Yesterday in 1983 Kiss released the album Lick It Up New York City, New York Hard rock, heavy metal Status:Active Years active 1973–present Kiss (often styled as KISS) is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well known for its members black and white face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s with their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits and pyrotechnics. Counting the 1978 solo albums, Kiss has been awarded 28 gold albums to date, the most of any American rock band. The band has sold more than 40 million albums in the United States, of which 20 million have been certified by the RIAA and their worldwide sales exceeds 100 million records, making them one of world’s best-selling bands of all time. The original 1973–80 lineup consisted of Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals and bass guitar), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals) and Peter Criss (drums and vocals). With their makeup and costumes, they took on the personas of comic book-style characters: Starchild (Stanley), The Demon (Simmons), Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley) and Catman (Criss). Stanley became the Starchild because of his tendency to be referred to as the starry-eyed lover and hopeless romantic. The Demon makeup reflected Simmons cynicism and dark sense of humor, as well as his affection for comic books. Frehleys Spaceman makeup was a reflection of his fondness for science fiction and his supposedly being from another planet. Criss Catman makeup was in accordance with the belief that he had nine lives because of his rough childhood in Brooklyn. Because of creative differences, both Criss and Frehley were out of the group by 1982. The bands commercial fortunes had waned considerably by that point. Buoyed by a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the 1990s, the band announced a reunion of the original lineup in 1996. The resulting Kiss Alive/Worldwide/Reunion Tour was the top-grossing act of 1996 and 1997. Criss and Frehley have since left Kiss again, but the band continues with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Stanley and Simmons have remained the only two constant members. Kiss has been named in many Top lists. They include Number 10 on VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, 9th on The Greatest Metal Bands list by MTV, number one on Hit Paraderss Top 100 Live Bands, 56th on VH1s 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time, and 26th on Gibsons 50 Greatest American Rock Bands. Kiss was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ten years after becoming eligible Mercury Paul Stanley - rhythm guitar, lead vocals Gene Simmons - bass guitar, lead vocals Vinnie Vincent - lead guitar, backing vocals Eric Carr - drums, percussion, backing vocals (R.I.P.1991) Other musicians: Rick Derringer - lead guitar on Exciter 1. Exciter (4:11) 2. Not For The Innocent (4:23) 3. Lick It Up (3:56) 4. Young And Wasted (4:05) 5. Gimme More (3:44) 6. All Hells Breakin Loose (4:33) 7. A Million To One (4:10) 8. Fits Like A Glove (4:04) 9. Dance All Over Your Face (4:16) 10. And On The 8th Day (4:02) Total Time 41:30 Lick It Up is the 11th studio album by the American rock band Kiss. On the day of the records release, the group members appeared on MTV without their trademark makeup. It was the first public appearance without makeup by Kiss since the bands very early days. The title track Lick It Up remains a staple of the ensembles live performances, having been played over nine-hundred times as of September 2012. However, the rest of the album is rarely played live. This is the first Kiss album officially featuring new lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent, despite the fact that he unofficially appeared for the first time on the last album Creatures of the Night Lick It Up built upon the harder sound Kiss had displayed on 1982s Creatures of the Night. But while Creatures of the Night was a commercial disappointment for Kiss, Lick It Up sold much better. It was certified gold on December 22, 1983, the first Kiss album to achieve certification since 1980s Unmasked. This is partially attributable to the increased publicity the band received after their unmasking.[citation needed] Lick It Up and All Hells Breakin Loose were released as singles from the album. They were accompanied by a pair of similarly themed, tongue-in-cheek videos featuring the band (along with many scantily clad women) in desolate, post-apocalyptic settings. For the first time Vincent appeared on the cover art for the album, whereas Ace Frehley had appeared on the Creatures of the Night cover, despite having already left the band and not being involved in the recording of the album. Vincent was not legally a member of the band. Due partly to disputes over what his role in the band and his pay would be (some reports indicated that Vincent had asked for, and was flatly denied, a percentage of the bands gross profits), Vincent never signed any contract making his employment official. These disputes, along with a growing attitude by Vincent that he was solely responsible for the resurgence of Kiss, would lead to him leaving the band (or being fired, depending on the source) after the European leg of the Lick It Up tour. With the band unable to secure a replacement guitarist on such short notice, Vincent was enticed to return for the American leg of the tour. However, his refusal to sign his contract continued to be a sore point. A major rift developed between Vincent and the rest of the band over his guitar solos. What were supposed 5-8 minute solos timed to finish on a cue so that Paul Stanley could introduce the next song, suddenly expanded in some instances leaving the rest of the band impatiently waiting on stage for Vincent to finish. At an LA Forum show in January 1984 Vincent continued playing despite Stanleys cueing him to finish the solo. The two nearly came to blows in the dressing room afterward, with Stanley accusing Vincent of showing him up and Vincent accusing the other three members of ruining his solo and trying to hold him back as a performer. They were separated by Eric Carr and Gene Simmons and a couple of roadies who tried to keep the peace. At a March show in Quebec, Canada, as the band prepared to close out their set, Vincent broke into an impromptu solo, leaving the other band members standing onstage with nothing to do. Vincent left (or was fired for a second time, depending on the source) shortly after. This time the break was permanent. Although according to Simmons and Stanley, Vinnie Vincent was never officially a member of the band, he appears on the cover and is credited in the liner notes as the bands lead guitarist. If Vinnie Vincent was officially the lead guitarist, Lick It Up would be to date one of two Kiss albums in which every song is credited to only band members with no outside writers or no cover songs, the other being 2009s Sonic Boom. All Hells Breakin Loose is one of three songs in the history of the band in which all four (current at the time) members share song-writing credit, the others being Love Theme From Kiss and Back To The Stone Age. In an interview for KISSology 2, Paul Stanley made the statement that, People were now listening with their eyes rather than their ears. Mainly, because Creatures of the Night was arguably a better album than Lick It Up. He also made the statement that The only reason why I think people bought Lick It Up more than Creatures of the Night was because we had no make-up on. That was the only reason youtube/watch?v=Gcj34XixuYg
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:04:09 +0000
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