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KISS: Behind the Mask - Official Authorized Biography
After three decades of undying adoration, KISS fans will get their first fully authorized and total access look at the band who loves to "rock 'n' roll all nite and party every day!"
Twenty years ago, KISS officially revealed the faces behind the stage makeup, and fans all over the world got their first look at the band. Now, in BEHIND THE MASK, the band's legion of fans and music enthusiasts alike will get to know the men behind the stage personas. After 30 years as a band, KISS are more than just a rock 'n' roll institution-they are legends.
For decades, they have consistently remained among the most successful acts in the history of popular music. KISS' legendary stagemanship and extreme theatrics are well known by two generations of rock fans, and they are already pulling in the next one. Now, through their own words and exclusive material contributed by some of the biggest rock stars in the industry, BEHIND THE MASK will tell the band's full story.
Twenty years ago, KISS officially revealed the faces behind the stage makeup, and fans all over the world got their first look at the band. Now, in BEHIND THE MASK, the band's legion of fans and music enthusiasts alike will get to know the men behind the stage personas. After 30 years as a band, KISS are more than just a rock 'n' roll institution-they are legends.
For decades, they have consistently remained among the most successful acts in the history of popular music. KISS' legendary stagemanship and extreme theatrics are well known by two generations of rock fans, and they are already pulling in the next one. Now, through their own words and exclusive material contributed by some of the biggest rock stars in the industry, BEHIND THE MASK will tell the band's full story.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
December 7, 2014
I loved this book. My wife bought it for me for Christmas the year it came out and I devoured it in less than a week. I have been a KISS fan since their inception back in the early '70's and have read everything I could get my hands on about them, "authorized" or not.
This book starts at the beginning and works its way to the reunion tour that started in 1996. It has a complete discography, which I loved. I am getting ready to read it again as soon as I get through some of the recent books I have bought on my Amazon Kindle.
Highly recommended for any KISS fan or lover of 70's and 80's heavy metal.
This book starts at the beginning and works its way to the reunion tour that started in 1996. It has a complete discography, which I loved. I am getting ready to read it again as soon as I get through some of the recent books I have bought on my Amazon Kindle.
Highly recommended for any KISS fan or lover of 70's and 80's heavy metal.
December 17, 2020
If you're a KISS fan it's a must read, but this is like 2 books in one, which is explained in the beginning.
Peter can really brag about how much of a tough kid he was, and was in gangs and he's just a bad ass constantly, and just boring.
Then Gene of course just comes down on Ace and Peter all through the book....blah blah blah.
It was good to read about the solo albums, different producers, and members of KISS......again it's for the die hard fans like myself.....if you're not pass it up.
Peter can really brag about how much of a tough kid he was, and was in gangs and he's just a bad ass constantly, and just boring.
Then Gene of course just comes down on Ace and Peter all through the book....blah blah blah.
It was good to read about the solo albums, different producers, and members of KISS......again it's for the die hard fans like myself.....if you're not pass it up.
January 11, 2024
I really enjoyed learning more about kiss than I knew previously it was really good and I liked the pictures they included.
March 26, 2010
A great book telling the tale of the Hottest Band in the World! There are many things that I did not know contained within these pages. Kiss has always been heroes of mine and it was a little painful to hear the bickering and fighting going on backstage. No one wants to know that their heroes are real flesh and blood! One thing I would like to have read was more comments by Ace and Peter. I also wished that it had more quotes from Eric Carr. Over all an enlightening story of one of the most influential rock bands of all time.
September 6, 2011
Even though I thought I knew the entire history of KISS, I enjoyed re-learning the things I already knew while finding out a lot I didn't know. The best part of the book for me, though, was the album-by-album rundown of the entire catalog (through the Psycho Circus album), with anecdotes from Gene and Paul. This volume is a perfect complement to the UNauthorized biography, Black Diamond, by Dale Sherman.
December 15, 2009
AMAZING BOOK... it's all about how KISS raised to fame... from being nothing to becoming the "Hottest Band in the World". The book is divided into parts which is really cool. It talks about the band's fame, cool road stories, other people's affection by the band, and the whole story from beginning to "now". Loved it... it's a true inspiration.
IF YOU ARE A KISS FAN YOU MUST READ IT.
IF YOU ARE A KISS FAN YOU MUST READ IT.
July 9, 2012
Great, great book. What a resource! I love it how they go through every album and every song. Fantastic. Well worth it.
August 7, 2017
I liked the first part of the book as it seemed to flow pretty well. However, there were some mistakes that were a bit annoying. The problems start with part two and got worse going into part three. There was very little continuity and a lot of repetition. In fact, if that was really bad, Gene and Paul dominate most of the lines, which made things worse.
While I was never a Kiss Army guy, I like a lot of their early music. What this book desperately needed was more from Peter and Ace and some of the other band members that came in and out of Kiss.
One thing I did enjoy was insight into how the songs were made. I never realised how much they were influenced by other artists or how songs were kind of bolted together with many hands working on them.
If the repetitive passages are edited out and more stuff added from the other members, this could have been a great, inciteful book, rather than one that is for the Kiss Army fans.
So much hope, so much pain to get through the entire book from cover to cover. In hindsight, I would have started with part three, remove part two and edit part one. Read it if you are a big fan, pass it by if you are not.
While I was never a Kiss Army guy, I like a lot of their early music. What this book desperately needed was more from Peter and Ace and some of the other band members that came in and out of Kiss.
One thing I did enjoy was insight into how the songs were made. I never realised how much they were influenced by other artists or how songs were kind of bolted together with many hands working on them.
If the repetitive passages are edited out and more stuff added from the other members, this could have been a great, inciteful book, rather than one that is for the Kiss Army fans.
So much hope, so much pain to get through the entire book from cover to cover. In hindsight, I would have started with part three, remove part two and edit part one. Read it if you are a big fan, pass it by if you are not.
September 16, 2024
A biografia foi publicada em 2003, e a tradução em 2023, ou seja, muita água já passou por debaixo dessa ponte. No entanto, é um ótimo material para quem deseja conhecer a história da banda.
Durante a leitura me perdi um pouco, pois os fatos são narrados sem, necessariamente, respeitar uma ordem cronológica. Mas, é possível ao leitor pegar o contexto do nascimento e amadurecimento do KISS, bem como a personalidade dos integrantes.
Quanto aos integrantes do KISS, percebe-se que eles são fruto de sua geração, os baby boomers. Cresceram em meio a dificuldade, mas encontraram um cenário cheio de oportunidades no início de sua vida produtiva. Oportunidade mais trabalho duro, geram bons frutos.
Fica muito claro que Paul e Gene são os profissionais da banda; Paul com sua sensibilidade artística e disciplina, Gene com seu pragmatismo e instinto empresarial aguçado. Já Ace e Peter são os típicos rockstars dos filmes; talentosos, mas com uma visão romântica sobre a profissão, em que se aposta muito no talento e pouco no trabalho e, infelizmente, acompanhado de álcool e drogas.
Por fim, os biógrafos prestaram um grande serviço aos fãs, e destrincharam a história de cada álbum, com as faixas mais conhecidas.
O livro tem seiscentas páginas mas é de rápida leitura, além de trazer fotos muito bonitas do KISS.
Só é uma pena que tenham escolhido mal a foto da capa. Ao meu ver, não faz sentido apresentar Paul Stanley com a maquiagem antiga.
Durante a leitura me perdi um pouco, pois os fatos são narrados sem, necessariamente, respeitar uma ordem cronológica. Mas, é possível ao leitor pegar o contexto do nascimento e amadurecimento do KISS, bem como a personalidade dos integrantes.
Quanto aos integrantes do KISS, percebe-se que eles são fruto de sua geração, os baby boomers. Cresceram em meio a dificuldade, mas encontraram um cenário cheio de oportunidades no início de sua vida produtiva. Oportunidade mais trabalho duro, geram bons frutos.
Fica muito claro que Paul e Gene são os profissionais da banda; Paul com sua sensibilidade artística e disciplina, Gene com seu pragmatismo e instinto empresarial aguçado. Já Ace e Peter são os típicos rockstars dos filmes; talentosos, mas com uma visão romântica sobre a profissão, em que se aposta muito no talento e pouco no trabalho e, infelizmente, acompanhado de álcool e drogas.
Por fim, os biógrafos prestaram um grande serviço aos fãs, e destrincharam a história de cada álbum, com as faixas mais conhecidas.
O livro tem seiscentas páginas mas é de rápida leitura, além de trazer fotos muito bonitas do KISS.
Só é uma pena que tenham escolhido mal a foto da capa. Ao meu ver, não faz sentido apresentar Paul Stanley com a maquiagem antiga.
March 20, 2012
I can't believe it took me over a month to read this book. I'm an avid reader and I can blow through pretty much any book in record time. But this one took 3 days over a month. Yikes. The book at first sight is a little misleading. It's actually 3 books in one. That wasn't the problem. It was the text itself which smaller than usual and each page seemed to be jammed a little bit tighter than normal with regards to kerning and tracking for the written word. Okay, enough with the boring stuff. Since this is a 3 in 1 book, the review is about 3 times the size. Sorry if it's more than you would normally like to read in a book review to those that stumble across this. Now without further ado, on with the review.....
I read books like this for one reason and one reason only and that is to get behind the scene dirt, a different perspective if you will about some iconic things that went down. For me, I gotta say that the best was when KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was being screened by insiders, around 30 people in attendance, the movie was so bad that EVERYONE sat silently in the theater, not sure of what to say or do. And in the back row, you can hear Ace cackling and laughing at the stupidity of what he was watching on screen. Whenerver he would laugh, the rest of the attendee's would laugh along with him, which was a great way to break that tension in the room. I can totally picturing how this was playing out in the room and would have loved to be there in person.
Another great story was after having just seen Deliverence, Sean Delaney was driving the band to their next gig, gets "lost" and fakes running out of gas and has the band hide in the back of the car under a blanket with their platform boots showing because they were convinced that they would become playthings for nearby Hillbillies. While all this was going down, Sean is at the front of the car drinking all of their booze.
Another great story was when Ace faked like he was s h i t -faced drunk and wouldn't be able to perform that night. He did the joke to get back at Gene and Paul who of course freaked out about losing money if the show couldn't go on and called Bill Aucoin to fix the problem. When he got there, Ace lets him in on the joke and ends up having beers with him in the room while he is suppose to be fixing the problem, making Gene and Paul sweat it out. Ha. No wonder they hate Ace so much.
Peter knocking Ace out cold for being a "lazy mother f u c k e r " was an eye opener as was the time the band got dressed up in drag and to pull a prank on Bill. The kicker was having Grace Slick there as their ring leader and them as her doo-wop background singers. Also cool is hearing other famous rock stars and their KISS stories being told in the book as a sidebar, ranging from Julian Lennon, Ted Nugent, Little Steven, Rick Nielsen. I like hearing what other rock stars have to say about each other and we get plenty here.
I never comment about picture inserts in any book, ever. So, this is a first for me and I need to make a comment about it because it's so damn cool and tripping me out. Inside they have an outtake for what is the centerfold interior of Alive II and it was taken at the Sports Arena in San Diego. I had no idea that iconic shot was taken here. Wow. Also, they have a shot of Paul taken here during the Farewell Tour, a show that I was at. (Chip's Note: In hindsight, now that I think about it, I remember either hearing about the Alive II image being from the Sports Arena or reading it in the linear notes inside the album. Can't remember which.)
This book does a great job of dissecting pretty much everything about KISS that there is to know about. How deep does it get? They actually interview the two 15 year olds, Bruce Redoute and Lee Neaves on the back of Alive! and what it was like discovering that they were on the back cover when they went to buy it for themselves. That's pretty f u c k i n g awesome if you ask me.
Some other things that caught my attention was when Paul basically dismisses Double Platinum because "once a song is recorded, there is no need to re-do them...ever". And yet, many years later he along with Gene would re-record the biggest KISS songs with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer on KISS Klassics. It's not lost on me that this particular album is utter garbage and an embarassment. Hmmm...maybe Paul was right and he shouldn't have gone to the well a second time. Oh well.....
For me, out of the 3 sections of the book, I found the last one, which is devoted to commentary by the band, engineers, producers, managers, secretaries, song writers and whoever else happened to have a story to tell in which they go into great detail, breaking down every single KISS album and probably about 95% of every single song they ever recorded.
The gloves are off when rating the albums and songs. The most brutally honest of them all had to be the Kulick Brothers. Both Bob and Bruce did not pull punches about what songs they absolutely hated and each one had some pretty eye opening stories to talk about with their working relationship with both Paul and Gene. I was actually surprise to see this stuff get into the book and I was even more surprise to hear Gene rip on Paul for writing "whimpy" love songs. This is great stuff.
I definitely recommend this to any and all KISS fans as a Buy. Non-fans should definitely give this one a Rent and get some good behind the scenes stories. This isn't a perfect book. Because Part 1 and Part 2 are written by two different people, there is a good chunk of stuff that is repeated in Part 2. After awhile it becomes extremely annoying reading the same thing again. This is where an editor failed his job of tightening things up and getting rid of stuff that was just rehashing the same information. That's my only gripe about the book, otherwise an awesome read.
4 1/2 Stars out of 5
You can find more of my Book, DVD, TV and Movie reviews at my Forum (Penny Can) at...
http://pennycan.createaforum.com
Feel free to stop by and contribute your 2 cents.
I read books like this for one reason and one reason only and that is to get behind the scene dirt, a different perspective if you will about some iconic things that went down. For me, I gotta say that the best was when KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was being screened by insiders, around 30 people in attendance, the movie was so bad that EVERYONE sat silently in the theater, not sure of what to say or do. And in the back row, you can hear Ace cackling and laughing at the stupidity of what he was watching on screen. Whenerver he would laugh, the rest of the attendee's would laugh along with him, which was a great way to break that tension in the room. I can totally picturing how this was playing out in the room and would have loved to be there in person.
Another great story was after having just seen Deliverence, Sean Delaney was driving the band to their next gig, gets "lost" and fakes running out of gas and has the band hide in the back of the car under a blanket with their platform boots showing because they were convinced that they would become playthings for nearby Hillbillies. While all this was going down, Sean is at the front of the car drinking all of their booze.
Another great story was when Ace faked like he was s h i t -faced drunk and wouldn't be able to perform that night. He did the joke to get back at Gene and Paul who of course freaked out about losing money if the show couldn't go on and called Bill Aucoin to fix the problem. When he got there, Ace lets him in on the joke and ends up having beers with him in the room while he is suppose to be fixing the problem, making Gene and Paul sweat it out. Ha. No wonder they hate Ace so much.
Peter knocking Ace out cold for being a "lazy mother f u c k e r " was an eye opener as was the time the band got dressed up in drag and to pull a prank on Bill. The kicker was having Grace Slick there as their ring leader and them as her doo-wop background singers. Also cool is hearing other famous rock stars and their KISS stories being told in the book as a sidebar, ranging from Julian Lennon, Ted Nugent, Little Steven, Rick Nielsen. I like hearing what other rock stars have to say about each other and we get plenty here.
I never comment about picture inserts in any book, ever. So, this is a first for me and I need to make a comment about it because it's so damn cool and tripping me out. Inside they have an outtake for what is the centerfold interior of Alive II and it was taken at the Sports Arena in San Diego. I had no idea that iconic shot was taken here. Wow. Also, they have a shot of Paul taken here during the Farewell Tour, a show that I was at. (Chip's Note: In hindsight, now that I think about it, I remember either hearing about the Alive II image being from the Sports Arena or reading it in the linear notes inside the album. Can't remember which.)
This book does a great job of dissecting pretty much everything about KISS that there is to know about. How deep does it get? They actually interview the two 15 year olds, Bruce Redoute and Lee Neaves on the back of Alive! and what it was like discovering that they were on the back cover when they went to buy it for themselves. That's pretty f u c k i n g awesome if you ask me.
Some other things that caught my attention was when Paul basically dismisses Double Platinum because "once a song is recorded, there is no need to re-do them...ever". And yet, many years later he along with Gene would re-record the biggest KISS songs with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer on KISS Klassics. It's not lost on me that this particular album is utter garbage and an embarassment. Hmmm...maybe Paul was right and he shouldn't have gone to the well a second time. Oh well.....
For me, out of the 3 sections of the book, I found the last one, which is devoted to commentary by the band, engineers, producers, managers, secretaries, song writers and whoever else happened to have a story to tell in which they go into great detail, breaking down every single KISS album and probably about 95% of every single song they ever recorded.
The gloves are off when rating the albums and songs. The most brutally honest of them all had to be the Kulick Brothers. Both Bob and Bruce did not pull punches about what songs they absolutely hated and each one had some pretty eye opening stories to talk about with their working relationship with both Paul and Gene. I was actually surprise to see this stuff get into the book and I was even more surprise to hear Gene rip on Paul for writing "whimpy" love songs. This is great stuff.
I definitely recommend this to any and all KISS fans as a Buy. Non-fans should definitely give this one a Rent and get some good behind the scenes stories. This isn't a perfect book. Because Part 1 and Part 2 are written by two different people, there is a good chunk of stuff that is repeated in Part 2. After awhile it becomes extremely annoying reading the same thing again. This is where an editor failed his job of tightening things up and getting rid of stuff that was just rehashing the same information. That's my only gripe about the book, otherwise an awesome read.
4 1/2 Stars out of 5
You can find more of my Book, DVD, TV and Movie reviews at my Forum (Penny Can) at...
http://pennycan.createaforum.com
Feel free to stop by and contribute your 2 cents.
February 9, 2019
Una lettura indispensabile per i fans dei Kiss che vi troveranno: le biografie degli artisti, aneddoti, foto inedite e analisi ragionata della discografia della band. La parte più interessante è quella iniziale dove si ripercorre la carriera dei nostri beniamini dall'adolescenza un po' sfigata, alla giovinezza squattrinata, segnata dalle serate in postacci frequentati da trogloditi ubriachi. Nel panorama artistico della New York di inizio anni 70 emergono la titanica determinazione e il talento del duo Simmons - Stanley che si stagliano a modello per le giovani generazioni di rockers. Consigliato.
October 14, 2019
I started out being really interested in this and then it just went downhill.
The only band member I didn’t want to smack by the end of the book was Paul. If I had to hear one more time how victimized Ace and Peter felt I just might have thrown the book out the window. And Gene Simmons is just kinda gross.
The layout of the book, too, was not ideal. You can tell many of the interview sections were pieced together and were super repetitive. Had I just read the first section this would have had a much higher rating.
The only band member I didn’t want to smack by the end of the book was Paul. If I had to hear one more time how victimized Ace and Peter felt I just might have thrown the book out the window. And Gene Simmons is just kinda gross.
The layout of the book, too, was not ideal. You can tell many of the interview sections were pieced together and were super repetitive. Had I just read the first section this would have had a much higher rating.
September 30, 2018
What makes this book a worthy read is the section that provides massive details about each KISS album through Psycho Circus. Speaking of that album, I laughed at how proud Paul Stanley is of HIS songs on that album. The first part of the book was ho-hum for me. I’ve heard the KISS story so many times, I don’t need to hear it again, and especially not from Gene and Paul’s perspective.
March 21, 2019
At the time of reading this bio KISS - Behind The Mask - KISS again plan on touring Australia. Let’s hope it brings the same elation as 1980.
Great read and insight into the early years. Awesome Album by Album - song by song commentary.
Great read and insight into the early years. Awesome Album by Album - song by song commentary.
May 20, 2019
Interesting book, I especially liked the first part written in 1979. The song by song listing was also interesting, although it is always disappointing when you read that an artist didn't care for one of your favorite songs.
March 22, 2021
For die-hard KISS fans, this is an excellent opportunity to find out lesser known details from their early years along with an extensive song by song commentary of their vast discography. Nice reading in total.
October 24, 2017
Must read for a Kiss fan because it encompasses the first biographies of the band during the 70's.
November 28, 2017
Excelente, traz um panorama extenso e completo.
February 26, 2019
Just couldn’t get into the book. First few chapters about the band forming was great.
September 4, 2019
Kiss is one of the most iconic bands ever.
December 27, 2020
A must have for all KISS fans! I don't need to say anymore. Superb!
April 29, 2021
This was a fun book into the self-declared "HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD, KISS!"
I enjoyed learning of the characters and their journeys in KISS.
I enjoyed learning of the characters and their journeys in KISS.
Read
March 15, 2022Amazing. Period.
August 21, 2023
This book seriously changed my life.
December 23, 2023
So far one of the best biographies of rock stars I read!
March 13, 2020
I LOVE KISS BOOKS. I can't stop reading them. I was late to the game on this one but... wow. So much information packed into this thing. A bunch of stuff that gets printed yet glossed over, Gene contradicting himself and others, salesmen admitting to fraudulent numbers, just a wonderful trip through the Hell that is KISS
November 3, 2023
Obrigatório para todo fã da banda.
Read
November 14, 2016These aren’t your average guys.
On January 30,1973, one of the greatest bands in american history performed their first show. Enter Paul Stanley,the acrobatic Starchild, Gene Simmons, the fire breathing Demon, Ace Frehley, the axe slinging Space Ace, and Peter Criss, The levitating Catman.
the band have been together for over 42 years and now they have come together to reveal their story of how the band was created and how they succeeded over the years as a group.
The most famous of the band was Gene Simmons, the fire breathing Demon. he was born on August 25,1949.Gene was also jewish. Another fact about him was that he wasn’t alway thin. Finally Gene always loved comics as well as music.
During his long career as Kiss’s bass guitarist he learned how to breath fire from a magician and to this day he has used this trick in every one of Kiss’s shows.
Now after 42 years Kiss has been a very successful band and has achieved many goals that they set asa band.
Before the band that was going to become Kiss ever existed Kiss was just 4 guys who loved to play music.
The band that was going to become Kiss came together in January of 1973.
They had to work their way up at the beginning as a band that no one had ever heard of and into the band they are today.
They wore different uniforms and makeup than they wear today.
One of their greatest achievements that the band achieved was when they played at the academy of music.
The band also had many regrets and mistakes that they made when they were together in the band.
One of their greatest regrets was when the bands ego’s made them make 4 separate solo albums.
One other regret they made and hated for the rest of their live was when the original Catman, Peter Criss left the band.
Also the band had some funny moments in their live as the band Kiss.
One of their funniest moments was when the Demon, Gene Simmons hair accidentally caught on fire when they opened for the blue oyster cult.
Another of their funniest moments was when they would play practical jokes on each other.
One of the practical jokes was when Peter put eggs in Genes boots.But since Gene had some humor he was mad at Peter when he found out what he did,
One of the things that the band would have were major fights.
One of their fights was Peter’s favorite kind of fight a food fight.
Even though the members of Kiss fight at each other,and play jokes on one another but in the end the members of Kiss are just like 4 brothers.
If you are a major fan of Kiss and you love seeing them in concert and listening to their CD’s then this is a book that I think you’ll enjoy.
Carter Barley
On January 30,1973, one of the greatest bands in american history performed their first show. Enter Paul Stanley,the acrobatic Starchild, Gene Simmons, the fire breathing Demon, Ace Frehley, the axe slinging Space Ace, and Peter Criss, The levitating Catman.
the band have been together for over 42 years and now they have come together to reveal their story of how the band was created and how they succeeded over the years as a group.
The most famous of the band was Gene Simmons, the fire breathing Demon. he was born on August 25,1949.Gene was also jewish. Another fact about him was that he wasn’t alway thin. Finally Gene always loved comics as well as music.
During his long career as Kiss’s bass guitarist he learned how to breath fire from a magician and to this day he has used this trick in every one of Kiss’s shows.
Now after 42 years Kiss has been a very successful band and has achieved many goals that they set asa band.
Before the band that was going to become Kiss ever existed Kiss was just 4 guys who loved to play music.
The band that was going to become Kiss came together in January of 1973.
They had to work their way up at the beginning as a band that no one had ever heard of and into the band they are today.
They wore different uniforms and makeup than they wear today.
One of their greatest achievements that the band achieved was when they played at the academy of music.
The band also had many regrets and mistakes that they made when they were together in the band.
One of their greatest regrets was when the bands ego’s made them make 4 separate solo albums.
One other regret they made and hated for the rest of their live was when the original Catman, Peter Criss left the band.
Also the band had some funny moments in their live as the band Kiss.
One of their funniest moments was when the Demon, Gene Simmons hair accidentally caught on fire when they opened for the blue oyster cult.
Another of their funniest moments was when they would play practical jokes on each other.
One of the practical jokes was when Peter put eggs in Genes boots.But since Gene had some humor he was mad at Peter when he found out what he did,
One of the things that the band would have were major fights.
One of their fights was Peter’s favorite kind of fight a food fight.
Even though the members of Kiss fight at each other,and play jokes on one another but in the end the members of Kiss are just like 4 brothers.
If you are a major fan of Kiss and you love seeing them in concert and listening to their CD’s then this is a book that I think you’ll enjoy.
Carter Barley
January 16, 2014
Overall, I'd give this book 3.5/5. I really enjoyed it, but I have a few problems with it.
My main issue is that the concept was originally David Leaf's, and then Ken Sharp came along and read the manuscript and wanted to collaborate. The final product, although it was Leaf's original concept, is 1/3 Leaf and 2/3 Sharp.
Section 1 is David Leaf's original manuscript (with spelling corrections and whatnot). I thought this was the best section of the book. Definitely 4/5 stars just for this section. It was really cool reading about '70s KISS, since I was born 2 decades later. Reading their thoughts and seeing their camaraderie (for the most part) was so interesting and gave a new dimension to the band to me.
Section 2 is Ken Sharp's rendition of post-breakup KISS, after Peter and Ace left. The section is inconsistent with the first section of the book format-wise, which bothered me a bit. It didn't flow as well and read more "interview-y" and less "storytelling-y." The chapters were significantly shorter as well (with the exception of chapter 16, which spans 60 pages). I give this section a 3/5 at best.
Section 3 is also a Sharp-composed section with a run-down of all the albums with interviews on what different members, managers, co-writers...you name it...discussing their thoughts on each song/album. This section is very interesting, a 3.5/5 for me, but I feel like it could have been its own book altogether.
KISS has been my favorite band since I was a child. I grew up listening to my dad's records. They hold a very special place in my heart. This book, while full of incite, could have been better. I still really enjoyed it. I'm going to settle with 3/5 stars, even though the book is more of a 3.5/5 in my opinion.
My main issue is that the concept was originally David Leaf's, and then Ken Sharp came along and read the manuscript and wanted to collaborate. The final product, although it was Leaf's original concept, is 1/3 Leaf and 2/3 Sharp.
Section 1 is David Leaf's original manuscript (with spelling corrections and whatnot). I thought this was the best section of the book. Definitely 4/5 stars just for this section. It was really cool reading about '70s KISS, since I was born 2 decades later. Reading their thoughts and seeing their camaraderie (for the most part) was so interesting and gave a new dimension to the band to me.
Section 2 is Ken Sharp's rendition of post-breakup KISS, after Peter and Ace left. The section is inconsistent with the first section of the book format-wise, which bothered me a bit. It didn't flow as well and read more "interview-y" and less "storytelling-y." The chapters were significantly shorter as well (with the exception of chapter 16, which spans 60 pages). I give this section a 3/5 at best.
Section 3 is also a Sharp-composed section with a run-down of all the albums with interviews on what different members, managers, co-writers...you name it...discussing their thoughts on each song/album. This section is very interesting, a 3.5/5 for me, but I feel like it could have been its own book altogether.
KISS has been my favorite band since I was a child. I grew up listening to my dad's records. They hold a very special place in my heart. This book, while full of incite, could have been better. I still really enjoyed it. I'm going to settle with 3/5 stars, even though the book is more of a 3.5/5 in my opinion.
Currently reading
May 6, 2011Well. I really like the book so far. It's about their beginnings and how they started out. It tells about all the members when they were growing up and tellsx about their childhood mand how they got into music. When Paul and Gene, guitarist and bassist form a band that eventually fails, they recruit the drummer, Peter, into a new band. Then they find Ace, the lead guitarist, and form the band fully
When they are on the road, it's very hard beacause they are putting all this money into the show and their barely getting half of that as pay. So they all have to get other jobs to just support themselves.
When they are on the road, it's very hard beacause they are putting all this money into the show and their barely getting half of that as pay. So they all have to get other jobs to just support themselves.
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