KISS: Behind the Mask - The Official Authorized Biography

I bought this book for my son for Christmas & he'll be the one reviewing it: "This book is VERY GOOD! I LOVED it! I got it for KISSmas, and it was hard to put down. I just finished it yesterday, and there are ALOT of things even I didn't know about KISS. They did rip Ace and Peter off on the coverage of their solo albums, but maybe Gene and Paul were a little jealous that Ace's solo album was the best of all four. This book went in detail about how they all met, previous bands, the struggles they went through to make it, how poor they were, how different they were to each other, etc. It went into detail about EVERY album and EVERY song, from the self-titled first album(KISS) to Psycho Circus. I read Gene's autobiography, plus KISS and Make-Up several years ago, and they're great books also. Any KISS fan will LOVE this book(Behind the Mask). I recommend this book to KISS fans of ALL ages(Well maybe not children, or anyone who is offended by curse words &/or drug and alcohol references). KISS: Behind the Mask is one of the top 5 books I have ever read!"

As several reviews here have noted, the first section of "Behind the Mask", titled "The Rise to the Top", is a long-lost manuscript from 1979 that was originally intended for release in early 1980 as the first official KISS biography. When you read it, it's clear why it was never published: It was written during the Dynasty tour and paints an incredibly rosy picture of life in KISS that we all know to be less than the whole truth, and at the time it was ready for release - Peter Criss was already out of the band. The manuscript became outdated in a matter of months. Events overtook it. It's also possible that Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and their several managers thought that there was too much in this story that didn't jibe with the then recent Super KISS Image. Stories of guns and rumbles and car crashes, courtesy of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley of course, would not have been what Super KISS wanted to convey to the masses of ever younger fans that flocked to their concerts in the wake of the 1978 film and solo album stunt. But this is exactly what makes this part of the book a must-read: In contrast to the rosy "we all love and respect each other so much" hype, this particular feature of the story is an honest snap-shot of KISS in 1979, looking back on their personal origins and their first six years together in an incredible rise to the top of the world. This is KISS standing on a precipice, and in the subsequent couple of years their Empire would disintegrate in a cloud of drugs, alcohol, money and ego, as well as personal and artistic delusions. All the signs are clear to see in the first section of this book. Section 2, "Speaking in Tongues", is the least interesting part of the book, as it covers the 1980s and early 1990s in a very broad stroke to get as quickly as possible to the 1996 reunion. Fair enough, the book had to pick a focus and couldn't have covered everything in detail. Section 3 is the real gem, in my opinion. Titled "Shout It Out Loud", this is a muscular 220-page section that discusses every single KISS album song by song, from the making of the Wicked Lester album in 1971, through the beginnings of KISS and every song ever put on record up until 1998. (A new edition must surely arrive at some point...) And the great thing here is the fact the the albums and songs are not discussed by the authors - we're talked through it all by every member of KISS past and present, and just about every other person involved in the making of KISS records. From Eddie Kramer, Bob Ezrin, Vini Poncia and Michael James Jackson, to Sean Delaney and Bill Aucoin, to engineers Corky Stasiak and Jay Messina... Anyone you could think of has been interviewed and put on record. And Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter are even challenged into giving each album their own personal star rating, which makes for interesting cases of comparing the members' views of their catalogue. In one word: Powerhouse! A light Section 2 is bookended by the incredibly strong Sections 1 and 3. This is the real story, so much more honest and comprehensive in scope than the Gene and Paul fables of "KISStory". A must-read and must-have for anyone interested in KISS' music and history.

KISS: Behind the Mask, compiled by David Leaf and Ken Sharp, is a definitive and encyclopedic history of KISS. From the first page onward, it details the band's history from the beginning to the present. Each and every chapter in this book details the band's history from the band members to those who worked with them exclusively from the very beginning. It details how Gene and Paul met and also, how they tried to make the big time with their previous band, Wicked Lester, but failed, and then, decided to form a hard rocking band unlike any band before or after them, which became KISS. The book also shows that the band's founding members, Gene Simmons (i.e. Klein; Chaim Witz) and Paul Stanley (i.e. Stanley Eisen) how they got KISS together and hoped that Epic Records, who rejected the Wicked Lester album, could and hopefully, replace Wicked Lester, but again, failed because Don Ellis, then A&R man for Epic wasn't interested, and also, I learned that he turned down Lynyrd Skynyrd (who were later signed to MCA Records) and Rush (which Casablanca Records, who would sign KISS, also turned down as I learned from the book by Larry Harris [May he rest in peace] "And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records" I have a revoew on this book as well. Please check it out. Mr. Harris also shares his own reflections on some of the band's albums as well..). It also details how both Peter Criss (i.e. George Peter Crisscoula) and Ace Frehley (whose real first name is actually Paul) became members of the classic original line-up. The book even details all of the albums from the band's history, starting with the Wicked Lester album, the first KISS album on Casablanca up to the 1998 original band reunion album Psycho Circus. In great detail, those who worked with the band on these albums and also, their management teams and many others, it shows how these albums got made, the writing of songs for each album and comments from those who produced the albums. It also shares how Bill Aucoin (May he also rest in peace) discovered the band and how the demo of the band's music wound up in the hands of Casablanca Records' head Neil Bogart (May he also rest in peace) and their signing to his fledgling label and how they became a worldwide phenomenon that eclipsed their main influence, The Beatles, and how like The Beatles, took on the world by storm in the 1970's. There are also many details about the band's declining popularity, which started with the KISS solo albums and their TV movie, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, which later became a cult classic in its own right, and their subsequent loss of focus during the musical excperimental phase that started with 1979's Dynasty, which continued with 1980's Unmasked and ended with their ill-fated 1981 concept album, a progressive rock experiment, (Music From) The Elder. It even has the band members, both original and replacements, such as Eric Carr (i.e. Paul Caravelo; May he also rest in peace), Vinnie Vincent (i.e. Cusano), Mark St. John (i.e. Norton; May he also rest in peace), Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer (i.e. Eric Doyle Mensinger) and those who worked with them sharing how they worked to rebuild the band's fanbase by removing their make-up and costumes from their act and continuning to record and tour letting their music, rather than the gimmick, be their calling card and how Gene tried to build an acting career outside the band, which failed, and how Paul kept the vision and hard work going to keep KISS as busy as possible and also, their reunion in the late 1990's back in make-up and full costumes and the successes and failures in the wake of their reunion, such as the successful sold out concerts on the tour to the failure of the much underrated 1999 film Detroit Rock City, which later had its own cult following all over the world and has also become a cult classic in its own right. This wonderful encyclopedic book covers it all. It covers the band's history from the very beginning, the up's and the down's, the high's and the low's, and their continuing influence on the world of music alongside other infleuntial bands and artists, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Slade, David Bowie, Alice Cooper and many more as these bands were also an influence on KISS in their own right in terms of their showmanship, their act in general and their music and also, how they still remain a strong driving force within music and other forms of entertainment. Likewise with C.K. Lendt's KISS and Sell: The Making of a Super Group (which I also review on here, please check it out), I also learned stuff about KISS and music that I didn't know before until I read this book. Overall, I highly recommend this book as a wonderful read. It is well written, enetrtaining and a delightful read. No fan of KISS should be without this definitive encyclopedic book within their library of music biographies. Again, I highly recommend this book to all of those within the worldwide KISS Army as essential reading.

Ever since that cold January day in 1977 when my older brother took me to see KIZZ when I was 8 years old, I've been a KIZZ fan.. That night changed my world, it put music at the front of anything I ever did or have done. Everything I've done or will do has music attached to it in some shape or form. This is a great read of the stories of my heros. They have done so much more since this book was written, and they are now doing the final tour, that I really believe is the final one. They are just getting to old to keep this up... If you're a fan or just interested in how the icon of KIZZ came about this is a great book for you.

Decent book, not anything that hasn't been written in other KISS books. HOWEVER, do NOT buy books from this seller: agoodealofbooks. I purchased this book from the afore-mentioned seller, & I gave him a 3 star review based on the fact that the book was sold NOT in the condition as described(good), it had 1/2 the back of the dust jacket missing, & the binding was starting to come apart. I understand I bought a used book, & stated so in my review, & this "businessperson", for lack of a better term, sent me this(plus 2 other) e-mails: Here's my review: * 3 out of 5: * ""Small tear", as described, is actually 1/2 the back side of the dust cover, which is a group photo; binding is less than "solid", as described,glue not holding binding to 1st page of book. I understand I purchased a used book,& book is serviceable, but condition is somewhat worse than described. I also paid for expedited shipping & it took longer than 2-6 days, it took 7, which is longer than what I paid for. " Here's the 1st e-mail this "businessman" sent me: " Wow , You couldn't just drop me an email to let me know all this? All I ask my customer is to email me BEFORE leaving feedback. Check out my store policy. It is also Amazon's feedback policy. I like how you confuse me with the post office too. Go ahead, just heap it on. Its okay I ll be your whipping boy. I expect more from a KISS fan. I have issued a complete refund. Which would of happened anyway. I would ask you to remove your blameful feedback. But I am afraid to asked too much from you already.So just leave me alone and please do not buy books from me in the future. Thanks for your cooperation. Mike The book was rated GOOD! which is one rating above ACCEPTABLE, the book was better than ACCEPTABLE, no matter what you say. next time trying buying a book in VERY GOOD condition. Maybe it will meet your standards. The book was in GOOD condition. either way you got your money back." Here's the 2nd: "Oh no, you scare me more than Gene Simmon's tongue. And you know where you can put that. The book matches all the criteria of a "good" book. It was not very good and definitely not acceptable. and I think I know what I am talking about from experience. But I also make mistakes, which in your case I took responsibility for and issued a complete refund. I am very sorry that PEOPLE LIKE YOU freak me out. If you had any empathy you would understand exactly how hard PEOPLE LIKE YOU are to deal with. You obviously feel you are ABOVE the rules that we all have to conform to and work with. I get upset with PEOPLE LIKE YOU because, Please understand, the only negative feedback I ever have received is from PEOPLE LIKE YOU. Also understand how frustrating it must be dealing with PEOPLE LIKE YOU. Had you only given me the common courtesy I asked from you when you purchased the book FROM ME, you would of never been delt the negative karma you have now inherited. Good luck with that. The KISS army can't even help you now. As far as your other threats go, I am sure your friends know who you are and will consider the source. Now, if you got any friends at the post office, maybe your complaining could help with that. Your assumption that you would of gotten the same response from me had you tried to communicate as requested in my story policy and by Amazon really shows how self absorbed you really are. You did not have to leave negative feedback on my account. I believe my customers, if the book is not in the condition they expect for what ever reason they deserve a refund. There can always be differences in judgment on a book's condition. It is not like you walked in a store and picked this book off a shelf. You trusted me to judge the book correctly and for what ever reason it was not up to your standards. I totally understand this. This is why we ask you to try to communicate your thoughts BEFORE leaving feedback. Had you followed this simple procedure, then you, as a customer, could see how I respond to your needs and then judge my service. This is why we ask you to contact us via email BEFORE leaving feedback. Because there will always be misunderstandings in life, it is how we resolve them that is important, grasshopper You did not even give me a chance to help you or resolve this before you rated my customer service. And yes I over reacted and I am sorry. But honestly and this is 100% the truth, I have never received negative feedback from a customer who contacted me via email first, never once in over 10 years. That says a lot about you, now doesn't it! The only people who leave negative feedback and also refuse to remove it even after a full refund has been issued are PEOPLE LIKE YOU, who do exactly what you did. Kinda sez a lot doesn't it. So you tell me, before you tell all your buddies and the world, as you have threatened, how you would feel when the same people do the same thing all the time. And when you tell them they get all self righteous and blame you for the communication breakdown, and in your case even the post office. SO please. do me a favor and tell the world what kind of customer you are and show them why PEOPLE LIKE YOU upset me so much. Thank you for your help and understanding, Mike I apologized, issued a complete refund and do not want the book back. the Karma is in your court now. Good luck, I hope you are capable of making the correct decision, Mike" It really is not Amazon's policy to contact sellers prior to submitting a review,(however, it is their policy to guarantee products sold by their approved 3rd party vendors, so he would have had to issue a refund no matter what, he didn't "take responsibility" for this transaction) irregardless of what this "businessperson" states, otherwise you wouldn't be able to post a poor review(& how is it my fault that 3 out of 5 stars is a poor review? Contact Amazon about that, that's their conditions, Mr. Businessperson!!) w/out contacting the seller 1st, & the review was requested by Amazon in an e-mail sent to me. I posted an honest review of a book agoodealofbooks sold me, & this guy took it upon himself to contact me & act in a very unprofessional manner. This "businessperson", & I use that term loosely, went off on a customer, & asked me to change my review; based on the tone of his demeaning, unprofessional & accusatory e-mails(which I sent to Amazon's customer service,BTW, hopefully they will remove him from approved 3rd party sellers list) I will not do so, but perhaps I may have if I was approached differently & most importantly professionally, not like I know nor care who the hell he is(he also used my 1st name in the correspondence, which I deleted, which is a little too familiar for a business setting). I offered to return the book postage due as recompense(& to settle this matter, as to absolutely NEVER have any contact whatsoever w/ this "businessperson"), & he refused, so the onus is on him, not me. This guy needs to seek anger management counseling immediately if not sooner, & really should be NEVER allowed to do business on Amazon IMO, as he took this personally & went off the deep end over a transaction worth less than $12 w/ shipping. Do yourself & the rest of the free world a favor & NEVER purchase a book from him, because if you post an honest review of a transaction w/ agoodealofbooks that he doesn't care for, he will act like a spoiled 5 year-old & contact you w/ some demanding, accusatory, & highly unprofessional e-mails.

Long book but lots of insights and fun ! Nice to see behind the scenes and all the drama to survive as long as they did! Still love to hear their songs on radio or as today on streaming stations. Set up a Kiss playlist it lasts for dayd. Lastly RIP. ACE !

I love this book - any KISS or non fan alike will enjoy getting behind the scenes and discovering the iconic things that went down such as the great stories of how Peter knocked Ace out for being a lazy motherf**ker, and my favourite where they had just seen the film Deliverance and Sean Delaney, while driving the band to their next gig, pretended to run out of gas and got them cowering under a blanket in the back of the van with their famous platform boots sticking out, because they were afraid some local hillbillies might see them and make them their bitches! It dissects everything about KISS that there is to know about, there are comments from other rock star fans of KISS, commentary by the band themselves, producers, managers, engineers and anyone else involved who happened to have a good story to tell. Plus, so much more besides including superb photos. Great read and buy.

I feel like a kid again as I'm rediscovering KISS all over from their earliest childhood roots to discovering what made them tick in their plight to become one of the biggest rock bands ever. It's an interesting take here as there's not much of that all too familiar fingerprinting going on, just the band members talking individually about their rise to fame with it all thrown together in a cohesive pot. However, the history behind this book is intriguing as this one is really two books in one as the first half of it was scheduled to be released back in the early 80's, but as you'll find out in the introduction it never happened and it sat in a storage box for many years. Amazing huh? That's the kind of KISStory you'll learn about in here and so much more! Definitely worth the relatively inexpensive digital price. As a former Clevelander I'm also loving all the historical concert shots form 1976 at the much missed Richfield Coliseum, a place where I took in my very first Kiss show at. That was KISStory for me!

I like the book because it arrived in a safe and secure package.

Tolles Buch mit vielen unbekannten und sehr informativen Geschichten über KISS. Die Song by Song Beschreibung über die ganzen Alben ist echt super interessant.

Excellent livre pour découvrir l'histoire incroyable de Kiss depuis ses débuts.

perfecto muy bien y mas rapido en la llegada de lo que esperaba no igual que otro que os pedi que era GENE SIMMONS BEHIND THE MASK que me decepciono mucho su estado muchas gracias

Lots of new & interesting facts for hardcore fans, casual fans & newbies alike however the book is somewhat sanitized. Perhaps they were trying to avoid lawsuits, criminal prosecution or embarrassing their wives & children. There's not much dirt about partying, fights, drug use, alcohol use or their countless sexual exploits. We all remember the 70's & 80's & stuff happened to rock stars. C'mon Gene & Paul... we know what you did & we want details!