitars, amps and drums to a loft on 23rd Street in New York, dreaming of becoming the biggest band in the world.
This weekend, Kiss, the band started by those four — albeit with two different members currently in the fold — will say its goodbyes about 10 blocks north of that loft. Kiss will play Madison Square Garden, having become if not THE biggest band in the world, certainly one of the biggest, one that’s redefined expectations for the live concert experience.
Here is a look back at major events in Kiss’ history, taken from Associated Press interviews with Kiss members, quotes they gave to other media and material from band members’ autobiographies:
1973: Gene Simmons, who worked briefly as a teacher and loved horror films and comic books, and cabbie Paul Stanley, who once dropped passengers off at Madison Square Garden to see Elvis Presley and vowed someday he’d be on that same stage, exit their band Wicked Lester and begin searching for bandmates to put together a true spectacle: an act where the show and the visuals were as important as the music. They find drummer Peter Criss, who had placed an ad in a music paper looking for a band, and Ace Frehley, who showed up at auditions with one red sneaker, one orange sneaker and a guitar.
Each member adopts a specific stage identity: Simmons the demon; Stanley the starchild; Frehley the spaceman, and Criss the catman. The band hones their act with tiny club gigs, and by New Year’s Eve, lands a support slot on the bill with Blue Öyster Cult. Simmons accidentally sets his hair ablaze that night while breathing fire. (It would happen many times over the years, to the point where they stationed a roadie with a sopping wet towel nearby.)
1974: Kiss releases its self-titled debut album, and its follow-up, “Hotter Than Hell.”
1975: The band releases its third album, “Dressed To Kill,” which…
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