1990:
* "Forever," co-written by Paul and singer Michael Bolton, is released
as the second single from "Hot in the Shade." It receives a major push
at Top 40 and adult contemporary radio. It becomes Kiss's biggest hit
single since "Beth," reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also
accompanied by a magnificent video, which gets major airplay on MTV,
hitting #4 on their Top 20 Video Countdown show. The single gives the
album a new life.
* Due to the single's success, tour plans go into effect. The band puts
together a huge stage show, incorporating lasers for the first time.
They also put together their longest set list, with an average of 22
songs a show. Songs that are not played in 10-12 years are featured in
the set.
* "Rise to it" is released as the follow up single to "Forever." It
peaks at #81 on the Hot 100. The video features Paul and Gene in their
makeup and costumes for the first time in seven years.
* Due to its huge success, the tour is extended to six months in North
America (the band does not tour outside the continent). The final show
is at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tour is Kiss's most
successful since 1979.
1991:
* After completion of the tour, Kiss immediately begins work on their
next album. They decide to bring in "Destroyer" and "The Elder" producer
Bob Ezrin to work with them. This time, Kiss goes for a more aggressive
sound, comparable to their earlier albums.
* Eric Carr shows signs of illness through consistent coughing of blood.
It is determined that he had a tumor in his heart. He goes in for heart
surgery, which seems to be successful.
* While Eric is recuperating, Kiss gets an offer to contribute a song
to the soundtrack of the movie "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." They
go into the studio to record a cover of the Argent classic "God Gave
Rock 'n Roll to You." Paul, Gene and Bob Ezrin rearrange the song to
their standards, writing new lyrics. Due to his illness, Eric is unable
to contribute drums. Eric Singer is brought in to fill in for the recording.
Eric Carr contributes backing vocals.
* "God Gave Rock 'n Roll to You" receives substantial radio and video
airplay. Eric Carr is featured on drums in the video.
* The band continues to rehearse and write for the new album. Eric Carr's
health begins to deteriorate. It is determined he has heart cancer and
he begins chemotherapy.
* Eric's cancer eventually goes into remission, however Kiss tells
him to stay home to recover while they work on the album. The band has
full intentions of having Eric return when he is 100% percent, but
Eric has a hard time in dealing with this situation. Eric Singer continues
to play drums on the album while Eric Carr is at home.
* Two days after Eric Carr is seen at the MTV Video Music Awards in September,
he suffers a brain hemorrhage and is sent to the hospital.
* Eric's health deterriorates to the point where he is in a coma. He
suffers a second brain hemmorrage and dies on November 24.
* Eric is given a public funeral and memorial which is attended by all
current Kiss members, as well as former guitarist Ace Frehley. Other
musicians close to the band, including Alice Cooper and members of Metallica
and Slaughter attend the service. Eric is buried in Middletown, NY.
* Devastated by the loss of Eric, Kiss tries to bury themselves in work
on the new album to cope.
1992:
* Eric Singer is officially named as the new Kiss drummer.
* The band finishes work on their 24th album and readies themselves for
a special club tour in support.
* The band plays a handful of club shows beginning in April. Incorporated
are three new songs from the upcoming album.
* "Revenge" is released in May. It debuts on the Billboard album chart
at #6. It goes gold within 6 weeks.
* "Unholy" is the first video from the album and is released as a single
in Europe. The video gets MTV airplay on the "Handbanger's Ball" show.
* "I Just Wanna" is released to radio and gets decent airplay. The video
gets airplay on MTV as well.
* Kiss travels to England for a brief tour in late May. They use the 1990
"Hot in the Shade" sphinx stage show.
* Plans for a North American tour are switched from August to October
in favor of Paul getting married and Gene having a baby.
* "Kiss X-Treme Closeup" is released in the summer. It's a 90 minute
documentary video with interviews with Paul, Gene, Bruce and Eric Singer.
It instantly becomes a platinum seller and #1 on the Billboard Music
Video chart.
* "Domino" is released as the first official American single from the
"Revenge" album, but it fails to chart. The video gets very little MTV
airplay.
* Kiss start their tour on October 1 in Allentown, PA. The stage is
elaborate, incorporating a "New York" theme with subway signs, and a
huge replica of the torso of the Statue of Liberty.
* "Everytime I Look at You" is released as the second American single.
With "hit" written all over it, a worthy follow up to "Forever," the
single fails to chart. MTV rejects the video, claiming it to be "too
depressing."
* Kiss record and video tape their Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis
concerts for "Alive III," and a future home video. Detroit is the only
sold out show of the tour.
* The "Revenge" tour turns out to be a huge failure. Arenas are half
empty on most of the dates. Some venues have to be changed to smaller
sized ones. The tour ends abruptly in early December.
1993:
* The band comes off the road to re-evaluate itself and to prepare for
the "Alive III" album.
* "Alive III" is released in May. Gene, Paul and Bruce are inducted into
the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame on the same day of release. The band
states that a plaque for Eric Carr will be given to the Rock Walk.
The album debuts at #9 on the Billboard charts and goes on to gold
status.
* Kiss sets up a special meet and greet tour through record stores. With
the purchase of a Kiss album, fans are given special passes to meet the
band at a special party in selected cities. Around 12 cities are included
in the tour.
* "Kiss Konfidential," a new home video chronicling the "Revenge" tour
as well as cuts from "Alive III" is released in the summer. It reaches
#1 on the Billboard video charts and reaches platinum status.
* Kiss begins work on their next studio album. In the meantime, the
band also begins work on several other projects, including a coffee
table sized book and a tribute album.
* Kiss perform "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Makin' Love" on Dick Clark's
"New Year's Rockin' Eve" special.
1994:
* Plans for the new studio album, which at the time is tentatively titled
"Head," seem to be put on hold while Paul and Gene work on the outside
projects. They produce Anthrax's version of "She" for the upcoming
tribute album. All four members of Kiss travel to Nashville to be the
backup band for Garth Brooks's version of "Hard Luck Woman."
* Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved," a special tribute album is
released in July. It reaches #19 on the Billboard charts and goes gold.
Included in the album cover booklet is a special offer for "Kisstory,"
a 9 pound, 440 page hard cover book put together by the band. Also included
under the CD tray is a special message from Paul and Gene to Ace and
Peter, thanking them for their input and history with the band.
* "Hard Luck Woman," by Garth Brooks and Kiss gets substantial Top 40
and Adult Contemporary radio airplay. Kiss appears on "The Tonight Show"
to perform the song with Garth.
* Paul and Gene appear on "The Late Show with David Letterman" with the
Gin Blossoms to perform "Christine Sixteen."
* Kiss play a special concert at the Gibson Guitars 100th anniversary
show with Fleetwood Mac.
* "Kiss My Ass: The Video" is released in late summer. Although it reaches
gold status, it's criticized among Kiss fans for using poor quality video
footage (bootlegs of the same footage had been circulating in top notch
quality for years) and for not showing more behind the scenes footage of
the making of the tribute album.
* The Mighty Mighty Bosstones's version of "Detroit Rock City" is released
as a limited edition single. The video gets limited airplay on MTV.
* Kiss continues to work on their new studio album, said to be taking a
more aggressive and modern approach.
* The band travels to South America for their second ever tour of the
continent.
1995:
* Again, plans for the new studio album are put on hold as Kiss continues
to tour the world, hitting Japan as well as Australia for only the second
time in their careers. While in Australia, the band puts on their first
ever "official" conventions, which include a question and answer period,
an autograph session, and an all request "unplugged" concert. Plans are
immediately made for a North American convention tour.
* The "Kisstory" book is shipped to fans all over the world. It includes
autographs by Paul, Gene, Bruce and Eric. Although its pages are stunning
and glossy, the book is criticized for its poor binding. Numerous books
are sent back after falling apart. Replacements are quickly sent out.
* Kiss returns home to America and begins a summer long convention tour
of North America. The show includes the same aspects as the Australian
conventions, as well as a huge Kiss museum with original costumes, album
artwork and instruments. The first date of the tour in Los Angeles makes
history as Peter Criss, who came to the show with his daughter, joins
the band for their unplugged set, performing "Hard Luck Woman" and "Nothin'
to Lose." A sign for things to come.
* Kiss performs acoustic versions of "Comin' Home" and "Domino" on the
"Late Night with Conan O' Brien" show. Footage from the New York convention
is also shown.
* Kiss films an episode of "MTV Unplugged." Again, history is made as
both Peter Criss and Ace Frehley participate towards the end of the show.
The original group plays "2000 Man" and "Beth." All six members join
together to play "Nothin' to Lose" and "Rock and Roll All Nite."
* Gene, Paul, Peter and Ace secretly make plans for a reunion tour with
full makeup and costumes for 1996. They engage in a strenuous workout
regime and they practice applying the makeup for the first time in almost
15 years.
* The "MTV Unplugged" special is aired on Halloween night. It becomes
the second most watched episode of the series, right behind Jimmy Page
and Robert Plant's special.
1996:
* Gene, Paul, Bruce and Eric finish work on a new studio album. It winds
up being pushed aside for the reunion plans.
* The original Kiss "shock the people" and appear on the Grammy Awards
(in their 1977 "Love Gun" outfits) to present an award with the late Tupac
Shakur. Although they pose for pictures backstage, the band does not
reveal any plans for the future.
* The "MTV Unplugged" special is released on compact disc, vinyl and
home video in March. The album peaks at #15 on the Billboard album chart
and eventually goes gold. The video also reaches gold status.
* The unplugged version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" is pulled as a video
clip for MTV and VH-1. The song also gets substantial rock radio airplay.
* Kiss holds a major press conference on board the U.S.S. Intrepid in
New York City in April to announce their year long world tour. They
describe the stage show as being based on the "Love Gun"/"Alive II"
stage, but not a total replica.
* The band begins rehearsals for the tour. Both Ace and Peter relearn
their parts for the songs that are being used for the set list.
* Kiss appear on the MTV Movie Awards in June and present the award for
"Best Kiss."
* "You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best," a special "Best of Alive"
compilation is released in late June. Included are four "unreleased"
live recordings as well as a 15 minute interview conducted by Jay Leno.
The album peaks at #17 on the Billboard charts and goes gold.
* The 1996-97 "Alive/Worldwide" tour begins on June 30 at Tiger Stadium
in Detroit. All 38,000 seats are sold within 45 minutes.
* A special live "Shout it Out Loud" video, filmed at Tiger Stadium gets
decent airplay at MTV.
* Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer announce their official departure of Kiss.
The reunion becomes permanent as Ace and Peter sign long term contracts
with the band.
* The unreleased studio album recorded with Bruce and Eric finds its way
to the public in bootleg form. Paul and Gene take action to stop the
circulation of the tape. The album is dubbed "Carnival of Souls" (from
a song title off a demo tape) by the fans.
* Kiss play four straight nights at Madison Square Garden at their home
town of New York City. All four shows are sold out within an hour total.
* Kiss appear on the MTV Video Music Awards in September. They perform
via satellite from under the Brooklyn Bridge, where they play "Rock and
Roll All Nite" to an enthusiastic crowd.
* Kiss travels to Europe in the fall to begin their overseas leg of the
tour. They play former Communist Countries, such as The Czech Republic
for the first time in their careers.
* Kiss returns home to America for a handful of dates befor the new year.
Included in the show is a new 30 minute documentary of the reunion that
is played just before Kiss hits the stage.
* The band winds up the year by playing a sold out concert at the Continental
Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on New Year's Eve. Portions of the
show are seen on Dick Clark's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" show.
1997:
* The band travels to Japan and play a sold out show at the 50,000+
seat Tokyo Dome in January. Gene loses his voice for one night and Paul
winds up singing extra songs.
* The reunion tour is named as the highest grossing tour of 1996. The
band is featured on the cover of Forbes magazine.
* Kiss goes to Australia for a total of eight sold out shows.
* The band plays two stadium concerts in Mexico and two in South America
before coming home to North America.
* Kiss begins a "Lost Cities" tour in the spring, hitting cities that
they hadn't played in over 20 years.
* Kiss plays a controversial concert in North Carolina. Due to suffering
from carpal tunnel syndrome, Peter is unable to move his arms and play
the show. Deciding it's too late to cancel the concert, Peter's drum
technician takes over the night, playing in the cat makeup and costume.
No one in attendance seems to be unhappy or asks for their money back.
* "Greatest Kiss," originally a European "best of" only, gets a U.S.
release in May, with a different track list. It peaks at #77 on the
album charts.
* Kiss travels to Europe in May for a series of outdoor festival stadium
concerts.
* The reunion tour winds up in early July in London, England. Over 190
concerts are played total.
* Kiss returns home to America to begin a lengthy break to relax and to
contemplate the future.
* The premiere issue of the "Psycho Circus" comic book series hits the
racks in August, published by McFarlane Comics.
* To cut down the circulation of the bootleg, "Carnival of Souls: The
Final Sessions" gets an official release in November. It peaks at #27
on the Billboard charts and remains there for only four weeks. Pulled
from the album, "Jungle" becomes Kiss's first top ten rock radio hit
in over 20 years. The strength of the radio single does little to booster
album sales, however.
1998:
* Kiss begins writing material for the first new album with the original
group in 19 years.
* Bruce Fairbairn, known for his work with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Van Halen,
and the Cranberries is signed on to produce the new album. Recording
commences in April.
* Kiss titles the new album "Psycho Circus" after the comic book series.
The band begins to hype a new stage show with 3-D effects.
* The title track of the new album is leaked out to a small radio station
in New Jersey in July. Legal issues force the station to stop playing
the song.
* "Psycho Circus," the song makes its official radio debut in August.
It is instantly a smash on rock formats, becoming the most added and
requested song on the radio.
* Kiss holds a press conference at Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles
to announce their new album, tour and 3-D video. The band appears in
new versions of their 1976 "Destroyer" outfits.
* The "Psycho Circus" album is released in September. It becomes Kiss's
highest charting American album, debuting at #3. Elsewhere in the world,
the album debuts at #2 in Canada and #1 in Sweden and Australia.
* The band begins rehearsals and work out routines for the new tour.
* The title track of the album becomes Kiss's first ever #1 rock radio
hit.
* The "Psycho Circus" album goes gold one month after release.
* The "Psycho Circus" video is refused to be aired on MTV. The video is
released to the stores with a 3-D version and a 1-D version. The package
also includes a special bonus compact disc with an unreleased song from
the album sessions.
* Kiss begins their new tour on Halloween night at Dodger Stadium in Los
Angeles, CA. The stage includes a giant video screen which displays 3-D
effects throughout the show. The fans are given special glasses to view
the effects on the screen. Also incorporated into the show are special
and dangerous circus acts that are performed while Kiss's crew set up
the stage. Portions of the show are shown live on FOX TV. The band also
appears on MAD-TV on FOX the same night.
* Kiss films their live portion for a new theatrical movie entitled "Detroit
Rock City" distributed through New Line Cinema. The film is set in 1976
and is based on teenagers' adventures to getting to a Kiss concert. Kiss's
segments are filmed in Toronto, Canada.
* Paul Stanley and Bruce Kulick are sued by the publishers of the Alice
Cooper song "I'm Eighteen," claiming that the song "Dreamin'" off of "Psycho
Circus" plagiarized Alice's song. Alice Cooper is unaware and surprised of
the suit.
* The band receives gold album awards for "Psycho Circus" in front of a
sold out Madison Square Garden crowd in their hometown of New York City."
* "You Wanted the Best" is released to radio.
1999:
* Kiss are nominated for the "Best Hard Rock Performance" Grammy Award
for the song "Psycho Circus."
* Kiss receives a standing ovation as they present Best Rock/Pop Album at
the 1999 American Music Awards. They are the first presenters ever to get
a standing ovation in the history of the show.
* Kiss performs a pyro filled version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" at Super
Bowl XXXIII in Miami, FL, which also included Kiss facepainted cheerleaders.
* Kiss loses the grammy to Page/Plant.
* Kiss plans their first concerts ever in Russia for April.
* Kiss records new song "Nothing Can Keep Me from You" for the upcoming
soundtrack to the movie "Detroit Rock City."
* Paul Stanley is cast as the lead in the Toronto, Canada version of "Phantom
of the Opera."
* Kiss postpones their Russian concerts due to the crisis in Kosovo.
* Ace states in a radio interview that Kiss's fall tour will be the band's
last. Ace sited the lack of creative control for the reason he wants out.
Gene Simmons, not soon after, states that nothing has been decided in
regards to Kiss's future.
* Kiss is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which the
band accepts in August.
* Gene signs a deal with WCW (World Championship Wrestling), which allows
the company to feature wrestlers wearing the Kiss makeup, and using some
of the band's visual effects, such as breathing fire. The band plays on
WCW Monday Nitro in August.
* The "Detroit Rock City" film opens to critical disdain, as well as
dismal box office records. The movie is pulled from theaters within two
weeks, and makes a gross of less than $4 million dollars. Despite the
disappointing turn out, Gene continues to work on other film and television
projects with his entertainment company.
* Plans for a fall tour are canceled, which gives Paul the chance to return
to Canada for an extended run as "The Phantom of the Opera."
* Kiss begins plans for a joint Pay Per View program with WCW in Arizona
on New Year's Eve. The show will include a Kiss concert, and WCW wrestling,
as well as other events.
* Kiss performs (lip synchs) four songs at the iBash concert in Las Vegas
in October. It is a premiere party for Pixel.com.
* All ties with Kiss and WCW are severed when a change in management
occurs in WCW.
* Paul turns down the lead role in the Broadway production of "Jekyll and
Hyde" so he can put Kiss as a priority. The band plans for a New Year's Eve
concert in Vancouver, B.C., and a spring tour.
* Kiss announce that the New Year's Eve concert in Canada will be recorded
for a new home video and "Alive IV."
2000
* Kiss plays Alaska for the first time since 1974. The show is recorded
for use on "Alive IV."
* Kiss announce to the world that they are splitting up and plan on going
on a "farewell tour" in North America. Cheap Trick is handpicked by the
band to be the opening act, but after turning down the offer, Ted Nugent
and Skid Row are chosen to open for Kiss on the tour. No plans for any
overseas dates are made.
* "Alive IV" is scheduled to be released in March. The album is pushed back
to mid April due to remixing. The European and Japanese versions are to
contain three bonus tracks not on the U.S. version.
* The Farewell Tour opens in Pheonix, AZ to mixed reviews. The first three
songs are aired on VH-1, who is a co-sponsor of the tour.
* "Alive IV" is delayed indefinitely, as the remixing of the album causes
the band to go past the deadline for release. No word on a new release
date is given.
* The Farewell Tour is so well receieved, ticketwise, that plans to extend
it are made. Initially said to end in July, the plans are rumored to be
stretched into September, or possibly later, as Kiss looks to play overseas
as well. This change of plans causes Paul to cancel an engagement to play
The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
2001
* As the band makes plans to visit Japan and Austraila, contract negotiations
with Peter sour and Peter exits the band. Eric Singer is brought in to replace him
and the decision is made to have Eric wear Peter's costume and makeup, which
draws mixed reaction among fans.
* "The Last Kiss," a pay per view concert taped at the band's East Rutherford, NJ
farewell concert is aired in the spring.
* Gene signs a deal to write his autobiography
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