“Two sides of the coin…..”
A&E recently released their two-part Biography documentary KISSTORY that covers the career of the iconic band KISS and its nearly fifty year history. Being a massive fan of the group in all of its incarnations over the years, I was hoping to see something that hadn’t been revealed before in books, previous documentaries, or interviews from the past. While I really enjoyed the documentary and a few cool bits and pieces that I somehow missed, there weren’t very many new things revealed by the band or A&E.
While I appreciated the recognition of people such as producer and choreographer Sean Delaney, who was crucial to the early successes of the band, I felt like the documentary as a whole glazed over the important contributions of band members like Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr. Almost nothing was said about Vinnie Vincent, who stopped the band’s spiral into irrelevance in the early 80’s. Mark St. John was mentioned, but not much was said about his brief time in the group.
As was expected, the bulk of the documentary focused on the band’s rise to success in the 1970’s, the departures of both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, and the band’s 90’s reunion. It should be noted that neither Frehley nor Criss, both co-founders of the original group, agreed to appear in any new interviews for the documentary. They only allowed archival footage of themselves to be used and, as a result, we got a one-sided view of the band’s rise, fall, and resurrection. Some might even argue that Ace and Peter were viewed in an almost entirely negative light and, too a degree, that might be true. Ace and Peter’s strained relationship with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley is well known, but the truth will probably never come to light.
The band’s “unmasked” era in the 1980’s and early 1990’s is mentioned but almost entirely skipped over. I can somewhat understand this as that particular era is the least favorite of Gene and Paul. I can also imagine how difficult it was for the producers and editors to cram over forty years of a band’s life into a three hour program. That being said, I really wish that someone would produce a documentary focusing solely on the band’s “unmasked” era, as there were some solid tunes produced during that time and Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr and eventually Kulick and Eric Singer, proved to be the most talented members of the band in my opinion.
Not mentioned in the documentary were session players such as Bob Kulick, Anton Fig, and Dick Wagner, among others, who recorded parts of or played entire songs on many of the band’s albums. I’m especially shocked at the absence of Fig and Bob Kulick, as both of them proved to be essential session players.
The documentary is far from perfect and definitely suffers from the lack of Ace and Peter. There’s a vein of bitterness over the entire production any time that Ace or Peter are brought up and they are brought up a lot. I’m not saying that Ace and Peter were angels, but I do believe that Gene and Paul laid it on pretty thick a few times too many in the documentary. I also believe that the band’s failures were misrepresented at times. The failure of albums such as Unmasked and Creatures of the Night were attributed to the fans being tired of the band’s infighting when, at least in my opinion, it was due to the fact that Dynasty, Unmasked, and Music From The Elder all failed to deliver what the fans wanted. Creatures eventually found its audience and has since become a favorite album of many KISS fans, but I believe it suffered because of the pop direction and the complete misfire of Elder.
Ultimately, KISSTORY is a somewhat bitter-tasting love letter and farewell to fans. It’s actually a pretty good starting point for new and potential fans of the band, but you’ll only get a real taste of KISS by reading their books, watching other documentaries and interviews, and especially listening to their music.
Thanks for checking out my review. I hope that you enjoyed it.
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