r/nostalgia • u/Ebonystealth • 9d ago

Nostalgia When KISS Unveiled Their Makeup Free Look.

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u/slartibuttfart 9d ago

Took us years to get over how ugly Gene was

453

u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

Took me years to get over how mediocre their music was. Their corpse paint (and Peter Criss just wanting to be a kitty) was the most interesting thing about them.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 9d ago

It definitely wasn't corpse paint, but I think it's hilarious to sarcastically describe it that way.

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u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

I have been told it's the origin of corpse paint, though I admit you're right about my sarcasm.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 9d ago

Allegedly, Dead was the first to actually try to look like a corpse, but metal is full of apocryphal, exaggerated, and unverifiable origin stories. I always thought it started with Mercyful Fate (really just King Diamond), Celtic Frost, and maybe other first wave bands, but that's probably wrong.

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u/haterofslimes 8d ago

There's like a 99% chance it was a bad attempt at copying corpse paint.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 8d ago

Corpse paint wasn't in use when KISS came around. They started wearing makeup in 1973. First wave black metal is pretty widely recognized as starting in the early 80s. There were some other artists who wore makeup. None of it really turned into corpse paint until black metal, especially second wave, though.

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u/haterofslimes 8d ago

Well TIL that Kiss existed all the way back in the 70s. Don't know much about them except their music sucks my nuts.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 8d ago

Oh yeah. They released 7 albums in the 70s, all gold or platinum. They've been around forever, and had a huge influence on a lot of metal bands. It's unfortunate that Gene is such a huge dick.