A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performer's music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has varying roles during the recording process, they may gather musical ideas for the project, collaborate with the artists to select cover tunes or original songs by the artist/group, work with artists and help them to improve their songs, lyrics or arrangements. A producer may also: Select session musicians to play rhythm section accompaniment parts or solos Co-write Propose changes to the song arrangements Coach the singers and musicians in the studioThe producer supervises the entire process from preproduction, through to the sound recording and mixing stages, and, in some cases, all the way to the audio mastering stage; the producer may perform these roles themselves, or help select the engineer, provide suggestions to the engineer. The producer may pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record label's budget.
A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording and production of a band or performer's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, composing the music for the project, selecting songs or session musicians, proposing changes to the song arrangements, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, supervising the entire process through audio mixing and, in some cases, to the audio mastering stage. Producers often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules and negotiations. Writer Chris Deville explains it, "Sometimes a producer functions like a creative consultant — someone who helps a band achieve a certain aesthetic, or who comes up with the perfect violin part to complement the vocal melody, or who insists that a chorus should be a bridge. Other times a producer will build a complete piece of music from the ground up and present the finished product to a vocalist, like Metro Boomin supplying Future with readymade beats or Jack Antonoff letting Taylor Swift add lyrics and melody to an otherwise-finished “Out Of The Woods.”The artist of an album may not be a record producer or music producer for his/her album.
While both contribute creatively, the official credit of "record producer" may depend on the record contract. Christina Aguilera, for example, did not receive record producer credits until many albums into her career. In the 2010s, the producer role is sometimes divided among up to three different individuals: executive producer, vocal producer and music producer. An executive producer oversees project finances, a vocal producers oversees the vocal production, a music producer oversees the creative process of recording and mixings; the music producer is often a competent arranger, musician or songwriter who can bring fresh ideas to a project. As well as making any songwriting and arrangement adjustments, the producer selects and/or collaborates with the mixing engineer, who takes the raw recorded tracks and edits and modifies them with hardware and software tools to create a stereo or surround sound "mix" of all the individual voices sounds and instruments, in turn given further adjustment by a mastering engineer for the various distribution media.
The producer oversees the recording engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as "the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record", like a director would a movie. Indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation is music director; the music producer's job is to create and mold a piece of music. The scope of responsibility may be one or two songs or an artist's entire album – in which case the producer will develop an overall vision for the album and how the various songs may interrelate. At the beginning of record industry, the producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live; the immediate predecessors to record producers were the artists and repertoire executives of the late 1920s and 1930s who oversaw the "pop" product and led session orchestras. That was the case of Ben Selvin at Columbia Records, Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records.
By the end of the 1930s, the first professional recording studios not owned by the major companies were established separating the roles of A&R man and producer, although it wouldn't be until the late 1940s when the term "producer" became used in the industry. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1960s due to technology; the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously. All of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio where the performance was recorded. With multitrack recording, the "bed tracks" (rhythm section accompaniment parts such as the bassline and rhythm guitar could be recorded first, the vocals and solos could be added using as many "takes" as necessary, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. A pop band could record their backing tracks one week, a horn section could be brought in a week to add horn shots and punches, a string section could be brought in a week after that.
Multitrack recording had another pro
Gold (Kiss album)
Gold is a 2005 greatest hits collection by American hard rock band Kiss. This two-disc set covers the band's recordings from 1974 to 1982. All tracks are available. Disc 1: "Strutter" from Kiss "Nothin' to Lose" from Kiss "Firehouse" from Kiss "Deuce" from Kiss "Black Diamond" from Kiss "Got to Choose" from Hotter Than Hell "Parasite" from Hotter Than Hell "Hotter Than Hell" from Hotter Than Hell "C'mon and Love Me" from Dressed to Kill "She" from Dressed to Kill "Anything for My Baby" from Dressed to Kill "Rock Bottom" from Alive! "Cold Gin" from Alive! "Rock and Roll All Nite" from Alive! "Let Me Go, Rock'n' Roll" from Alive! "Detroit Rock City" from Destroyer "King of the Night Time World" from Destroyer "Shout It Out Loud" from Destroyer "Beth" from Destroyer "Do You Love Me?" from Destroyer Disc 2: "I Want You" from Rock and Roll Over "Calling Dr. Love" from Rock and Roll Over "Hard Luck Woman" from Rock and Roll Over "I Stole Your Love" from Love Gun "Love Gun" from Love Gun "Christine Sixteen" from Love Gun "Shock Me" from Love Gun "Makin' Love" from Alive II "God of Thunder" from Alive II "Tonight You Belong to Me" from Paul Stanley "New York Groove" from Ace Frehley "Radioactive" from Gene Simmons "Don't You Let Me Down" from Peter Criss "I Was Made for Lovin' You" from Dynasty "Sure Know Something" from Dynasty "Shandi" from Unmasked "Talk to Me" from Unmasked "A World Without Heroes" from Music from "The Elder" "Nowhere to Run" from Killers "I'm a Legend Tonight" from Killers Kiss: Paul Stanley - lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar first guitar solo, bass guitar 12-string guitar Gene Simmons - lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar Peter Criss - drums, percussion and lead vocals Ace Frehley - lead guitar and lead vocals, acoustic guitar, all guitars and bass Eric Carr - drums, backing vocals with Bill Bodine - bass guitar Steve Buslowe - bass guitar Lenny Castro - percussion Susan Collins - backing vocals Bill Cuomo - keyboards, synthesizer Sean Delaney - percussion Bob Ezrin - piano, electric piano Anton Fig - drums Richie Fontana - drums Tom Harper - bass guitar Neil Jason - bass guitar Michael Kamen - orchestration Larry Kelly - backing vocals Holly Knight - keyboards Bob Kulick - lead guitar Steve Lacy - guitar David Lasley - backing vocals Art Munson - guitar Stan Penridge - guitar, backing vocals Vini Poncia - keyboards and backing vocals Elliott Randall - guitar Allen Schwartzberg - drums Eric Troyer - piano, backing vocals and The American Symphony Orchestra
Paul Charles Caravello better known by his stage name Eric Carr, was an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after Peter Criss departed, when he chose the stage name "Eric Carr" and took up The Fox persona, he remained a member of Kiss until his death from heart cancer on November 24, 1991, at the age of 41. Born as Paul Charles Caravello on July 12, 1950, to Albert and Connie Caravello, Carr was of Italian descent, he grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in New York City. Because his father worked most of the time, Carr didn't see that much of him, "never went to a baseball game or that kind of stuff" with his father, he spent a lot of time alone in his room. Caravello attended the High School of Design, he planned at first to be a cartoonist changed his mind thereafter and decided to study photography. According to him, he ended up wasting "absolutely every day of high school.
I got no work done, did nothing to further my career, wasted time, wound up getting drunk in the darkroom with my friends all the time. We never got caught, it wasn't like I was getting drunk every day, you know. Half a cup of vodka in those days was enough to get you drunk." However, he has described himself as overall "a real good kid. I didn't do anything to make trouble."Caravello was one of only two students in his high school who had long hair due to his love of the Beatles. He recalled that "I used to make it stay flat. I used to have a Beatles haircut, but my hair's curly, so I couldn't get it to lay flat like the Beatles'. So I'd get the stuff Dippity-Do, drench my hair with it, I'd take a piece of my Mom's nylon stocking, tie a knot in one end, pull it over my head like a burglar. I was sleeping like that for two years with that on my head every night."Caravello graduated from high school in 1967. At around that time, riots started to occur in New York City, followed by white flight that started to make his neighborhood more predominantly African-American.
Caravello stated that this was not a real concern to him, because "I never had any problems with anybody, I had black friends, I never grew up thinking in those kinds of terms.". While still in high school, Caravello began playing with a string of bands performing covers of Top 40 songs; as he described it "Top-40 in those days was everything – funk, rock and everything. It was a great time for radio." His first band, The Cellarmen, was formed in 1965 by several of his friends. They started playing local clubs in Queens. Only a handful of recordings were released on the Jody Records label, a small Brooklyn recording studio. Caravello joined a band called "Things That Go Bump in the Night" and "Smack", the latter of which consisted of members from The Cellarmen, who disbanded in 1968. In 1970, Caravello joined the band Salt & Pepper, which started as a cover band playing music from multiple genres. In 1973 the band changed their name to Creation. Tragedy struck in 1974 when a fire broke out during a discothèque gig at Gulliver's nightclub in Port Chester, New York, killing dozens of people including the band's keyboardist and lead singer.
Caravello was credited with saving another person, one of the band's female singers. It was determined that the fire had been started by a thief in an adjacent building hoping to cover his tracks; the band continued on, sometimes under the name, "Bionic Boogie". They held a benefit to replace their ruined equipment. Carr would go on with the band until 1979, they enjoyed some success, performing as an opening act for established names such as Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. The band broke up in late 1979, he described the band as "like my family for nine years."In December 1979, Caravello auditioned for a four-piece rock'n' roll cover band called Flasher. After three weeks of rehearsals, they started playing at clubs. At this point he had become discouraged about his musical future after so many years trying to make it without a break, considered settling down with a non-musical career. "...we were making real money – something like $10, $7 a night, whatever it was it was. Terrible. Just by contrast, I used to make $15 a night when I was like 16 years old, here I am 30 years old, I'm making like $7 a night!
So I wasn't doing better – I was going in reverse, you know! Flasher played the club circuit in New York City and Long Island for several months, before their keyboard player, Paul Turino quit, they played songs by Joe Jackson, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, among others." Bookings diminished, Caravello handed in his resignation in May 1980. At that point, he considered having reached the age of 30 without any real success. Shortly afterwards, he had a chance meeting with Turino in a club in Queens. Caravello applied for Kiss, submitting a cassette tape of Kiss' current single "Shandi" but with his vocals over the music instead of Paul Stanley's vocals. "It sounded great!" he enthused years later. The application was put into a bright orange folder to make. Jane Grod, a Kiss staffer, told him she had noticed the brightly colored envelo
Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage and blues rock movements. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar and accompanied with keyboards. Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with notable bands such as AC/DC, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Aerosmith and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock, while others began to return to a hard rock sound. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-1980s and it reached a commercial peak in the 1980s, with glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses, which followed up with great success in the part of that decade. Hard rock began losing popularity with the commercial success of R&B, hip-hop, urban pop and Britpop in the 1990s. Despite this, many post-grunge bands adopted a hard rock sound and in the 2000s there came a renewed interest in established bands, attempts at a revival, new hard rock bands that emerged from the garage rock and post-punk revival scenes.
Out of this movement came garage rock bands like the White Stripes, the Strokes, Interpol and on, the Black Keys. In the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain successful recording careers. Hard rock is a form of aggressive rock music; the electric guitar is emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, as a solo lead instrument. Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong bass drum and a backbeat on snare, sometimes using cymbals for emphasis; the bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums playing riffs, but providing a backing for the rhythm and lead guitars. Vocals are growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or falsetto voice. Hard rock has sometimes been labelled cock rock for its emphasis on overt masculinity and sexuality and because it has been predominantly performed and consumed by men: in the case of its audience white, working-class adolescents.
In the late 1960s, the term heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock, but began to be used to describe music played with more volume and intensity. While hard rock maintained a bluesy rock and roll identity, including some swing in the back beat and riffs that tended to outline chord progressions in their hooks, heavy metal's riffs functioned as stand-alone melodies and had no swing in them. Heavy metal took on "darker" characteristics after Black Sabbath's breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s. In the 1980s it developed a number of subgenres termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands standing on the boundary of, or crossing between, the genres; the roots of hard rock can be traced back to the 1950s electric blues, which laid the foundations for key elements such as a rough declamatory vocal style, heavy guitar riffs, string-bending blues-scale guitar solos, strong beat, thick riff-laden texture, posturing performances.
Electric blues guitarists began experimenting with hard rock elements such as driving rhythms, distorted guitar solos and power chords in the 1950s, evident in the work of Memphis blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson, Pat Hare, who captured a "grittier, more ferocious electric guitar sound" on records such as James Cotton's "Cotton Crop Blues". Other antecedents include Link Wray's instrumental "Rumble" in 1958, the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as "Let's Go Trippin'" and "Misirlou". In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to modify rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming, louder vocals, from electric blues. Early forms of hard rock can be heard in the work of Chicago blues musicians Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" which made it a garage rock standard, the songs of rhythm and blues influenced British Invasion acts, including "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, "My Generation" by the Who, "Shapes of Things" by the Yardbirds, "Inside Looking Out" by the Animals, " Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones.
From the late 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. In contrast, hard rock was most derived from blues rock and was played louder and with more intensity. Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Jeff Beck Group. Cream, in songs like "I Feel Free" combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz and rock and roll. From 1967 Jeff Beck brought lead guitar to new heights of technical virtuosity and moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band, the Jeff Beck Group. Dave Davies of the Kinks, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend of the Who, Hendrix and Beck all pioneered the use of new guitar effects like phasing and distortion.
The Beatles began producing songs in the new
Pearl Jam 2018 Tour
The Pearl Jam 2018 Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Pearl Jam. The tour consisted of twenty-seven shows, with five in South America, fifteen in Europe and seven in North America, it was the band's first tour following their North American tour that finished in August 2016. The South American shows were part of the Lollapalooza festival; the band played their own headlining shows at the Movistar Arena and the Maracanã Stadium, Brazil. The European shows started at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on June 12 and concluded at the NOS Alive Festival in Lisbon on July 14, 2018. On March 30, 2018, a second show at the Ziggo Dome was announced. In January 2018, the band announced two shows at Safeco Field in Seattle, billed as the "Home Shows", with proceeds to benefit regional homelessness programs, it was the first time in five years since the band last played in their hometown. The same month, five more dates were announced in North America, under the name of the "Away Shows"; the band used the show at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana to promote their Rock2Vote campaign to encourage young people to vote.
Pearl Jam's shows at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park ended up earning $7.1 million and $6.7 million toping the Billboard Boxscore chart, dated November 3, 2018. Prior to the first shows in South America, Pearl Jam released a new song, "Can't Deny Me", taken from their forthcoming album; the tour started on March 2018, with a show at the Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile. At the opening show of the tour, the band played their new song for the first time, dedicating it to the victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, they played the song "Come Back" in memory of Chris Cornell who died the previous year. Pearl Jam's show on March 18, 2018, at the Lollapalooza festival in Argentina, was cancelled due to severe weather. At the final show in South America, in Brazil, Pearl Jam were joined onstage with Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane's Addiction and co-founder of Lollapalooza, to play the Jane's Addiction track "Mountain Song"; the European tour started with two shows at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, with the band paying tribute to Anthony Bourdain and Chris Cornell.
The tour continued with an appearance at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands. The next scheduled dates were two sold out nights at the O2 Arena in England. However, after playing the first show, Eddie Vedder lost his voice, the second night was postponed until July 17, it was the first time. The tour continued, with Pearl Jam playing at the i-Days Festival in Milan, Italy on June 22, they played two further shows in Padua and Rome. The show in Rome saw the band cover several songs, including "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, "Eruption" by Van Halen and "Black Diamond" by Kiss, with drummer Matt Cameron on vocals for the latter; the European tour continued with several more arena shows, with Pearl Jam covering "Help!" by the Beatles at the gig in Prague, they were joined onstage with J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. to cover Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" in Berlin. Following the arena shows, the band played three festival dates: the Werchter Festival in Belgium, the Mad Cool Festival in Spain, the NOS Alive Festival in Portugal.
The European leg concluded on July 2018, with the rescheduled date at London's O2 Arena. The Donald Trump baby balloon was on display outside the venue prior to and during the gig; the American leg started on August 8, 2018, with a concert at Safeco Field in the band's hometown of Seattle, as part of project across the city to tackle homelessness. At the first show in Seattle, the band covered "We're Going to Be Friends" by the White Stripes. At the second Seattle show, Pearl Jam covered the Chris Cornell song "Missing", written for the Singles Soundtrack; the band were joined onstage with Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, along with Mark Arm and Steve Turner from Mudhoney. The two shows raised more than $11 million to help with homelessness in the city; the next show was at the Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on August 13, where Pearl Jam promoted the Rock2Vote campaign, to get young people voting. The poster for the gig featured an image of Donald Trump's corpse being pecked at by a bald eagle outside the White House.
It drew some controversy, with the Republican candidate for the Senate election in Montana, Matt Rosendale, calling it "disgusting and reprehensible". The next two dates of the tour were at Chicago. At the first night, the band covered "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie, were joined onstage with Dennis Rodman. Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Selena Fragassi said that "Pearl Jam shows remain some of the most unpredictable and eclectic live performances"; as per the show at Wrigley Field on the 2013 tour, the second night in Chicago suffered a rain delay during Pearl Jam's set. The band were able to return to the stage to complete the show, which included the first live performance of the song "Evil Little Goat", an outtake from their debut album Ten; the tour concluded with two sold-out shows at Fenway Park in Boston. At the first show, the song "Out of My Mind", an outtake from Vitalogy, was played for the first time in nine years; the Boston Herald's Jed Gottlieb said that the band "seemed to pluck sublime rock, unafraid of real emotion from nowhere, thrill the stadium".
Notes A These concerts are part of the Lollapalooza festival. B This concert is part of the Pinkpop Festival. C This concert is part of the i-Days Festival. D This concert is part of the Werchter Festival. E This concert is part of the Mad Cool Festival. F This concert is part of the NOS Alive Festival. G This concert was scheduled to take place on June
Nothin' to Lose (Kiss song)
"Nothin' to Lose" is a song by the American hard rock band Kiss, released on their self-titled debut album in 1974. It is the first single the band had released and the first single off the album, with "Love Theme from KISS" as the B-side. Although the song failed to chart, it has remained a concert staple during the 1970s and was featured on many live albums and compilations. Gene Simmons, the sole writer of the song, admitted that the song's lyrics chronicled the singer coercing his girlfriend into trying anal sex, her subsequent enjoyment of it. Gene Simmons and Peter Criss share the lead vocals on the song; the song was the first Kiss song to feature an extra player, as Bruce Foster played piano on the track. His contribution was noted on the sleeve of the album. "Nothin' to Lose" was one of the first songs Kiss performed on their first national appearances, on ABC's In Concert on February 19. Other songs performed on the show were "Firehouse" and "Black Diamond". "Nothin' to Lose" was played during the 1970s, but ignored during the 1980s.
In the 1990s, the band performed the song at the Kiss Convention and MTV Unplugged, during the Psycho Circus show in Los Angeles. "Nothin' to Lose" has appeared on the following Kiss albums: Kiss - studio version Alive! - live version The Originals - studio version Kiss Unplugged - live version The Box Set - studio version and the Unplugged version Gold - studio version Kiss Chronicles: 3 Classic Albums - studio version Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 - Alive! Version Kiss Alive 35 - live versionOther appearances: B-side of the "Kissin' Time" single B-side of the "Shout It Out Loud" live single A-side - "Nothin' to Lose" B-side - "Love Theme from KISS" Gene Simmons - bass guitar, lead vocals Peter Criss - drums, lead vocals Paul Stanley - rhythm guitar, backing vocals Ace Frehley - lead guitar, backing vocals Bruce Foster - acoustic piano, additional guitar Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Gene Klein (born Chaim Witz, known professionally as Gene Simmons, is an Israeli-American musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and television personality. Known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the rock band he co-founded with lead singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley in the early 1970s. Simmons was born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at Rambam Hospital, in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish emigrants from Hungary, his mother, Florence Klein, was born in Jánd, survived internment in Nazi concentration camps. She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust, his father, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz, was a carpenter. Simmons spent his early childhood in Tirat Carmel, was raised in a Jewish household, he practiced playing his guitar for hours on end. He has said that his family was "dirt poor," scraping by on rationed milk. At age seven, he began to sell it on roadsides together with a friend. At age eight, he settled in New York City.
His father remained in Israel, where he had three daughters. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein. At age nine, he attended a Jewish religious school, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, before transferring to a public school, he attended Richmond College and Sullivan County Community College, both in New York, chose a stage name in tribute to the rockabilly singer Jumpin' Gene Simmons. Before his musical career began, Klein/Simmons worked a variety of jobs in the city. An "excellent typist", he served as an assistant to an editor of the fashion magazine Vogue, spent several months as a sixth grade instructor on the Upper West Side. A significant influence on Simmons was the Beatles. "There is no way. I was watching The Ed Sullivan Show and I saw them; those skinny little boys, kind of androgynous, with long hair like girls. It blew me away that these four boys the middle of nowhere could make that music." Simmons became involved with his first band, Lynx renamed the Missing Links, when he was a teenager.
He disbanded the band to form the Long Island Sounds, the name being a pun on Long Island Sound. While he played in these bands, he worked at odd jobs on the side to make more money, including trading used comic books. Simmons attended Sullivan County Community College in New York, he joined a new band, Bullfrog Bheer, the band recorded a demo, "Leeta". Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Eisen and recorded one album, never released. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look and Stanley attempted to fire their band members, they decided to form the "ultimate rock band", started looking for a drummer. Simmons and Stanley found an ad placed by George Peter John Criscuola, playing clubs in Brooklyn at the time. During this time and Simmons appeared on an unreleased album by Captain Sanity together with members from Criss' previous band Chelsea. Paul Frehley responded to an ad they put in The Village Voice for a lead guitar player, soon joined them. Kiss released their self-titled debut album in February 1974.
Stanley took on the role of lead performer on stage, while Simmons became the driving force behind what became an extensive Kiss merchandising franchise. The eye section of his "Demon" makeup with Kiss came from the wing design of comic book character Black Bolt. In 1983, when the fame of Kiss was waning, the members took off their trademark make-up and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity that continued into the 1990s. At this time, Peter Criss, the original drummer, was voted out of the band, a replacement was sought to fill his vacancy; the new drummer was Paul Charles Caravello, who went by the stage name of Eric Carr, played for Kiss from 1980 until his death in 1991. The band hosted its own fan conventions in 1995, fan feedback about the original Kiss members reunion influenced the successful 1996–1997 Alive Worldwide reunion tour. In 1998, the band released Psycho Circus. Since the original line-up has once again dissolved, with Tommy Thayer replacing Ace Frehley on lead guitar and Eric Singer replacing Peter Criss on drums.
Among most Kiss songs, lead vocal duties are split between Simmons and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley. Some notable songs featuring Simmons singing lead include "Rock and Roll All Nite", "A World Without Heroes", "I Love It Loud", "Calling Dr. Love", "Unholy", "Spit", "Boomerang", "You Wanted the Best", "Christine Sixteen", among others. In addition to playing bass, Simmons is known for his large tongue and on stage is known for his demonic figure by spitting fire and vomiting stage blood. During an interview in 1999, Simmons was asked about the source and significance of Kiss' stage makeup and personas: I've always been a fan of Americana, Americana has always been about imagery above content. I think; the world worships this culture. Most people only think about America in terms of rock & roll and television. Kiss is all-American, in the sense that our constituency has never had anything in common with critics... B