Kiss

USA, 1973–2023

New York band formed in 1973, performing in face paint and costume as four fixed characters. Their stage productions used pyrotechnics and elaborate staging alongside straightforward hard rock.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Kiss and 9 artists Kiss influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Kiss?

• The Beatles — Stanley and Simmons have both said Kiss began with the Beatles on Ed Sullivan — 'four distinct personalities' was the explicit model.
• New York Dolls — Kiss formed in the direct shadow of the New York Dolls' glam scene, pushing the Dolls' makeup and swagger to cartoon scale.

Which artists did Kiss influence?

• Pantera — Ace Frehley specifically. Dimebag used to skip school and paint his face in Frehley's make-up.
• Alice in Chains — Named in the same sentence as AC/DC — the American arena half of what he was listening to before the English metal.
• Poison — Kiss's dramatic flair and elaborate showmanship were a core model for Poison's theatrical stagecraft.
• W.A.S.P. — Lawless closely imitated Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on stage — Kiss's costumed spectacle was a direct model for W.A.S.P.
• Mötley Crüe — Nikki Sixx was a teenage Kiss obsessive — The Dirt documents Kiss as the band's model of spectacle-driven hard rock.
• Anthrax — Scott Ian has said KISS was the reason he picked up a guitar — his first concert and lifelong reference.
• Slipknot — Shawn Crahan has cited KISS's masked theatricality as the seed of Slipknot's own image-as-ritual.
• Cheap Trick — Cheap Trick made no secret of their love of Kiss records — the big, dumb-fun hard-rock spectacle in their DNA.
• Marilyn Manson — The band's makeup and glam-shock theatrics drew directly on KISS's costumed spectacle.