Known for their face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock–style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits and pyrotechnics.

With their makeup and costumes, the band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss).

[10][11][12] After breaking up Wicked Lester late in 1972, Simmons and Stanley came across an ad in the East Coast version of Rolling Stone placed by Peter Criss, a drummer from the New York City scene who had previously played in the bands Lips and Chelsea.

"[17] Frehley created the now-iconic logo, making the "SS" look like lightning bolts, when he went to write the new band name over "Wicked Lester" on a poster outside the club where they were going to play.

[25] For the first three gigs, January 30 to February 1, they wore makeup, but the iconic character designs associated with Kiss made their debuts during the March 9–10 shows at The Daisy in Amityville, New York.

There were moments of doubt for me that we were gonna make it.On February 19, in its first television appearance, the band performed "Nothin' to Lose", "Firehouse" and "Black Diamond" on ABC's In Concert (aired March 29).

In recent years the band admitted that additional audience noise had been added to the album, as well as overdubs on select guitar and vocal spots, not to deceive fans, but to add more "excitement and realism" to the record.

In October 1976, Kiss appeared on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (aired on ABC the 29th), lip-synching "Detroit Rock City", "Beth" and "King of the Night Time World".

Some of the products released included a pair of comic books issued by Marvel (the first contained ink mixed with actual blood donated by the group), a pinball machine, dolls, "Kiss Your Face Makeup" kits, Halloween masks, board games, lunch boxes, trading cards and many other pieces of memorabilia.

Simmons' many collaborators included Aerosmith's Joe Perry, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, the Doobie Brothers' Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Donna Summer, Janis Ian, Helen Reddy, Bob Seger, Katey Sagal, and his then-girlfriend Cher.

Of the four, Simmons's album charted the highest in the U.S., peaking at #22, while Frehley's spawned the only resulting Top Forty hit single, a cover of "New York Groove", written by Russ Ballard and originally performed by Hello.

During the episode, a visibly irritated Simmons and Stanley attempted, unsuccessfully, to contain the inebriated Frehley, whose frequent laughter and joking overshadowed the conversation between Snyder and the rest of the band.

[80] Other notable guitarists who auditioned to replace Frehley included Punky Meadows of Angel,[81] Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake,[82] Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi,[83] Yngwie Malmsteen,[84] and Slash of Guns N' Roses.

[85] Soon afterward, Kiss made major changes to its business dealings – chief among them was severing ties with its manager of nine years, Bill Aucoin, and cutting back on its unwieldy organizational tree.

Kiss appeared live at the conventions, conducted question and answer sessions, signed autographs, and performed a two-hour acoustic set composed mostly of spontaneous fan requests.

While the images of Frehley and Criss are featured prominently on the album, most of the lead guitar work was later revealed to have been performed by future band member Tommy Thayer.

The next month, the group worked in collaboration with World Championship Wrestling to produce a Kiss-themed wrestler known as the Demon, whose face was painted to resemble Simmons' makeup.

On October 15, 2006, Simmons, Stanley and Criss were inaugural inductees into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, along with performers such as Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Louis Armstrong, the Ramones and Tony Bennett.

On October 31 the same year, the group released Kissology Volume One: 1974–1977, the first of 10 possible DVD sets featuring complete concert footage, interviews and never-before-seen clips.

[158] It included a CD of new material, re-recorded versions of famous Kiss hits (previously released as Jigoku-Retsuden, a Japanese exclusive album in 2008) and a live DVD recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

[179] Kulick also claimed that Simmons and Stanley would have wanted to perform despite their ongoing disagreements with founding members Criss and Frehley, but that the Hall of Fame was too stringent in their rules.

[180] On January 28, 2015, Kiss released a collaboration single with the Japanese female idol group Momoiro Clover Z, titled "Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi na".

[221][222] In a June 2021 interview, Stanley remained optimistic that the band would complete their final tour when playing concerts was safe and discussed the inevitable retirement of Kiss.

[273] Its music is described as "a commercially potent mix of anthemic, fist-pounding hard rock, driven by sleek hooks and ballads powered by loud guitars, cloying melodies, and sweeping strings.

[277] The same magazine's review of Hotter than Hell stated that "with twin guitars hammering out catchy mondo-distorto riffs and bass and drums amiably bringing up the rear, Kiss spews forth a deceptively controlled type of thunderous hysteria.

"[279] Kiss was strongly influenced by Alice Cooper and New York Dolls,[280] while Gene Simmons has stated that the band's "musical heart and soul lies in England".

[284] Contrary to a false belief spread among the fan community of the band ("The Ankh Warrior"), the official name for Vincent's persona is "The Wiz", as per his contract, press releases for the Creatures of the Night tour, magazine interviews, and Simmons' autobiography.

While both Secos & Molhados and Kiss employed distinctive face paint and theatrical elements in their performances, the evidence suggests that these similarities arose independently, influenced by the broader trends in the rock and glam scenes of the early 1970s.

Tours got larger, carrying more personnel and equipment, including sets, costumes, sound and lighting gear, and pyrotechnics, all requiring more trucking and the total cost increasing by millions of dollars.

[280][287] In addition to concert merchandising, Kiss has extended its influence to include a full Kiss-themed mini-golf course at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.