Kiss

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(from left to right) Kiss's Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley perform onstage

“People don’t talk about Ace doing his pick-tapping thing. Considering this was ’77, before Eddie Van Halen did Eruption, it's even more mind-blowing”: Eric Johnson, Nuno Bettencourt, and 40 other guitar legends share their favorite Kiss guitar moments

By Andrew Daly published

Ahead of their very last show, an all-star cast of rock guitar luminaries reveal how they were influenced by the Hottest Band in the Land

Kiss playing live

“They said they invited us to perform at that show. I never got a phone call. They just said that to sell tickets”: Despite reports, Ace Frehley says he hasn’t heard from Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons about joining Kiss’s last-ever gig

By Matt Owen published

The glam rock heroes will take to the stage for the last time ever later this week – but Frehley won't be there

Paul Gilbert and Ace Frehley

“The solos are so perfectly composed... they remind me of what Bach would do if he had a Les Paul, a Marshall, and a space alien costume”: Paul Gilbert explains why he loves Ace Frehley’s playing

By Matt Parker published

The shred guru picks out a recording of the band’s “infallible feedback magic” as his highlight of the hard-rock icons’ remarkable 50-year run

Paul Stanley performs onstage with Kiss in Melbourne, Australia on September 30, 2023

“I've never been a fan of tapping, tricks or whammy bars. There have been a few greats, like Edward Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, but what they did came from somewhere”: Kiss's Paul Stanley names 11 guitarists who shaped his sound

By Andrew Daly published

The stalwart rhythm guitarist gets back to the roots of his brand of hard-rock showmanship: why AC/DC and Kiss share a similar guitar mentality, how Mitch Mitchell elevated Jimi Hendrix, and what makes Jimmy Page the Beethoven of guitarists

Paul Stanley of Kiss performs during the 2023 AFL Grand Final match between Collingwood Magpies and Brisbane Lions at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on September 30, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia.

The widow of Paul Stanley’s former guitar tech is suing Kiss for wrongful death

By Matt Parker published

The crew member died in 2021, after contracting Covid on the End of the Road tour

Gibson Gene Simmons EB-0

“Gene Simmons is breaking ground again”: Gibson unveils second signature bass guitar for the Kiss icon – and it’s the brand’s first 30.5” scale custom shop model

By Matt Owen published

Following Simmons' G² Thunderbird model from last year, the limited-edition EB-0 is based on the bassist's heavily modded '59 example, which he used throughout the 1970s

American Rock musician Vito Bratta, of the group White Lion, performs onstage at the Poplar Creek Music Theater, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, July 12,1989.

“I get off stage, and Paul and Gene want to talk to me: ‘We think you’d be perfect for Kiss. Would you consider playing a Les Paul?’” White Lion’s Vito Bratta on the time he nearly joined Kiss – and his failed Ozzy Osbourne audition

By Andrew Daly published

The ’80s shred icon explains what stood between him and the gig of a lifetime with Ozzy – and why he turned down Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley

Bruce Kulick's ESP M-1 Banana electric guitar

“Gibson represented vintage makeup-era Kiss – Paul Stanley wanted me to be part of the new generation of guitar players”: How Bruce Kulick gave Kiss a hair-metal makeover with his iconic ESP ‘Banana’ guitar

By Andrew Daly published

By 1984, Kiss had ditched the makeup and recruited a hot new gunslinger, who was on the hunt for a six-string identity worthy of the Superstrat era. Kulick tells us why his beloved yellow shred machine was “special from the first power chord I hit”

Bruce Kulick (left) and Michael Bolton

Bruce Kulick looks back on the time he rocked out with Michael Bolton and ended up in a Rodney Dangerfield movie

By Andrew Daly published

The year is 1985, and producer Neil Kernon wants Bolton to tap into the electric heat of the glam-metal rock revolution. They make the call to Mr. Bruce Kulick, and the rest is history

Ace Frehley performs onstage with Kiss at the International Ampitheater in Chicago, Illinois on September 22, 1979

From rocket-shooting Les Pauls to 'bananas' Superstrats: 10 iconic Kiss guitars that powered rock's most outrageous band

By Andrew Daly published

10 bonkers guitars that chart the history of the American hard-rock institution

Vinnie Vincent performs with Kiss at the Wembley Arena in London on October 23, 1983

Vinnie Vincent's 10 most explosive solos

By Andrew Daly published

From the bombastic to the utterly ballistic, we count down the best of the mysterious guitarist's always-entertaining lead breaks with Kiss and the Vinnie Vincent Invasion

(from left) Eric Clapton, Gene Simmons and Eddie Van Halen

Gene Simmons: “Eddie Van Halen talked about being a fan of Eric Clapton. I’m sorry, I don’t see that. What he did was closer to classical music”

By Matt Parker published

The Kiss frontman has been fretting over the guitar hero’s legacy, sharing concerns that “millennials need to know about the most important musician since Jimi Hendrix”

Tommy Thayer

Kiss's Tommy Thayer names 11 guitarists who shaped his sound

By Andrew Daly published

The Spaceman offers his pick of the greatest riff-masters, salutes the player who invented the power chord and reveals the guitarist his bandmates compare him to (and it's not Ace Frehley)

Bruce Kulick performs at Glassheim in Jevnaker, Norway on December 1, 2009

Bruce Kulick names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound

By Andrew Daly published

The hard-rock guitar slinger names the unlikely influences behind a number of his best-known Kiss riffs, and the player he likens to "a race car champion with the soul of a great blues musician"

Photo of Sid VICIOUS and SEX PISTOLS, Sid Vicious performing live onstage at Randy's Rodeo Nightclub, San Antonio, on final tour

“I don’t buy the idea that the bass player is the quiet one”: The 5 most notorious bass guitarists in rock

By Nick Wells published

From Mötley Crüe hellraiser Nikki Sixx to GN‘R’s Duff McKagan

Gene Simmons (left) and Paul Stanley perform onstage with Kiss in 1984, (from left) Paul Stanley, Mark St. John and Gene Simmons, pictured on the back cover of Kiss's 1984 album, Animalize

Only known Kiss soundboard recording with Mark St. John set for official release this spring

By Sam Roche published

The latest installment of the band's Off the Soundboard live bootleg series showcases their November 28, 1984 set – one of the only to feature St. John on lead guitar – in Poughkeepsie, New York

[L-R] Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox

Robert Fripp and Toyah are on their usual ridiculous form in this bizarre cover of Kiss's I Was Made For Lovin' You

By Sam Roche published

Watch the ever-intriguing husband-and-wife duo tackle one of the rock institution's biggest hits

Photo of James HETFIELD and METALLICA and Jason NEWSTEAD and Lars ULRICH and Kirk HAMMETT; L-R: Jason Newstead, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield performing live onstage.

The greatest rock concerts in music history

By Richard Bienstock last updated

From Metallica's Damaged Justice to Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman tour, Guitar World presents the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history

Kiss

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons talk classic Kiss tracks, including the lick they ripped off from the Rolling Stones, and the song they nearly gave to Rod Stewart

By Guitar World Staff published

In this classic 1992 Guitar World interview, Kiss's Starchild and Demon share the stories behind 18 key tracks, including Strutter, God of Thunder, I Was Made For Lovin' You and more

(from left) Gene Simmons, Vinnie Vincent and Paul Stanley perform with Kiss at Wembley Arena in London on October 23, 1983

Gene Simmons: "Everything Vinnie Vincent did sounded like Yngwie Malmsteen on crack"

By Andrew Daly published

Kiss's always-colorful bassist reflects on how he and Paul Stanley wrestled with the band's identity – and Vinnie Vincent's unorthodox, fleet-fingered ideas – on Creatures of the Night, 40 years on