The Origins of KISS

It is difficult to picture the band KISS as anything other than the flamboyant, painted-faced, fire-breathing rockers that have perfected their brand of stadium-quaking glam metal over the last 50 years. But the group—known for their hard-hitting onstage antics and their even harder rock sound—had to start somewhere.

Wicked Lester

Before there was KISS, there was Wicked Lester, a New York City-formed band led by bassist Gene Simmons and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley, known then as Gene Klein and Stanley Eisen, respectively. The struggling rock band mostly played cover songs in local clubs, but they were ambitious and had their sights set on stardom.

They focused much of their energy on securing a label deal and recording an album. They were eventually taken on by Electric Lady Studios engineer Ron Johnsen who helped them record some demos and gain the attention of Epic Records.

“We were literally going into Electric Lady when there was free time,” Stanley told Classic Rock. “Weeks could go by, and then we might go in for 36 hours straight. We were at a point in our careers where we were happy to just go in and record. We were good boys. We did everything that the producer told us.” 

Making an album proved a daunting process for Wicked Lester, taking the band over a year to record it. By the end of the endeavor, neither Simmons nor Stanley were happy with the product.

“It was done over such a long period that if a hit record had a sitar on it, we put a sitar on a song. So we wound up with an album with no focus,” Stanley said, with Simmons adding, “Paul and I weren’t happy with the record. It had a West Coast American hippie sound. We looked at each other and decided to form a new group, which was Kiss.”

“LEAD GUITARIST WANTED with Flash and Ability.”

With Simmons and Stanley setting off on their own in 1972, they would need some accompaniment, ideally a drummer and a lead guitarist.

Their search for a percussionist wouldn’t last long when they stumbled across Peter Criss’ classified ad, advertising himself as a drummer “looking to do anything to make it.” He auditioned for the band, and soon two became three.

Stanley would later place an ad in the Village Voice classifieds, calling for a lead guitarist with “Flash and Ability.” Ace Frehley turned up to auditions and turned out to be the guitarist for the job. “As soon as he started playing, both Paul and I looked at each other when Ace started soloing,” Simmons said in the KISS biography, Nothin’ to Lose. “We finally heard the sound. There was a dangerous volatility about him but also glorious playing.”

With their lineup now in place, KISS would perform their first official gig in January 1973. They would release their self-titled debut album almost exactly a year later.

The Rise of KISS

KISS initially garnered attention because of the excitement of their live performances. But it wouldn’t be until their third studio release, the 1975 album Dressed to Kill, which harbored one of their signature songs, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” that the band began their ascent to rock stardom that they so longed for from the very beginning. And the rest is Kisstory…

 Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images