Former KISS drummer Peter Criss has provided an intimate look at the circumstances that led to the band’s legendary 1996 reunion. He revealed that financial desperation and fan demand were the primary catalysts for bringing the original lineup back together.
In a recent interview, Criss detailed how both he and Ace Frehley were struggling during their “Bad Boys Tour.” They played small venues with capacities of around 500 people rather than the stadiums they once commanded. Meanwhile, the then-current KISS lineup—featuring Eric Singer on drums and Bruce Kulick on guitar—was also facing difficult times. They were reduced to performing at KISS conventions rather than major concert halls.
“We were on a tour, on our own tour, Ace Frehley and I. It was called the ‘Bad Boys Tour’. And so we were touring together. And it was hard times. We weren’t playing stadiums. We were playing, like, 500 seaters, and we were missing it — we were really missing the life,” Criss recalled. “And they [the then-lineup of KISS], too, weren’t doing great. They were playing these conventions — they were playing KISS conventions — so they were also not in the position where they used to love to be in that position.”
The turning point came during KISS’s 1995 MTV Unplugged performance. Criss and Frehley made surprise appearances alongside the current lineup. Criss vividly remembered the moment he realized the reunion was inevitable. He described how he saw dollar signs in Gene Simmons’ eyes when the bassist witnessed the crowd’s reaction to the original members.
“And so we got together and rehearsed. I looked at Gene’s [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] eyes, and all I saw was ‘ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching’ rolling around in his eyeballs, when I did ‘Hard Look Woman’, and I went, ‘I got a vibe here,'” Criss explained.
The MTV Unplugged event proved to be the decisive moment. Fans booed the current lineup members and demanded the original band’s return. This reaction did not go unnoticed by KISS’s management.
The 1995 MTV Unplugged performance marked the first reunion of KISS’s original lineup since 1979, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. It directly sparked the decision to launch a full-scale reunion tour. The performance was recorded on August 9, 1995, at Sony Music Studios in New York City. It featured the original four members alongside the then-current lineup of Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick. The audience’s enthusiastic response to the original members’ appearance made it clear that fans were hungry for a full reunion.
2Loud2Old Music reported that the MTV Unplugged event served as the definitive catalyst for the reunion. The band’s management recognized the commercial potential immediately.
Just two weeks after the performance, Criss received a call from KISS’s longtime manager Doc McGhee with an irresistible offer.
“And then two weeks later I was on tour with my band in Canada somewhere, and I got a call from [KISS’s longtime manager] Doc McGhee, and he said, ‘We wanna put the [original] band back. We wanna go back out on a reunion tour. I already know for a fact you already sold out two years, and it’s gonna be around the world twice. [You’ll travel in a] jet, all the perks, all the good stuff.’ And I said, ‘You’re kidding me,'” Criss recounted.
The announcement of the Alive/Worldwide Reunion Tour came just six weeks after the MTV Unplugged album’s release on March 12, 1996, as noted by Wikipedia. The band members presented themselves together at the 1996 Grammy Awards before officially launching the tour. This signaled a major shift in the rock music landscape.
