One of the most defining moments of Kiss was when Black Sabbath took them on their first world tour. Sabbath were a definitive band that pushed the boundaries of music and was always keen on giving listeners something new. As pioneers of the musical revolution, it only made sense that Black Sabbath would take fellow innovators on the road, and that’s what they did with Kiss.
What they got turned out to be much more than they bargained for, as Kiss proved to be much more than just a band with a big sound. They put theatre at the heart of everything they did, keen on stimulating a crowd’s senses, not just stopping at the sound but giving them something awe-inspiring to look at in the process.
“Kiss was the first to use pyro,” said Geezer Butler, looking back on when he first hit the road with the band, “You’ve never seen that. I mean, the shock of that. And they were supporting us, so they weren’t even headlining. I went out and watched them. There were all these flames coming out the stage and everything. It was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on here?’”
While the pyrotechnics that Kiss used were certainly a talking point, one of the most famous aspects of their live show is the makeup they wear. The inspiration behind Halloween costumes ever since, Kiss’s black and white makeup has become the stuff of legend, as they are one of the most recognisable bands on the planet.
When Paul Stanley was asked why the band opted to wear makeup, naturally, he said it was to entertain. However, there was a deeper meaning attached, as Kiss felt the idea of brand identity didn’t exist in music as much anymore.
“Those ‘60s British groups all looked like real bands. No member of The Beatles could have fit into the Stones. No member of The Who could have fit been in the Dave Clark Five,” he said, “You had unified images of those bands, and at the same time, there was an emphasis on the individual members.”
He has a point. When you think of the members of Kiss, you can name them all and the characters they performed as, and as a result, you pay more attention to the individual styles and attributes that each member brings to the band. They also have a solid sense of brand identity, as every Kiss album, aside from some where they took the makeup off because it had such a strong image fronting it, you recognised the album as Kiss even if they had gone down a different direction musically.
Gene Simmons once said that he enjoyed their music, which could be traced to them even if it varied in style. “We also took pride in having the same freedom The Beatles had,” he said, “Their philosophy was, ‘No matter what kind of music we do, it’s still The Beatles’. That’s what was amazing about them… The Beatles were not trapped in that way. They could do music hall, psychedelia – anything – and they did. Yet somehow it always sounded like The Beatles.”
With this freedom, the band had more freedom to write whatever they wanted, which made for exciting listening. Plus, it played into the stage show they put together. Kiss is easily one of the most famous live bands on the planet, and they owe a great deal of that to their makeup.
That being said, there is an argument for the fact that it acted as more of a hindrance to the band. Some people saw them as too theatrical and dismissed the music before they gave it a proper chance. They didn’t see the point in listening to Kiss as they didn’t take them seriously.
Overall, when you consider the success of the band and the varied sound throughout their discography, it’s hard to look at anything Kiss has done and say it was ill-advised. Every aspect of them, be it the way they sound, look or perform, has contributed towards them becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet. So with that in mind, the makeup was a fantastic idea.