Chaim Witz

I was browsing the obits the other day and I came across one for Bill Aucoin, who was the manager of KISS.

KISS was a weird band, and I didn’t know, or at least didn’t remember, the story of their founding/discovery:

Aucoin first saw Kiss perform in August 1973 at the Hotel Diplomat in New York. He recognised the potential of the band, previously known as Wicked Lester, and asked them to give him 30 days to get them a record contract. By September he had attracted the interest of Neil Bogart, who was starting up a label backed by Warner Brothers.

KISS became the first band to sign to Bogart’s Casablanca Records, and Aucoin moved them into a rehearsal space remembered by the singer and bassist Gene Simmons as a “rat-infested loft”. By the end of the year, the band had recorded their eponymous first album. They celebrated New Year’s Eve by playing on the same bill as Iggy and the Stooges.

Aucoin put each of the four members on a weekly salary of $75, urged them to share their profits equally and put the bill for their first tour on his credit card. KISS’s debut LP and its follow-up, Hotter Than Hell, only scraped into the Top 100 albums chart in the US in 1974, but the band quickly developed a reputation for their inventive live performances and striking personas.

Now I have to admit, since the obit author mentioned them, that I’m much more of an Iggy & The Stooges guy than I am a KISS guy.

I never really thought of KISS as real rock & roll. They were more of a pop/rock novelty act, but I guess that was the point with all the makeup and fireworks and whatnot. My best friend in 4th grade thought they were the best. Who was I to argue?

It probably didn’t help on the seriousness front that Gene Simmons’ real name is Chaim Witz.

This video of Detroit Rock City is awesome for a number of reasons, not least because it’s from the Paul Lynde Halloween Special:

And some Iggy just for fun: