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Editor's note: Below is an extract from Gene Simmons' book "Me Inc: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business". Gene Simmons co-founded the rock supergroup KISS in the early 1970s. Since then, KISS has sold more than 80 million albums and performed more than 2,000 shows around the world.

(CNN) -- On February 21, 1974, the first KISS album was released. That's forty years from this writing! What a crazy trip it's been.

By the summer of 1972, it looked like Wicked Lester wasn't going to work, even though we had a recording contract with Epic Records.

So Paul Stanley and I regrouped and started again. This time, we would put together the band we never saw onstage, the band that we wanted to be. This time, we would make sure we had the right lineup. This time, we would make sure we had the right songs.

We did it the right way.

We self-funded the band. We had no other partners. There were no investors. There was only us. Mostly, there was only Paul and myself.

This time we were going to do it for real.

Go big, or go home.

But we had no manager. We had no record label for our new band. We had no lawyers. We had no one to advise us or guide us.

So I began religiously reading the music industry trade publications Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World.

Every week, I would see what the charts reported on what was selling and what was not. Every week, I learned which band was playing at which concert venue and how they did financially. Every week, I would learn about different music industry figures, who they were, what they did, and how they did it.

It was another type of education you were not going to get in school. And it's worth noting that what I was doing, although I probably wasn't familiar with the phrase at the time, was my own "due diligence," meaning that I educated myself.

As I've discussed, I always had a job or two, and was always saving money. So by mid-1972, when I was twenty-two years old, I had been able to save $23,000, which was a hefty sum in those days (still is for most twenty-two-year-olds).

Paul sometimes drove a cab to get some pocket change. This is also part of due diligence�to educate oneself, and feed oneself, is one's own responsibility.

Paul owned a beat-up old Mustang, but more often than not, we both used the subway and buses for transportation. We ate hot dogs at the corner of Twenty-Third Street and Broadway. We never went shopping for clothes. We hardly spent any money at all.

But when it was time to get a loft to serve as our band's rehearsal space and base of operations, we didn't hesitate. The rent was $200 a month. In 1972, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss both joined our new band, which we were still calling Wicked Lester.

Peter was married and didn't work beyond pursing life as a professional musician. He was fortunate to have a wife who supported them both and was devoted to his quest to become a successful drummer in a band. That left rent monies for Paul and myself to cover. Sometimes Paul couldn't come up with his end, so it was up to me to make sure the rent was paid every month.

The band needed amplifiers. Paul and I bought them.

We needed a sound system. Paul and I bought a Peavey 27-input soundboard and sound speakers, and had friends build the sound system cabinets. It was cheaper. Paul and I paid for all of it. We didn't have roadies, so friends of Ace and Peter would usually help out.

Again, a good move. Invest in yourself. If you can afford it, don't borrow. Pay for it yourself.

By Christmas 1972, we rechristened ourselves KISS. Paul thought of the name. It was Ace who drew the band's first logo. Paul would later refine the logo, and that's the version we use on everything to this day.

Paul had to go out and rent some milk trucks so we could haul the equipment to and from our shows.

Despite some early omens from our latter bandmates, we were young and thought of it all as a great adventure.

This brings us back to what I've been telling you about the importance of finding the right partners. You can't do it all yourself, and neither could either of us. Each of us on our own could only go so far.

Together, we would go all the way.

Simmons: Rock is dead

by Eduardo Rivadavia / http://ultimateclassicrock.com/kiss-hotter-than-hell/

Halloween came early for Kiss fans in 1974  on October 22nd, to be precise, in the form of Hotter than Hell, the sophomore album from New Yorks outrageously costumed and face-painted hard rockers.

Still a relatively unknown proposition at the time, Kiss had unveiled their eponymous first album only six months earlier, and though it turned some heads and arched some brows, its modest sales in no way suggested the decades of successes that lay ahead.

Instead, Kiss members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss still had to convince both consumers, and the rock and roll establishment in general, that their striking image and powerful heavy rock sound was more than a passing novelty  and Hotter than Hell would be their vehicle.

Or would it?

Right from the start, the albums recording was marked by difficulties  most of them centering on the bands relocation to Los Angeles, where the production team of Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise (also responsible for Kiss first album) was then based. It would seem the duo were still coming to grips with the equipment at Village Recorders, if Hotter than Hells famously lacking production was any indication.

We hoped to remedy the sonic deficiencies we found in the first album, Stanley explains in Kiss: Behind the Mask. We were never as rock-n'-rolly or good-timey as we sounded on that album. We were much heavier live. So [for 'Hotter than Hell'] we tried to capture sonically how we sounded live. Unfortunately, the people that we were working with might not have been the right people to be doing it with.

To make matters worse, Stanleys guitar was stolen on their first day in town and Kiss record label, Casablanca, were too busy trying to stay in business to offer much hand-holding. Plus, the pastrami on rye at Canters Deli simply didnt taste like the one back home in New York.

Yet not even all of these problems could deter the recording of numerous bona fide future Kiss classics like Got to Choose, Let Me Go, Rock n Roll and the title cut, which went on to enjoy years of fan acclaim in concert.

Other Hotter than Hell notables included Simmons lecherous love song, Goin Blind, Watchin You, the Criss-sung Mainline, and no less than three songwriting contributions from Ace (Parasite, Strange Ways and, with Stanley, Comin Home), though Kiss lead guitarist still lacked the confidence to sing on any of them (all in due time). I wasnt ready for it at the time, Frehley explained to us recently. I was insecure about my singing voice. When I recorded my first lead vocal (years later), I recorded it singing on my back, with the lights down in the studio.

And completing the big picture (literally), Hotter than Hells cover art would go down as among the most iconic of Kiss career (no mean feat in such a large and visually arresting catalog!), thanks to its comic book-style design inspired by Japanese manga and the evocative (and provocative) rear sleeve glamor shots snapped by noted photographer Norman Seeff.

But as Kiss headed back out on the concert trail, the aforementioned Casablanca was all but paralyzed after cutting ties with their distributor Warner Bros., and thus hard-pressed to offer the band significant marketing support (just shipping albums to record stores was a major challenge), beyond a token radio promotion campaign and this now vintage television ad.

Not surprisingly, this unfortunate state of business affairs was largely to blame for the new albums positively paltry sales throughout the winter of 74-75, and eventually the decision was made to cut short the Hotter than Hell tour so that Kiss could quickly cut a third LP, Dressed to Kill, which would be properly distributed by Casablanca's new partners, Polygram.

This, as we now know, proved to be yet another baby step on Kiss patient road to well-deserved commercial breakthrough via the seminal Alive! double concert triumph, released in September of 1975. By then, and with the help of many songs discussed here, Kiss truly had become Hotter than Hell.

By Richard Feloni / Business Insider Australia

KISS bassist Gene Simmons and frontman Paul Stanley have worked together for 40 years, developing a hard rock empire that Simmons thinks is worth somewhere between $US1 billion to $US5 billion.

In Simmons� new book on his business approach, �ME, Inc.,� he says that Stanley is �the brother I never had,� and uses him as the model for an ideal business partner.

Like real brothers, the two have had plenty of disagreements and arguments, but they have remained the band�s only two original members because they share the same vision and what Simmons tells Business Insider is a �blue collar work ethic.�

�Don�t sweat the small stuff. Just find a partner who brings something to the table and an expertise that you don�t have,� Simmons says.

He tells us that problems between cofounders inevitably arise, but they can only be overcome if there are shared values.

Simmons and Stanley met in New York City in 1970 when Simmons� band Wicked Lester recruited Stanley as a rhythm guitarist. The two decided that the band lacked focus but that the two of them were on the same page. They brought on Ace Frehley as lead guitarist and Peter Criss as drummer and reinvented themselves as KISS by the end of �72.

As the band exploded in popularity over the next decade, Simmons and Stanley took the lead in approving contractual decisions and songwriting responsibilities.

The differences in effort and personalities between the two halves became too much for the ambitious Simmons and Stanley to deal with, especially when substance abuse became an issue. Criss was kicked out in 1980 and Frehley booted in �82.

�Life is a football game. You don�t want to pass the ball to somebody who�s going to fall on their face because they�re drunk or high or don�t want to work that day because guess what, then the whole team loses,� Simmons tells us.

Because Simmons and Stanley have worked together for so long, they certainly have butted heads, but they both believe that business partners need to be honest with each other, even when it�s not pretty.

In his recent autobiography, �Face the Music: A Life Exposed,� Stanley says he thinks that Simmons� ego has gotten in the way of their work at times, and that it�s a huge overstatement to consider Simmons the sole brains behind KISS.

Simmons admits that he tends to be arrogant, but it�s only because he�s completely sure of himself.

It�s telling that the two are comfortable both criticising and praising each other.

In his book �Zero to One,� billionaire investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel likens founding a company with a business partner to getting married. It�s important for cofounders to have complementary skill sets, he explains, but they need to share a vision and actually like each other so that they can overcome problems that arise.

The two have certainly complemented each other in their development of KISS. Simmons had a drive to take every business opportunity that came his way, while Stanley took the lead on writing songs that topped the charts.

In addition to their own businesses, Simmons, now 65, and Stanley, 62, still play with KISS, alongside band members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.

�And with Paul, as the brother I never had, there is nothing we can�t do. It�s almost 2015! Watch us burn rubber,� Simmons writes.

By Michelle Crechiolo

It truly was no contest � the four Penguins players dressed as KISS won best costume at the team�s annual Halloween party this past weekend.

�I think the best one I saw was definitely Pauly Martin, Robert Bortuzzo, Beau Bennett and Nick Spaling dressed up as KISS,� Brandon Sutter said. �They had the boots and the makeup and everything. It was unbelievable. That�s definitely the best I�ve ever seen, so that was above and beyond.�

Winning the competition was definitely the goal, said Martin.

�Beau and �Borts� won the year before,� he said. �So they let me and Spaling be on their team (this year). So it was nice of them to do that.�

Martin�s favorite part of dressing up wasn�t rocking and rolling all night � it was actually the ride to the party.

�The best part was we had to drive to the spot, so we were all in a car blasting KISS music with the windows down and we got a couple weird looks,� Martin said. �So that was a lot of fun.�

Each player adopted a different band member�s onstage persona. Bennett was KISS frontman Gene Simmons (The Demon), Spaling was Catman, Bortuzzo was Starchild and Martin was Spaceman.

�I think we just each grabbed a costume,� Martin said when asked how they decided who was whom. �I�m not really sure exactly how it went down, but I think we made Beau be Gene (laughs). I don�t think that was his choice. But it worked out.�

The four of them were walking around a costume shop looking for ideas when they saw the getups and Martin urged them into going with it.

�He�s a big music guy and were kind of just walking around and saw it,� Bortuzzo said. �We figured if we were going to do it, we�d do it right. It was fun.�

Doing it right meant wearing full stage makeup, which Bortuzzo said took about 25 minutes each.

�It was my first time wearing makeup, hopefully it�s the last as well,� he joked.

The makeup, however, was nowhere near as bad as the sky-high platform boots they wore � at least in the beginning of the night.

�It wasn�t fun,� the 6-foot-4 Bortuzzo admitted. �I found a new respect for women in high heels and whatnot. I think I was around 7 feet tall when I had them on.�

Their teammates certainly enjoyed watching them try to walk around.

�It took them about 20 minutes to get up the steps,� Sutter laughed.

Evgeni Malkin, who dressed as the vampire Dracula, posted a photo of him with the KISS guys on his personal Instagram account.

�I just have fun. I go to the store and buy a simple one, nothing crazy,� Malkin said of his costume. �I don�t want crazy like Beau Bennett and Bortuzzo. They do one-hour makeup; it�s too long for me. I buy a simple one and we have fun.�

Malkin posted another photo with him and captain Sidney Crosby, who went as beloved Philadelphia cultural icon Rocky Balboa, a fictional boxing character played by Sylvester Stallone in the film franchise.

Crosby said he tends to draw inspiration from his favorite movies when thinking of ideas for costumes.

�I was Maverick last year from Top Gun. I like the movie (Rocky) too,� Crosby said. �Maybe (Philadelphia fans) will soften up on me because I picked that. It was all in good fun. I like the Rocky movies. There was nothing else behind it.�

Also in that picture was Kris Letang, who dressed as the Mad Hatter from Tim Burton�s version of Alice in Wonderland.

�I just love that movie,� Letang said. �Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors, so I kind of tried to pull that off. It didn�t take much time (to get into costume). The makeup was the biggest. First we didn�t find an orange wig, so we had to take a yellow one and paint it orange. Then they added orange eyebrows and all that stuff.�

Other honorable mentions for best costume included Rob Scuderi, who went as one of the Ghostbusters, Chris Kunitz, who dressed as Ron Burgundy while his wife went as Veronica Corningstone, and Christian Ehrhoff, who went as a disco singer.

�A lot of the guys are pretty creative,� Crosby smiled. �It�s fun to do.�

Thanks KISS ARMY for sharing your photos with KISS! We love seeing them!

Gene Simmons will be promoting his new book, ME, INC. on the Today Show this morning.

The KISS 40 Years of Rockin' Event Tee is now available in the official KISS online store - http://www.shopkissonline.com/. This unisex, black World Tour 2014 Tee features band members on the front, and tour cities on the back. It's available in sizes S through XXXL.

Guitar Porn. Got to play my '59 Sunburst Les Paul at KISS rehearsal yesterday. WOW! So AWESOME! History and magic in it. - Paul