Gene Simmons recently recalled making only $85 a week during the early days of KISS, even as the band was headlining stadiums, in a video shared on Facebook.
The legendary bassist discussed the band’s rise to fame and how their iconic makeup played a crucial role in their success.
During an interview, Brian Breach of The Rich Reporter asked Simmons how the band transcended pop culture and whether they would have sold as much merchandise if they had not worn their signature makeup.
“No,” Simmons responded. “What’s Clark Kent without Superman? I mean, he’s kind of run-of-the-mill.”
He went on to explain that the band members had no prior experience or resume when they first started out.
“We knew nothing, by the way,” Simmons continued. “We were unaccomplished, no resume, no experience. We didn’t know what we were doing. We were just kids playing in the mud, you know. But somehow—science calls it a singularity—every once in a while, something happens and you hit on something.”
Simmons then described how they created their iconic look in a run-down rehearsal space before quickly rising to major success.
“The only credit we can take is that we, all of a sudden, looked at each other in our rat-infested loft and go, ‘Uh-oh. You look kind of cool,'” he said. “Because all of us came up with our own makeup by ourselves in front of… It was a fire trap, there wasn’t even a window there. But we rehearsed there and put this thing called KISS together. And within a year and a half—before MTV, before digital, before anything—we were headlining Anaheim Stadium.”
Despite headlining massive venues, Simmons noted that his financial compensation at the time was very modest, though the lifestyle made up for it.
“It bears noting, however, that at that point, I was making $85 a week,” Simmons added. “But you didn’t care about it. You had fame, and chicks, and you didn’t have to work for a living, and you know, this kind of rock and roll gypsy going from city to city. There’s no job like that. Especially pre-AIDS, (laughs) when you could wake up next to somebody whose name you never bothered to learn.”
Simmons’s recollection illustrates how KISS developed its visual identity and expanded from a young New York band into a stadium-level attraction in a remarkably short period.
KISS developed its iconic makeup and stage personas in New York during the early 1970s. The look allowed the four musicians to present themselves as larger-than-life characters rather than as ordinary rock performers.
The band refined that identity while rehearsing in a loft at 10 East 23rd Street in Manhattan. The cramped space became an important part of KISS’s early history, serving as a rehearsal room where Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley shaped the act that would soon define their careers.
The makeup also gave each member a distinct persona. Simmons became the Demon, Stanley the Starchild, Criss the Catman, and Frehley the Spaceman. Those characters helped KISS turn its music, costumes, and live performances into a unified brand.
That concept translated into a major breakthrough at Anaheim Stadium on August 20, 1976. The concert drew more than 42,000 fans and became one of the defining performances of KISS’s early career.
Simmons’s reported earnings underline the contrast between the band’s initial financial struggles and its later success. KISS members earned about $75 a week while recording their first album and $85 a week once they began touring. Over time, extensive touring, merchandise, and licensing transformed KISS into one of rock’s most recognizable and commercially successful brands.
