Rock legends KISS say goodbye to their fans in a surprisingly sweet new documentary

Caitlin Stoddard
Sat, 14 Aug 2021 06:14:36 +0000
Rock and roll, Music, Kiss

Millions of people from around the world packed concert venues to witness a show that is filled with wild pyrotechnics and music. It has been nearly 50 years since the rock band KISS made their debut and now the band is ready to say goodbye.

Although Covid-19 is still impacting the lives of people it hasn't stopped KISS from sharing their story to the world. On June 27 and 28 KISS released their two part documentary on A&E "Biography:KISStory" which gave an historical insight of who KISS is and how the band impacted the world with their music.

"Volume One" is the first episode and it taught the audience how bassist Gene Simmons was born in Israel and then later moved to the U.S. in 1958, whereas frontman Paul Stanley was born in Queens New York. Both Simmons and Stanley met in 1970 and in the documentary Simmons and Stanley spent time reminiscing about the early years through various clips, pictures and commentary from other people who are a part of the memories.

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Also "Volume One" highlighted the beginning stage of KISS. Through an advertisement in a newspaper, Simmons and Stanley found drummer Peter Criss and as for Ace Frehley he responded to the band's ad on "Village Voice" for the lead guitarist position. The year 1973 brought momentum for KISS because they had their first photograph as a band and they created their earliest recordings and videos. During that period, KISS spent time in Electric Lady Studio and the documentary showed how KISS was inspired by the style of the band New York Dolls and KISS started to have the idea of having a full musical production on stage. Surely it did not take KISS long to add airborne dums, smoking guitars and pyrotechnics to their shows.

"Volume 2" discusses the constant changes with KISS's music and band members. It was a wild ride of popularity and trying to spark the magic the band had during the start of their career. But KISS made a huge splash by making a name for themselves on MTV in 1983 because it was the first time people got to see the band members without their makeup on. But with Criss and Frehley gone, the band experienced another heartache when drummer Eric Carr died from heart cancer in 1991. With the help of current KISS drummer Eric Singer, the band continued to create music.

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In 1995 KISS shook the music scene by having a performance on MTV's "Unplugged" and the appearance from Criss and Frehley not only pleased fans but the appearances from both musicians brought the idea of KISS having a reunion tour. Despite how successful the reunion tour was, it wasn't strong enough to keep the band together. But somehow through the bad times, Simmons and Stanley always found a way to keep the band successfully rolling throughout the years.

Today, KISS has sold over 10 million records within five decades and through the hardships the band has faced, there wasn't anything that could have stopped them from becoming successful. Although Criss and Frehley declined to be a part of the documentary, fans got to hear the story of KISS from Simmons and Stanley. "Biography:KISStory" is a great documentary that shows how KISS became one of the most successful bands in our time.