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he outta know...his band helped make a caricature of rock bands. Looking back, they were down right silly.

I’ve always argued that if KISS played their music without the make-up, no one would listen to them.

My first thoughts exactly. If Rock is dead it's death knells started with KISS. I grew up on Led Zeppelin. My first album was CCR Cosmos Factory. I played Beatles 45s on my sisters record player. Loved BTO and as I aged became a big ZZ-Top fan and still think Billy F Gibbons is one of the best Rock/Blues guitarists still alive. Check out his new album with “Hardware.” Rock ain't dead, you just have to look for it.

KISS was all marketing and showmanship. Simmons was good at both. I saw Alice Cooper in San Antonio around 79. During the concert he yelled “KISS ain't shit.” Place erupted. People forget how KISS was viewed by fans of Rock in the 70s and 80s. KISS was a fun show especially when the organic substances started being passed around. But like a lot of bands in their era it was all show not so much substance. Look at old videos of Deep Purple, one video of them playing “Smoke on the Water” looks like a High School auditorium. No explosions, no costume's, just good music.

Money, marketing and showmanship made KISS. The music made the great Rock bands. More money, better marketing, technology and pyrotechnics damaged Rock, and KISS lead that charge. Honestly, does anyone still sit and listen to KISS albums? Seriously, I can still listen to “Cosmos Factory”, “Dark Side of the Moon” any Zeppelin album, Fleetwood Mac etc…. KISS had a few good songs but without all the bling and marketing are they really musically that interesting? If you had a choice, would you listen to the entire Hotel California album or Destroyer?