Daily Archives: April 5, 2025
Paul Stanley Revisits His Signature Look for a New Ad Campaign
While KISS may have said goodbye to the stage for good in December 2023, the spirit of the band lives on… and makeup included. Paul Stanley, co-founder and lead singer of KISS, surprised fans by reprising his classic “The Starchild” persona for a new commercial for the business software platform Workday.
The ad marks the first time Stanley has donned his Starchild makeup since KISS’ historic farewell at Madison Square Garden, where the band announced that “KISS as we know it is over,” before introducing their digital versions at the show’s close.
In this ten-second teaser, Paul Stanley appears fully decked out in his signature makeup. The commercial maintains the humorous tone that has characterized Workday’s campaigns, with the “rock star” serving as a metaphor for business leaders who use the platform.
Stanley previously partnered with Workday in 2023 during the Super Bowl, alongside other rock icons like Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Idol. In that campaign, the stars poked fun at how companies called their most effective employees “rockstars,” reminding them who the real deal are.
However, this is the first time since KISS officially left, Stanley has worn makeup again, which has sparked nostalgia and excitement among fans. We’ll get to see more of this Starchild project on April 7.
From KISS Army Pavia
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | It’s Cold Schnapps Time Again
I recently acquired a pal’s record collection and there was an interesting cultural curiosity found amongst the many ’70s and ’80s albums.
In particular, he had a great many KISS albums — multiple copies, even. Some had the original posters and booklets. My favourite is the mural you ended up with if you were dedicated enough to buy all four of the band’s 1978 solo albums. In the case of every solo album — except Ace Frehley’s — the poster was the best part.
Hardcore collectors who already had the solo albums could go one step further by picking up a copy of the rarer Best Of The Solo Albums record, which was released in 1978 and 1979 in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa, Argentina and Chile. The album was actually issued under a variety of similar names and designs, but all had the same tracklist. Where things get interesting is the German and French pressings. The copy I inherited is from Germany. The KISS logo is different.
Stepping back — for those who don’t know — the band’s famous logo was initially designed and drawn by Frehley and later finessed by Paul Stanley. The most distinctive feature — the lightning-bolt SS — is eerily similar to the insignia of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel. Literally, a “protection squadron.” Hitler’s SS grew from a small guard unit to the foremost security agency within Germany and German-occupied Europe during the Second World War. They were notorious and feared for surveillance and state terrorism. So the KISS logo was banned in Germany.
Stanley (born Stanley Eisen), like Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz), is Jewish. He says his father was never a fan of the logo. Stanley says he never intended the logo to be controversial. “As a Jew, I was sensitive about the SS, and Gene’s family had survived the Holocaust,” he wrote in his memoir, Face the Music. “Our logo was banned in Germany because Nazi imagery was illegal there. When I drafted the logo, I certainly never intended to court controversy at the expense of victims of history. I didn’t want that on my conscience.” As a result, KISS has a special German logo where the SS looks more like a backward ZZ. It’s on all of their album artwork, merch and even the illuminated logo behind them on stage.