Kiss’ Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

After years of petitions, denunciations by Gene Simmons and roughly 300 angry rants by VH1 Classic's Eddie Trunk, Kiss are finally entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Here are (from left) Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr in January of 1983. They took off their signature makeup later that year.
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Nirvana, Kiss, E Street Lead Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 Class
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Detroit Rock City
Image Credit: Fin Costello/Redferns Kiss onstage at Detroit's Cobo Hall on May 16th, 1975. This was one of the shows they taped for Alive, though they later went into the studio to add in crowd noise and fix some of the musical imperfections. The exact extent of the overdubs has been debated for decades.
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Top of the World
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons pose on a rooftop circa 1975. That's the year their live album Alive finally brought the New York rock band to a mass audience.
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Rock and Roll High School
Image Credit: Fin Costello/Redferns Weeks after Alive hit the charts, Kiss visited a high school in Cadillac, Michigan. The football team used their music for warm-ups and Kiss knew the appearance would make for great press. They were given a key to the city and many town officials even wore Kiss make-up. There's talk right now of turning the crazy day into a movie.
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Kiss Invasion
Image Credit: Fin Costello/Redferns Gene Simmons with a student at Cadillac High School in 1975. People from all over town wore Kiss make-up on the big day, even the mayor.
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London Calling
Image Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage Kiss had a huge global audience by 1976, and their stage show grew more bombastic as their budgets swelled. Here is the band in London.
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Kiss Nation
Image Credit: Fin Costello/Redferns Kiss with the Cadillac Vikings. The high school football team had a rough start to their season, so the coach began pumping them up with Kiss music. The group got wind of this and came for homecoming the following year.
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Georgia Peach
Image Credit: Tom Hill/WireImage Paul Stanley meets a little girl at a Muscular Dystrophy event at Peaches Records in Atlanta, Georgia in August of 1976.
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Kiss of Death
Image Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage Gene Simmons on the Destroyer tour in 1976. He spat blood every single night from the stage. Schoolyard rumors spread that his giant tongue was actually transplanted into his mouth from a cow.
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Rocket Man Meets the Star Man
Image Credit: Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Elton John went backstage at a Kiss show circa 1977 to meet the band.
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Kiss Unmasked
Image Credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images With ticket and record sales declining, Kiss made the bold decision to take their make-up off to promote their 1983 LP Lick It Up. By this point, Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr had joined the band to replace Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Here is the band in London.
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Walk of Fame
Image Credit: SGranitz/WireImage A reunited Kiss were inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. They had just wrapped up their highly successful Psycho Circus world tour.
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Family Jewels
Image Credit: Mark Weiss/WireImage Gene Simmons, girlfriend Shannon Tweed and their son Nicholas backstage at a Kiss concert in 1988. They latter starred together on the "reality show" Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
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First Family of Kiss
Image Credit: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage Gene Simmons, Shannon Tweed, their song Nick and daughter Sophie at the premiere of Oblivion on April 10th, 2013. Their reality show is ending next year.
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The Road Never Ends
Image Credit: Ian Currie Newspix via Getty Images Gene Simmons at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria during their 2013 Australian tour. The group went on a "farewell" tour in 2000, but they still hit the road most every year – even though Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are long gone.
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