andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers) (10/24/85)
In article <294@mb2c.UUCP> mlt@mb2c.UUCP (Mark L. Tompkins) writes: >BTW, has anyone else ever heard that KISS is an acronym for "Knights In >Satan's Service"? Yes; also "Kids In Service to Satan". The lunatic fringe of the "Religious Right" (the ones behind the "Proctor & Gamble finance devil worship" rumors) have been spreading this one for years! (Evidence? WE don't need any; WE'RE divinely inspired!) A few years ago, one school was forced to remove a student-painted mural of Kiss because of these allegations! Another Kiss rumor, BTW, is that they used to be the Blues Magoos - NOT TRUE! This was alleged in a tongue-in-cheek review of one of their early albums ("released on the tenth anniversary of 'Psychedelic Lollipop'") and has often been restated as fact. (In a Goldmine article/interview, though, ex-Magoo Emil/Peppy Thielhelm/Castro was credited as writer of some Kiss songs.) Yet another rumor: I once heard that Kiss adopted their stage makeup to hide their age; GS was supposedly 37 when the group started, which would make him about 50 now! Anyone else ever hear this one? > I read an interview once where Gene Simmons stated that they originally >wanted to name the band F***, but thought better of it. It came down >between KISS and Albatross(?). Yes, that's true. >More KISS trivia: The real names of the original members of KISS - > > Gene Simmons - Gene Klein, former 6th grade English teacher > Paul Stanley - Paul Frehley, used to work for some NY magazine > Ace Frehley - Stanley Eisen, former NY midtown cabbie > Peter Criss - Peter Crisscoula, former bar-band drummer You switched Paul and Ace. >Nothing this band has done in the last 5 years comes close to the first 5 or >so albums with the original crew. No kidding - after Ace and Peter left, it looked like they might be headed for the oldies circuit (maybe they could back Bobby Rydell on "Kissin' Time"!) However, the resurgence of heavy metal (which I never really considered Kiss to be) has given them a new lease on life (at least commercially; I still think their new stuff sucks!) AWR PS: Speaking of aging rockers - Bill Wyman turns 49 today (10/24)! (The US biographies usually give his year of birth as '41; the UK ones say '36.)