Kiss
NINE INCH NAILS
Nine Inch Nails were the most popular industrial group ever and were largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass audience. It isn't really accurate to call NIN a group; the only official member is singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, who always remained solely responsible for NIN's musical direction (he was, however, supported in concert by a regular backing band). Unlike the vast majority of industrial artists, Reznor wrote melodic, traditionally structured songs where lyrics were a focal point. His pop instincts not only made the harsh electronic beats of industrial music easier to digest, but also put a human face on a style that usually tried to sound as mechanical as possible. While Ministry crossed over to heavy metal audiences, NIN built up a large alternative rock fan base right around the time of Nirvana's mainstream breakthrough. As a result, Reznor became a genuine star and his notoriously dark, brooding persona and provocateur instincts made him a Jim Morrison-esque sex symbol for the '90s. A long period of inactivity and writer's block followed, which gave virtually every alternative metal band of the late '90s a chance to rip off elements of NIN's sound. By the time Reznor's five-year hiatus finally ended, he was still a popular figure but his commercial momentum had slowed somewhat.
Michael Trent Reznor was born May 17, 1965, in the small town of Mercer, PA; he went by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father, Michael. At age five, Reznor's parents divorced and he wound up being raised mostly by his maternal grandparents; even so, Reznor stated repeatedly that his childhood was mostly happy. He began playing the piano at age five, studying classical music, and later learned tenor sax and tuba in the school band; he also acted in musicals and became an avid Kiss fan. Reznor spent a year studying music and computers at Allegheny College, but dropped out after a year to pursue music full-time; he soon packed up and moved to Cleveland with high school friend Chris Vrenna. Around the same time, he was discovering new wave and assorted underground music; he was most fascinated with early industrial, since it offered an edgy, aggressive way to use electronic instruments. At age 19, he successfully auditioned to join an AOR band called the Innocent, which released one album, Livin' in the Streets (Reznor's picture does appear on the jacket). He quit the Innocent after just three months and subsequently gigged with local bands; he also worked in a keyboard store and as a janitor in the local Right Track recording studio. Eventually, he became a studio engineer, teaching himself various computer applications and working on his own material during off hours. In 1987, Reznor appeared in the Michael J. Fox/Joan Jett film Light of Day, where he played keyboards with a trio dubbed the Problems during a bar scene.
As Nine Inch Nails, Reznor began recording his own Ministry- and Skinny Puppy-influenced compositions in 1988, playing all the instruments himself. At first, he simply hoped to release a 12" single on a small European label, but when he sent demo tapes to around ten American labels, nearly every one offered him a deal. He wound up signing with TVT, which released NIN's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, in 1989 (after having rejected an initial effort called Industrial Nation). Reznor quickly assembled a backing band and toured with Skinny Puppy for a short time, but soon tired of playing for strictly industrial artists. With a tighter outfit featuring Chris Vrenna on drums and Richard Patrick on guitar (plus several revolving-door keyboardists), he consciously chose to open for alt-rock acts (including, early on, the Jesus and Mary Chain and Peter Murphy), partly for the challenge of winning over fans who might not have liked industrial music. The strategy helped expand Nine Inch Nails' fan base substantially; the single "Down in It" got some airplay in dance clubs, reaching Billboard's dance and modern rock charts, and MTV later picked up on the video for the more rock-oriented "Head Like a Hole." In 1991, after settling on keyboardist James Woolley, Nine Inch Nails became part of the inaugural Lollapalooza tour, which expanded their fan base by leaps and bounds. Pretty Hate Machine's momentum kept building slowly, and although it never climbed higher than number 75, it spent over two years on the album charts and eventually sold over a million copies -- one of the first indie-label rock albums to do so.
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TVT had a massive hit on their hands, and to ensure that Reznor would produce another one, they attempted to take control of the follow-up's creative direction. Enraged by the outside meddling, Reznor tried to secure a release from his contract, leading to a vicious court battle. His only recording outlets were side projects; in 1990, he co-wrote and sang on "Suck," a track on Pigface's debut album, Gub, and also sang on the Al Jourgensen-led 1000 Homo DJs cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut." (TVT ordered Reznor's vocals removed from the track, but Jourgensen actually just altered them slightly and said he'd re-recorded it.) Eventually, he was able to sign with Interscope, which helped him set up his own label, the Cleveland-based Nothing imprint. Reznor had been recording new material on the sly, and in 1992 Nothing released the EP Broken as well as a concurrent remix disc titled Fixed. Broken featured more (and heavier) guitars than Pretty Hate Machine, partly in response to NIN's live sound and partly as a sonic evocation of Reznor's boiling frustration in the wake of the legal wars; it also featured two bonus cuts, a version of "Suck" and the Adam Ant cover "(You're So) Physical," a nod to Reznor's new wave roots. Despite many reviews characterizing the EP as a harrowing, difficult listen, Broken -- supported by NIN's now-considerable fan base -- debuted in the Top Ten and the first single/video, "Wish," won a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance. Reznor enhanced his reputation as a provocateur with a widely banned clip for "Happiness in Slavery," which depicted S&M performance artist Bob Flanagan being torn apart by a machine; there was also a long-form clip for Broken that was never released commercially due to its graphic content (a torture victim is dismembered while viewing NIN videos).
Reznor moved to Los Angeles to craft the second full-length NIN album, assembling a studio in the house where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's associates. The Downward Spiral was a highly ambitious work, a concept album indebted to progressive rock that featured the most detailed, layered studio craft of any NIN release yet. Hugely anticipated, the album debuted at number two and became one of the bleakest multi-platinum albums ever. Richard Patrick had departed the touring band to form Filter, and Reznor revamped the group with drummer Vrenna, keyboardist Woolley, guitarist Robin Finck, and bassist Danny Lohner. NIN caused a sensation at that summer's 25th-anniversary Woodstock concert, performing a ferocious set after horsing around and covering themselves in mud just before hitting the stage. Meanwhile, MTV had put an edited version of the video for "Closer" in heavy rotation and NIN scored one of the year's unlikeliest hits: a song whose chorus began "I want to f*ck you like an animal," which helped make Reznor one of alternative rock's biggest sex symbols. The subdued ballad "Hurt" gained some further airplay, even though it lacked the titillating shock value of "Closer." Later in the year, Reznor assembled the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's controversial Natural Born Killers, editing the songs together to create an innovative collage; he also guested on "Past the Mission," a track on Tori Amos' second album, Under the Pink. In 1995, with new keyboardist Charlie Clouser, Nine Inch Nails hit the road with David Bowie, whose late-'70s albums (along with Pink Floyd) had been a major influence on The Downward Spiral. He also contributed a cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls" to the soundtrack of The Crow and issued the remix album Further Down the Spiral, which nearly reached the Top 20 (a testament to his popularity).
Using money from The Downward Spiral, Reznor built a state-of-the-art studio in New Orleans in a building that had once been a funeral home. While pondering his next move in the wake of his sudden stardom, he produced Nothing signee Marilyn Manson's second album, Antichrist Superstar, which did indeed make him a superstar. In 1997, longtime friend Vrenna had a falling out with Reznor and eventually was replaced by Jerome Dillon; Reznor's maternal grandmother also passed away that year and his friendship with Manson soon deteriorated. Even so, he produced another movie soundtrack, for David Lynch's Lost Highway, and contributed the new single "The Perfect Drug," which flitted unpredictably between several different rhythm tracks. Though "The Perfect Drug" kept him in the public eye for a time, Reznor was still unsure what kind of statement would be an appropriate follow-up to The Downward Spiral; that uncertainty resulted in a severe case of writer's block. In the meantime, NIN were proving vastly influential on a new crop of bands; major labels signed up industrial metal outfits like Filter and Stabbing Westward, and an assortment of alternative metal bands started grafting industrial production flourishes onto their music; Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose even fired the rest of his band and holed up in a studio to pursue a more NIN-influenced direction.
Nine Inch Nails finally returned in 1999 with the double-CD opus The Fragile. It debuted at number one with massive first-week sales, but slipped down the charts rather quickly afterward, perhaps because the musical climate had changed a great deal over the past five years. The remix album Things Falling Apart followed a year later, as did an extensive world tour. An album of live performances culled from the tour, And All That Could Have Been, was released in early 2002. Reznor was largely quiet during the next three years, finally re-emerging in 2005 with another chart-topper, With Teeth. Touring continued into 2006, where NIN spent the spring and summer on the road with various support acts including Saul Williams, Bauhaus, TV on the Radio, and Peaches. The EP Every Day Is Exactly the Same appeared in April 2006; it contained the title track and five various remixes (all originally from With Teeth). Touring America followed, and then late in the year Reznor was back in the studio working on the next album. In early 2007 the band resumed touring, this time in Europe. A viral marketing campaign began when USB key chains that contained new songs were found in the restrooms during NIN shows. These key chains also contained a noisy audio file that, when run through a spectrum analyzer, drew an audio wave in the shape of a phone number. The phone numbers were answering machines filled with conspiracy theories, there were fake websites strewn across the net, and busy Internet forums and wikis appeared to theorize about and document it all. The big payoff appeared in April when the dystopian concept album Year Zero arrived. A year later Reznor began experimenting with different methods of distribution when he made the Saul Williams album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust available as a digital download.Reznor had helped produce the album and had planned to release it on his Nothing imprint but as his distaste for the major label system increased, so did the possibilities of digital distribution. He completely broke free from the system when he left Interscope and released the entirely instrumental album Ghosts I-IV on his own in 2008, making it available in both digital download and CD formats. The album's release also marked the end of his Interscope distributed Nothing label and the beginning of a new imprint, Null Corporation.
Discography:
Source: Steve Huey, All Music; eNotes
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Skid Row
Skid Row was formed in 1986 and spawned a successful career in the 80s hair metal genre. The original line up consisted of notorious vocalist, Sebastian Bach, former Bon Jovi guitarist Dave Sabo, drummer Rob Affuso, secondary guitarist Scott Hill and bassist Rachel Bolan.
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Sabo’s relationship with Bon Jovi landed them a record deal but would also backfire for the band. According to sources, in return for the assistance, Skid Row relinquished the rights to much of its royalties.
Its debut self-titled album produced instant hits with “18 and Life”, glam metal anthem “Youth Gone Wild” and power ballad, “I Remember You”. Bach relished in the success and came under some public backlash with his wild and controversial behaviour both on and off stage.
However, their fan base remained devoted and their second album, Slave to the Grind entered the charts straight at number 1 despite it not producing any real notable singles.
Like many bands in the metal genre during this time, the grunge movement hit Skid Row hard and the band faded from the spotlight. They re-emerged in 1996 with release, Subhuman Race which surprisingly charted in the top 40 but like its previous album, produced no real noteworthy hits. By this time, the band could boast over 20 million album sales globally.
The group split and individual members pursued solo projects including Bach’s formation with Smashing Pumpkins’ drummer called Last Hard Men. Plans to record new material for the 1998 release of Skid Row’s greatest hits never materialised.
Skid Row joined the KISS farewell tour along with Ted Nugent in 2000 with singer, Johnny Solinger. The band has released a further two albums with its new front man and continues to tour.
Juanita Appleby
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Slade
Slade is an English band with many line-ups leading to present day. But more notably are the founding members Dave Hill (lead guitarist) and Don Powell (drums). Noddy Holder, although no longer an official member of the band, is the more recognised lead singer.
This group hailing from the Midlands dominated the charts in the 70s during the height of the glam rock movement.
Originally set up in the late-60s and donning Skinhead fashion, Slade went on to be mentored and managed by Chas Chandler of Jimi Hendrix Experience and Animals fame, who encouraged them to write their own material.
They are widely accepted as one of the most commercially successful bands in the UK. Between 1971 and 1976, Slade had seventeen consecutive Top 20 hits, including six #1s. Three of their albums also topped the charts in an 18-month spell between 1972 and 1974. No other UK act of the period enjoyed such consistency in the charts.
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The band’s attempts to crack the North American market mainly failed but there are many bands that cite Slade as a direct influence or paid homage with covers.
Slade's creatively spelled catalogue of hits are synonymous with the glam and metal era: Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Cum On Feel The Noize, Coz I Luv You, Skweeze Me Pleeze Me and Merry Xmas Everybody and still are heavily featured on any retrospective of the time.
Juanita Appleby
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TOM JONES
Born Thomas Jones Woodward on 7th June 1940 in the Welsh town of Pontypridd, Tom Jones is as synonymous with Wales as daffodils, coal and leeks.
Tom Jones sang from an early age; he was a member of his school choir, and he often sang at family gatherings. After leaving school with no qualifications, he joined a local beat group - Tommy Scott and The Senators - in 1963. Often performing in black leather, Tom Jones soon gained recognition in South Wales. However, The Senators were still unheard of in London.
The band recorded seven tracks with the legendary producer Joe Meek, but true to form, Meek refused to release the tapes. Tom Jones and the Senators returned to the Working Men’s Clubs and Dance Halls of South Wales, and it was in such a venue that London-based manager Gordon Mills spotted Tom Jones. Mills became Tom Jones’ manager, and managed to get him signed to the renowned Decca label.
Tom Jones’ first single Chills and Fever failed to chart when it was released in late 1964, but the following year, his next record It’s Not Unusual was a smash; hitting the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart and reaching the top 10 of the US Billboard Chart. 1965 ended with Tom Jones being awarded the ‘Grammy Award for Best New Artist’. A year later, his cover version of The Green, Green Grass of Home spent seven weeks at number 1 in the UK.
Tom Jones’ first international performance was at Las Vegas’ Flamingo Club in 1967. His performance at New York’s Copacabana Nightclub the following year saw him confronted by a swooning, screaming, knicker-throwing female horde. This marked the beginning of Tom Jones’ concentration on lucrative club performances, rather than on recording albums.
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The 1970s provided Tom Jones with multiple successes, including the records Daughter of Darkness, The New Mexican Puppeteer and She’s a Lady. He also starred in a number of variety shows on American television, including ‘This is Tom Jones’ and ‘The Tom Jones Show’. However - despite these numerous triumphs - his popularity began to wane towards the end of the decade. The 1985 single A Boy From Nowhere reached number 2 on the UK singles chart, and his cover of Prince’s Kiss (which charted at number 5) went some way to reintroduce Jones back into the public consciousness. His comeback truly arrived with the 1999 release of Reload, a selection of duets with several other high-profile artists including The Pretenders, Robbie Williams and Van Morrison. In 2000, Tom Jones was invited by the then president of United States Bill Clinton to perform at the Millennium celebrations at Washington D.C. That same year, Jones was presented with the BRIT award for ‘Best Male’.
He celebrated his 65th birthday in 2005. To mark the occasion, he performed a spectacular concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd (his first performance in his hometown since 1964), which saw a musical legend returning to where it all began.
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ALICE COOPER
Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier on 4th February 1948, is an American rock singer and composer. With a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Alice Cooper’s shock rock has brought both infamy and success, with 50 million records sold worldwide and a reputation for Vaudeville-like horror stage shows.
"We brought theatrics to rock 'n' roll. We did it before Bowie, we did it before Kiss and before anybody,” Cooper has said in an interview. This shock factor even seems to extend to Alice Cooper’s personal life. As one of the progenitors of heavy metal, and the first to introduce horror imagery to rock music, it’s something of a surprise to learn that Rolling Stone’s “World’s Most Beloved Entertainer” is a Christian golfer, actor, restaurateur and DJ.
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Alice Cooper was originally the name of Furnier’s band, with Furnier singing and playing the harmonica, supported by guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith. The band was signed to Frank Zappa’s Straight Records in 1969, but commercial success took some time. Their first release, ‘Pretties For You’, floundered low in the charts, and ‘Easy Action’ didn’t do much better the year after. Having been signed to Straight for three albums, the next chance for Alice Cooper to make a successful record may well have been their last. Fortunately, success came. Teaming up with producer Bob Ezrin, ‘Love It To Death’, as the album was called, was released in 1971 and reached #35 in the US charts after their earlier single, ‘I’m Eighteen’ had reached #21 in the Billboard Hot 100. In the summer of 1972, the single ‘School’s Out’ reached new heights, reaching top spot in the UK and a place in the top 10 of the US charts. ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, the band’s most commercially successful album, was released a year later, reaching the top spot in both the UK and US charts.
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In 1975, Furnier broke away from the rest of the band and used the pseudonym Alice Cooper to start his solo career. The concept album ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ was his first solo release, reaching the top 10 in the US charts, and it was accompanied by a TV special, ‘The Nightmare’, which represents the first music video album ever made. However, Furnier’s alcoholism began to take its toll, and he booked himself into a sanitarium in 1977. In 1983, Furnier was hospitalized for his alcohol abuse, and he took a year-long career break. Between then and Furnier’s most recent release, 2008’s ‘Along Came A Spider’, Alice Cooper has enjoyed consistently good commercial successes and high acclaim for his musical innovation and often groundbreaking cross-media work, not to mention being commonly credited with the inspiration for more than one generation’s musical talents.
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Born Vincent Damián Fumier, December 25, 1945 (one source says February 4, 1948), in Detroit, MI; son of a protestant minister; married, two children.
Began career during high school as member of the Earwigs; group relocated to Los Angeles, 1968, and changed name to the Spiders, then the Nazz, then Alice Cooper; released first two records on Frank Zappa's Straight Records label; signed to Warner Bros., 1971; launched solo career and released first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, 1975; moved to MCA records; moved to Epic Records, and released Trash, 1989. Appeared in films Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1978, Sextette, 1979, Roadie, 1980, Monster Dog, 1982, Decline of Western Civilization Part II, 1988, Wayne's World, 1992, and Nightmare on Elm Street Part VI, 1992.
Addresses: Home—Scottsdale, AZ. Record company—Epic Records, 51 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019.
The release of Cooper's first solo album, 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare, was accompanied by a successful prime-time television special. The album contained an unlikely hit, the ballad "Only Women Bleed." Other cuts demonstrated Cooper's still-sharp penchant for theatrics, including the sinister "Black Widow"—which in concert featured human-sized spiders crawling across a giant web suspended across the stage—and the surreal "Escape," where in live performance Cooper was chased by a ten-foot-tall one-eyed monster.
In keeping with the punk/new-wave era of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cooper in 1980 released Flush the Fashion. Flush is best remembered for the single "Clones (We Are All)"; its liberal use of the Moog synthesizer and monotone vocal style were both indicative of the popular "cold wave" style of the day. David Fricke of Rolling Stone reported that Flush the Fashion "wisely scrapped the flatulent vaudeville trappings and tragicomic pretensions of [Cooper's] late seventies work and reassumed the punk mantle he wore when the original Alice band was cutting a [Civil War Union] General Sherman-like swath."
Trash, Cooper's first release for Epic Records, started a tradition of extensive collaboration with other prominent artists. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith accompanied Cooper on "Hell Is Living Without You," a ballad co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora, and "Poison," the smash single from the album, the video of which was broadcast regularly on MTV, featured the backing vocals of Bon Jovi. 1991 's Hey Stoopid! boasted a stellar studio lineup that included metal elder statesman Ozzy Osbourne, who sang, and Slash from Guns and Roses, who played guitar on the title track. Guitar aces Joe Satriani and Steve Vai lent dueling guitars to "Feed My Frankenstein," and Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars contributed licks to "Die For You." Hard Force magazine called Hey Stoopid! "the best since Welcome to My Nightmare, a vicious guitar record."
Promotion for Hey Stoopid! was characteristically spectacular. Cooper took to the streets, turning up in various public places to perform songs from the album and generally wreak havoc. Dubbing the September, 1991, tour the "Nightmare on Your Street," he performed at 8:45 in the morning in the parking lot of Los Angeles radio station KLOS, causing a standstill in rush-hour traffic. In New York City, Cooper tempted fate by playing in Times Square on Friday the 13th. Confused onlookers in Detroit were treated to a concert on the roof of the local Sound Warehouse record store, and in Towson, Maryland, Cooper held forth on the steps of the country courthouse.
Further promotion for Hey Stoopid! came in the form of a cameo role in director Penelope Spheeris's block-buster Wayne's World. In the film, Cooper performed the song "Feed My Frankenstein" and offered the star-struck protagonists an impromptu backstage lesson on the history of Milwaukee worthy of the best high school geography teacher. Commenting in Rolling Stone on the head-banging community-access television hosts portrayed in the film, Cooper said, "I like Wayne and Garth, I meet people like them all the time, they are my audience."
And because—or in spite—of his over-the-top image, Cooper's fans seem to be able to relate to Alice as well. Cooper has endured because he consistently plays the type of villain or monster that audiences can't help but cheer. By innovating a diabolic, yet charismatic, character back in the seventies, he has become a legendary figure in rock music. Melody Maker commented aptly on the universal appeal of Cooper's persona, allowing, "There has to be an Alice Cooper just like there has to be a Father Christmas.
Discography:
With the Alice Cooper band
Pretties for You, Straight, 1969.
Easy Action, Straight, 1970.
Love It to Death, Warner Bros., 1971.
Killer, Warner Bros., 1971.
School's Out, Warner Bros., 1972.
Billion Dollar Babies, Warner Bros., 1973.
Muscle of Love, Warner Bros., 1974.
Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits, Warner Bros., 1974.
Solo Career
Welcome to My Nightmare, Atlantic, Anchor, ABC, 1975.
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, Warner Bros., 1976.
Lace and Whiskey, Warner Bros., 1977.
From the Inside, Warner Bros., 1978.
Flush the Fashion, Warner Bros., 1980.
Special Forces, Warner Bros., 1981.
Zipper Catches Skin, Warner Bros., 1982.
DaDa, Warner Bros., 1983.
Constrictor, MCA, 1986.
Raise Your Fist and Yell, MCA, 1987.
Trash, Epic, 1989.
Hey Stoopid, Epic, 1991.
The Last Temptation, Epic, 1994.
Brutal Planet, Spitfire, 2000.
Dragontown, Spitfire, 2001.
The Eyes of Alice Cooper, Eagle, 2003.
Dirty Diamonds, Eagle Rock/Spitfire (UK), New West Records/RED/Sony BMG (US), Riot Distributors/Aztec Music (Australia), 2005.
Along Came a Spider, Streamhammer/SPV, 2008.
Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Bigger Picture, 2011.
Sources: Artistdirect.com; Barry C. Henssler
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Kiss
Glam rock legends Kiss were formed in NYC in 1973 by school teacher/bass player Gene Simmons and guitarist/singer Paul Stanley. Recruiting drummer Peter Criss and axeman Ace Frehley through newspaper and magazine ads, Simmons and Stanley set out to do nothing less than conquer the known rock world.
Their self-titled debut album came out in early 1974 on Casablanca Records, followed later that year by ‘Hotter Than Hell’. Both albums were packed with hard rock tracks that would later become Kiss classics, including ‘Strutter’, and ‘Cold Gin'. Their first real commercial success, though, came with 1975's ‘Dressed To Kill’, which featured the timeless anthem "Rock And Roll All Nite".
1976's ‘Destroyer’ cemented the band's hard-won image as the greatest rock n' roll band in America. Kiss' next two albums, ‘Rock And Roll Over’ and ‘Love Gun’, also went platinum. In 1978, they issued ‘Kiss Alive II’, followed by solo records from each of the members. 1979's ‘Dynasty’ produced a couple of popular numbers, but a slight disco edge to the music and an obvious, strained relationship between the members saw their original fan base beginning to erode.
In 1980, original drummer Peter Criss left the group; Anton Fig filled in for the recording of ‘Kiss Unmasked’ later on that year. Official replacement Eric Carr joined the band in time to perform on their 1980 world tour. 1981's Music From The Elder received disappointing sales, and guitarist Ace Frehley was the next to leave. Vinnie Vincent took up axe duties for 1982's ‘Creatures Of The Night’.
By 1983, Kiss had dropped the make-up and revamped their sound for a new decade, resulting in the platinum-selling ‘Lick It Up’, their first for Mercury Records. Music videos and more touring followed, with Vincent replaced by first Mark St. John and then Bruce Kulick in 1984.
In 1991, drummer Eric Carr passed away from cancer at age 41. He was replaced by Eric Singer, who played on 1992's Revenge, an album that later went gold. ‘Kiss Alive! III’ was issued in 1993, but failed to achieve the success of the first two. 1996 saw the first official reunion of all four original members since 1980.
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In 1998, the reformed original Kiss released ‘Psycho Circus’ and once again wore make-up and outlandish costumes and undertook a highly successful tour. They continued through 2001, at which time Peter Criss again quit- reportedly due to financial issues. Frehley left in 2002, amid rumours of acrimony. In 2003, Polygram released 'Symphony: Kiss Alive IV'.
Kiss continue to tour.
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Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June 1958. Born to a jazz singer mother and a pianist father, it seems only natural that the young Prince inherited an aptitude for music.
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During the early 70s, he played in his cousin’s band. When he later composed songs for them, he drew on influences such as Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. As well as singing on some tracks, he would also contribute his considerable talents on guitar and piano.
In 1976, he recorded a demo which started a bidding war among record labels. The victor was Warner Bros. Records. Two years later, he released his solo album ‘For You’ on which he played all the instruments. By the time his second album - ‘Prince’ - came out, he had recruited a backing band and was invited to support Rick James on his tour in 1980.
1982 saw the release of double album ‘1999’. The album was his most successful yet, launching his mainstream international career. Prince built on his success with his film and soundtrack ‘Purple Rain’, accompanied by his new backing band The Revolution.
Ever wondered how the ‘Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics’ labels first came about? While listening to Prince track ‘Darling Nikki’ on her daughter’s stereo, Tipper Gore was shocked to hear its sexually-charged lyrics and called for clearer labelling on record covers to advise parents on potentially unsuitable content.
The ‘Parade’ album was released in 1986, giving Prince further international chart success with the single ‘Kiss’. The legendary Tom Jones teamed up with Art of Noise two years later for a cover of ‘Kiss’ which breathed new life into the crooner’s career. In fact, Prince is responsible for revolutionising other music careers: The Bangles scored a massive hit with the Prince-penned ‘Manic Monday’, and Sinead O’Connor recorded a haunting rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in 1990.
Critics heaped praised on albums such as ‘Sign ‘O’ the Times’, ‘Lovesexy’ and ‘Diamonds and Pearls’, and his flamboyant dress and performances have made him as much of an 80s icon as Madonna and Michael Jackson. During the 90s, Prince changed his name to a symbol representing male and female. He struggled with creative limitations imposed by his record company, resulting in him daubing his face with the word ‘Slave’.
In 2007, Prince had a 21-night sell-out residency at London’s O2 Arena. Allegedly, the star had rehearsed in excess of 200 songs before the run and varied the setlist of the gigs according to his mood. Today, he continues to make music and capture the imagination of critics and fans alike.
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