The Recognition, Pinball Machines

Creating a Dynasty Alive established KISS as national superstars. After that, the music industry took notice of live performance recordings and began to understand their connection with fans. Soon live albums would become commonplace among other musical superstars’ recordings.

Great commercial success ensued-a hit single “Beth” (a ballad about a girl and the stresses of being part of a rock band on the road, a lifestyle that many of KISS’s male fans no doubt fantasized about); an album, Rock and Roll Over, which went platinum before it even hit the stores; recognition as the number one band in America in a Gallup poll; and the hit single “I Was Made for Lovin’You.”The recognition was momentous because KISS had always considered itself to be of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The industry also took notice of KISS because of the power of its brand, which transcended the borders of music to a whole new world merchandising. Soon the market was flooded with KISS lunchboxes, action figures, games, and makeup kits. Fans could also buy pinball machines and KISS comic books. Many of these products are collectors’ items today and remind fans from that era of the position KISS achieved in American culture. Responding to criticism for selling out, Gene Simmons poignantly says, “There are no rules, and the idea of selling out, you’re damn straight we sell out …every night we play.” But too much of a good thing can be bad, especially when it conflicts with the core of the brand and its strategic intent. By the late 1970s, KISS had become too much about the makeup and not enough about the music, going from rock and roll band to family entertainment. With children in the audience, the group was compelled to tone things down, leaving a watered down version of the edginess that once defined the band and the brand. Peter Criss left the band in 1979, followed by Ace Frehley in 1982.