#NoMakeupSunday: When KISS bared their faces on MTV, 40 years ago
By Lyndsey Parker·Editor in Chief, Yahoo Music
Nowadays, celebrities going makeup-free for the camera lens is an everyday Instagram occurrence. But 40 years ago, when greasepainted rock gods KISS bared their faces on live television, it was a shocker. On Sept. 18, 1983, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and relatively new band members Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr took it all off for a Sunday evening MTV press conference — and against all odds, the makeunder actually revitalized their flagging career.
"I very much wanted to do it; as a matter of fact, I was hoping we would've done it with [1982's] Creatures of the Night album," Stanley tells Yahoo Entertainment, recalling the band's surprising decision to go bare-faced. "But understandably, it was a much, much bigger step for Gene, because Gene's persona is so strong, and was so strong, that to give that up was a big, big, big, big commitment and sacrifice. So, he was a little reluctant, and we waited. But when Creatures, although it was arguably one of the top albums we did, didn't sell through the way we hoped it would, I think Gene saw the writing on the wall.
"[The press MTV conference] got a lot of coverage, and lo and behold, Lick It Up came out and was almost immediately a platinum album," Stanley continues. "So, I think I was right."
