Ep.19: Kiss – Band Members
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
Today's episode will be on, one of the biggest bands in my childhood and that is Kiss. With their painted faces, larger than life costumes, along with blood spitting, fire breathing and a myriad of other antics, they truly transformed the rock and roll world and left an indelible mark in music history.
Today’s mnemonic is on the original and current band members only.
With that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Kiss (often styled as KISS) is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, vocals). Known for their face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock-style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band has gone through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons remaining the only consistent members. The current lineup consists of them, Tommy Thayer (guitar), and Eric Singer (drums).
With their makeup and costumes, the band members took on the personae of comic book-style characters: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss). Due to creative differences, Criss departed the band in 1980 and Frehley in 1982, though both would return later.
In 1983, Kiss began performing without makeup and costumes, marking the beginning of the band's "unmasked" era that would last for over a decade. The band experienced a commercial resurgence during this era, with the 1983 platinum-certified album Lick It Up successfully introducing them to a new generation of fans, and its music videos receiving regular airplay on MTV. Eric Carr, who had replaced Criss in 1980, died in 1991 of heart cancer and was replaced by Eric Singer. In response to a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the mid-1990s, the original lineup reunited in 1996, which also saw the return of its makeup and stage costumes. The resulting reunion tour was highly successful, grossing $143.7 million, making it the band's most successful tour to date. Criss and Frehley subsequently left the band again, and have been replaced by Singer and Tommy Thayer, respectively. The band has continued with its original stage makeup, with Singer and Thayer using the original Catman and Spaceman makeup, respectively. In September 2018, Kiss announced that, after 45 years of recording and performing, they would embark on their final tour, the End of the Road World Tour, which started in January 2019 and will conclude in New York City in December 2023.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Kiss is regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of all time,[7][8] as well as one of the best selling bands of all time, claiming to have sold more than 75 million records worldwide,[9] including 21 million[10] RIAA-certified albums.[11] Kiss has also earned 30 Gold albums, the most of any band from the United States. Kiss has 14 Platinum albums, three of which earned multi-Platinum.[8] On April 10, 2014, the four original members of Kiss were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kiss was ranked by MTV as the ninth "Greatest Metal Band of All Time",[12] and placed tenth on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list,[13] as well as being ranked as the third "Best Metal and Hard Rock Live Band of All Time" by Loudwire magazine.[14]
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band)]
Mnemonic
Kiss - Band Members Mnemonic – Perfect PAGE Turner
(The story of the band Kiss is the perfect page turner)
1. Paul Stanley – Original & Current
2. Peter Criss – Original
3. Ace Frehley – Original
4. Gene Simmons – Original & Current
5. Eric Singer – Current Member
6. Tommy Thayer – Current Member
So, apologies and a special mention to the other past members of the band:
· Eric Carr
· Vinnie Vincent
· Bruce Kulick
· Mark St. John
· Derek Sherinian
Five Fun Facts
1. Kiss have sold over 100 million Albums, licensed their name to over 3,000 products, made billions of dollars, and been around coming up 50 years.
2. Kiss actually launched a wrestling team called “The Warriors of Kiss”. They negotiated with World Championship Wrestling and the idea was to have each band member represented in the ring, which would then be broadened to four female equivalents. As Gene Simmons said and I quote “Big girls, with big boobs, wearing Kiss make-up, wrestling.”
3. Gene Simmons and actress Katey Sagal from Sons of Anarchy, Futurama, and one of my favourite shows of all time, Married with Children kind of went out.
They met when Sagal was an aspiring singer working in a restaurant.
Gene ended up helping Sagal get her band “The Group With No Name” signed to Casablanca Records in 1976, but unfortunately didn’t last long.
She then went on to sing backup for Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Molly Hatchet before having success in TV.
4. In regards to the band’s name a few suggestions were floated. Ace Frehley liked Albatross, Peter Criss preferred The Crimson Harpoon and Gene Simmons refined preference was Fuck!
Now Paul Stanley wasn’t happy with this, and made his opinion vocal. But in the end cool heads prevailed and they did Kiss and Make Up!
5. Along with blood spitting Gene Simmons loved to breath fire which he learnt from Amaze-O who as a result was bald. Gene managed to light up his locks on his very first go and several more times during his career.
6. Bonus Fact: Kiss were to play on the Michael Jackson Forever tribute concert in Cardiff. A big announcement was made by Michael Jackson’s Mum on August 15, 2011 live on CNN, and then just one day later they were dropped after fan outrage due to Gene Simmons remark a year previously that, and I quote “There’s no question in my mind he molested those kids.”
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Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. What is the name of the Kiss fan club?
Q.2. Which band member had a television show called “Family Jewels”?
Q.3. What year did Kiss receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Options are 1989, 1995 or 1999
Bonus Q. Which band member was known as the Catman?
Bonus Q. Where was the first official worldwide Kiss convention held?
A. Perth, Australia
Mnemonic Recap
Kiss - Band Members Mnemonic – Perfect PAGE Turner
(The story of the band Kiss is the perfect page turner)
1. Paul Stanley – Original & Current
2. Peter Criss – Original
3. Ace Frehley – Original
4. Gene Simmons – Original & Current
5. Eric Singer – Current Member
6. Tommy Thayer – Current Member
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. What is the name of the Kiss fan club?
A. Kiss Army and they formed when a radio station in Indiana refused to play Kiss songs
Q.2. Which band member had a television show called “Family Jewels”?
A. Gene Simmons. The show basically followed him and his family and ended in 2012
Q.3. What year did Kiss receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Options are 1989, 1995 or 1999
A. 1999
Bonus Q. Which band member was known as the Catman?
A. Peter Criss. Eric Singer continued the Catman after Criss’s departure in 2001
Bonus Q. Where was the first official worldwide Kiss convention held?
A. Perth, Australia
Word of the Week
whigmaleerie
[ hwig-muh-leer-ee ]
noun
a whimsical or fanciful ornament or contrivance; gimmick.
Example
Kiss was never short of whigmaleerie along with their great music
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
Website: https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com/
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References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band)
https://www.loudersound.com/features/19-things-you-probably-never-knew-about-kiss