Kiss News

Rock Reads: A Seasonal Guide For The Rock & Roll Literate

�by James Campion, December 18, 2013 /

Nothin� To Lose � Ken Sharp, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons (2013)

If there is only one book you read about rock and roll this holiday season, then it has to be Nothin� To Lose � The Making Of KISS 1972-1975. It is a monster and you will love it. Not because you are a KISS fanatic or remember when KISS mattered or when progressive/glam/dinosaur rock ruled the world, but because for my money this is the finest researched oral history of this remarkably creative and incredibly outlandish period in the culture of American rock and roll.

Author Ken Sharp�s inexhaustible ride through the mean streets of the New York City rock scene�post-hippy and pre-punk�and across the country through over 200 interviews paints an elaborate picture of risk, sacrifice and mayhem that helped to establish one of rock�s most enduring icons.

�What I endeavored to do is create a documentary on paper,� Sharp explained to me during a recent interview. �It was fascinating to bring in all of these voices, everyone from the band themselves to producers, engineers, touring bands, publicists, record company folks, roadies, competing bands from their New York club days, costume designers, the list goes on and on. Hearing from people who have rarely if ever spoken on the record before helped to bring into focus this rare, behind-the-scenes story of what it was like for a band starting out long before they were stars.�
Rock Reads: A Seasonal Guide For The Rock & Roll Literate

�by James Campion, December 18, 2013 /

Nothin� To Lose � Ken Sharp, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons (2013)

If there is only one book you read about rock and roll this holiday season, then it has to be Nothin� To Lose � The Making Of KISS 1972-1975. It is a monster and you will love it. Not because you are a KISS fanatic or remember when KISS mattered or when progressive/glam/dinosaur rock ruled the world, but because for my money this is the finest researched oral history of this remarkably creative and incredibly outlandish period in the culture of American rock and roll.

Author Ken Sharp�s inexhaustible ride through the mean streets of the New York City rock scene�post-hippy and pre-punk�and across the country through over 200 interviews paints an elaborate picture of risk, sacrifice and mayhem that helped to establish one of rock�s most enduring icons.

�What I endeavored to do is create a documentary on paper,� Sharp explained to me during a recent interview. �It was fascinating to bring in all of these voices, everyone from the band themselves to producers, engineers, touring bands, publicists, record company folks, roadies, competing bands from their New York club days, costume designers, the list goes on and on. Hearing from people who have rarely if ever spoken on the record before helped to bring into focus this rare, behind-the-scenes story of what it was like for a band starting out long before they were stars.�

When word got out last year that Nothin� To Lose was in the works and that original members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were connected, the hullabaloo from fan blogs and on message boards was mixed. Since the other two original members�Ace Frehley and Peter Criss�had recently released tell-all memoirs taking to task their former brethren and the critiques from inside the KISS camp in response had been mostly vitriolic, the buzz was this would be a one-sided tale completely controlled by the usual tight-lipped stronghold of the KISS propaganda machine. Nothin� To Lose is anything but. Sharp, who has worked with KISS on liner notes for the band�s box set, as well as photograph archiving and tour books, spent years conducting all the research himself; almost, as he describes, as if he were a detective following leads, getting tips and working back channels to compile the real stories behind the hype.

Stanley and Simmons, although heavily involved, read many of these anecdotes only a few months prior to publication and, according to Sharp, did not censor a thing. �To my great surprise, Gene and Paul never attempted to expurgate anything from the final text. And I think mainly it�s because most of the people around KISS at the time I cover in the book, 1972 through 1975, and the band themselves were all on the same page. There was a one-for-all mentality from the road crew to manager Bill Aucoin and Casablanca Records chairman and founder Neil Bogart. They were all on a mission.�

In fact, throughout the process of collecting all these memories, Stanley and Simmons would comment to Sharp how much they were learning about their past, mostly due to having to spent the formative years of KISS constantly touring and promoting the band and not being privy to firsthand knowledge of major decisions and seemingly ancillary incidents that would ultimately decide their fates.

Beyond the vast array of memories shared by those who were there, Nothin� To Lose is bursting with rare photos and images that sends the reader back in time; gig posters, homemade ads, handwritten setlists, club date tickets, the reel-to-reel tape box of the original KISS demos and much more. �I worked really, really hard on getting so many rare and previously unseen images,� cites Sharp. �Especially my favorite photos of the band recording their first album without the makeup, which I got from Eddie Solan, the band�s roadie/engineer at the time. They really bring you inside a world that, when you were growing up, you always imagined what it would be like to be inside the studio with these guys.�

Nothin� To Lose � The Making Of KISS 1972-1975 directly answers to that old rock and roll adage of �You had to be there!�

Written by Mike Knuth / Press-Gazette Media

I was watching my Twitter feed the other day when I saw something I didn�t think I would ever see. The words seemed to be staring back at me from the glow of my iPhone screen.

�Kiss to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.�

I closed my eyes and sighed. Finally, one of the great injustices of the century had been rectified.

OK, so maybe that is a bit dramatic, but the fact that Kiss was passed over for 15 years before finally making the grade did not sit well with me. The music critics and high and mighty at The Rolling Stone seemed to be dead set against allowing Kiss to join the ultimate club.

The Kiss Army has been at war on music blogs for more than a decade, and the legion of fans that has followed the �hottest band in the world� for 40 years will finally see the kings of face paint and flash pots formerly enshrined in ... wait for it ... Cleveland.

All joking aside, Cleveland is the place to be for those who want to be considered the best in the music business. Like Canton, Ohio, where the NFL�s legends are enshrined, Cleveland is home to the kings and queens of rock and roll. After selling more than 100 million albums worldwide, Kiss definitely belongs in Cleveland.Written by Mike Knuth / Press-Gazette Media

I was watching my Twitter feed the other day when I saw something I didn�t think I would ever see. The words seemed to be staring back at me from the glow of my iPhone screen.

�Kiss to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.�

I closed my eyes and sighed. Finally, one of the great injustices of the century had been rectified.

OK, so maybe that is a bit dramatic, but the fact that Kiss was passed over for 15 years before finally making the grade did not sit well with me. The music critics and high and mighty at The Rolling Stone seemed to be dead set against allowing Kiss to join the ultimate club.

The Kiss Army has been at war on music blogs for more than a decade, and the legion of fans that has followed the �hottest band in the world� for 40 years will finally see the kings of face paint and flash pots formerly enshrined in ... wait for it ... Cleveland.

All joking aside, Cleveland is the place to be for those who want to be considered the best in the music business. Like Canton, Ohio, where the NFL�s legends are enshrined, Cleveland is home to the kings and queens of rock and roll. After selling more than 100 million albums worldwide, Kiss definitely belongs in Cleveland.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, the founding members of Kiss, are still alive, and if they don�t kill each other before the induction ceremony next year, perhaps they will perform together one more time clad in their trademark costumes and face paint.

Long before I began to worry about losing my hearing, I attended dozens of concerts, saw a little bit of everything, and had the time of my life listening to live music. My first concert was Kiss, which is a little like winning the lottery the first time you buy a ticket. It�s all kind of downhill from there.

In terms of a live act and a real rock show, Kiss has no equal. Kiss has never been known for its remarkable lyrics, vocals or the musical expertise of its members. But no band has ever been able to blend theater, drama, sex, love and rock and roll quite like Kiss.

In the late �70s, when Kiss was truly at the top of the music mountain, my parents took my brother and me to Duluth, Minn., to see Kiss strut its stuff. It was a little like a comic book coming to life.

As surreal as the concert was, what I will always remember about that weekend was my first brush with greatness.

In 1979, before their album �Unmasked� hit the shelves, no one knew what Kiss looked like minus the makeup. The mystery was part of the legend. The afternoon before the concert, my brother and I were standing in the lobby of our hotel, waiting to get on the elevator. As the doors of the elevator opened, two men with long dark hair stepped out. It was none other than Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. With no fanfare, paparazzi or women clutching to their sleeves, Stanley and Simmons quietly walked out of the elevator and made their way to a limousine. These men were not mobbed because no one knew what Kiss looked like.

As I explained to my younger brother what we had just witnessed, he said �No way. How do you know it was them?�

With no offense to anyone in Duluth, I explained to my 13-year-old brother that no one had hair, clothes or the swagger that Paul and Gene had just displayed. It was a moment in time.

Years later, when photos of Kiss without the makeup became commonplace, I was able to go back to my brother and tell him that I was right. We did witness a miracle in that Duluth hotel lobby in 1979. What we didn�t know back then was that we were two feet away from two future Hall of Famers.

After many battles, the Kiss Army has won the war. Rock and roll justice has been served.