In a recent episode of Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Ones podcast, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman spoke with KISS’ Paul Stanley about the heyday of the band. For those who were around to see it live in action, the rock band famously opted not to don their signature face paint and costumes that they had become known for. That moment took place in 1983. The band stuck to avoiding their signature costumes and “look” for over a decade.

KISS eventually went back to the fantastical characters and aesthetics they were known for in 1996. And even Stanley himself said that the era was pretty subpar. And not just because of the lack of flashy costumes, either. Though, we did get “Crazy Crazy Nights” for that particular era. 

That being said, to avoid their signature aesthetics for over 13 years is quite a big change. And according to Stanley, a bullying interaction during a press interview led to the choice to go normie-mode.

Paul Stanley Said That Some People Were “Angered” by KISS’ Success

Even before the infamous interview took place, Paul Stanley admitted that KISS’ outfits “got ridiculous.”

“We looked like we got dressed in the dark in a costume store!” Stanley told Corgan on The Magnificent Ones. “‘What do you think of my feather earrings?’ ‘Oh, good – goes with your eye makeup!’ But it was a way for us to continue, I wanted the band to continue. Nobody can tell me when this band is over.”

Stanley went on to say that interviews with music journalists toward the end of their initial costumed era had taken a sinister turn.

“I did do interviews with journalists towards the end of the makeup period, where there could be such vitriol [because] somebody has joy in making you squirm,” said Stanley.

He went on to note that he believed people were “angered” by “how long [KISS] had succeeded.” And it all culminated in an interview that Stanley described as a “death knell.”

“’How does it feel to be on the Titanic?’” Stanley recalled the interviewer saying, likely alluding that KISS was a sinking ship. “It was kind of like, ‘I’m a human being. How, how could you say that?’ And all I could think was, ‘Nobody’s going to tell me when this ends. And watch this.’”

The band changed their look, and that era yielded some excellent songs and some bad moments. But KISS was far from over in the early 1990s, and they thrived for several more decades. It looks like Stanley had the last laugh.

Photo by Ron Wolfson/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images