Gene Simmons, Vinnie Vincent, Paul Stanley

Paul Stanley 1983

Gene Simmons, Vinnie Vincent, Paul Stanley

My mint vinyl copy of Lick It Up

My vinyl Japanese copy of Lick It Up

Kiss appeared without make-up officially for the first time for the general public on MTV on Sept 1983 at 11:00 PM after a rerun of a Van Halen documentary , where their 'Lick it Up' video was also premiered. Apparently at the time MTV felt that KISS was no longer relevant. Little did they know...

A caption in a 1983 issue of Cream Magazine under the first officially released photo of Kiss without makeup stated, "AT LAST! KISS without their makeup on! OR: If we don't care, why should you?"

Rick Derringer played the lead guitar parts on 'Exciter.' Derringer also appeared on the KISS track, 'All-American Man' from Alive II.

Lick It Up' reached # 24 on Billboard's album chart--their highest since 1979's 'Dynasty.'

Vinnie Vincent, was very unhappy being a member of KISS, believing that the band was holding him back. He would often run his solos overtime during concerts to tick off Paul and Gene in the hope that the fans' positive response to his solos would show the reigning members of KISS what they were missing. By mid-March 1984, Vinnie Vincent was out of KISS, having never signed a legal contract to be a permanent part of the band. Before he left, Vinnie had worked on 3 songs that were slated to appear on 'Animalize'; Animal, Twisted, and I Wanna Be Your Victim. Instead, they showed up on the first Vinnie Vincent Invasion album in 1986.

'And On The 8th Day' was a song originally written by Vinnie and called 'Boyz Are Gonna Rock.' Vinnie re-recorded the song for his first solo album.

Despite the mutual parting of Vinnie and the band after the tour for 'Lick It Up,' Paul and Gene still asked Vinnie to come up with some songs for the next studio album. Vinnie came up with 'Animal,' 'Twisted' and 'I Wanna Be Your Victim,' all of which saw release on Vinnie's first solo disc rather than on Kiss' 'Animalize.' Vinnie Vincent later co-wrote Unholy, Heart of Chrome, and I Just Wanna for Kiss' 'Revenge' album.

Paul Stanley:

“I’d give Lick It Up four stars. Lick It Up is a good album, Creatures (of the Night) is a great album. I’d always believed that Lick It Up was the proof that people hear with their eyes. The response to Lick It Up was four times the response to Creatures and I think that's purely because people were tired of the image of the band and couldn’t hear past what they saw. It's a really good album but it’s not in the same league as Creatures of the Night.”
Kiss-Behind the Mask, p. 355

Gene Simmons:

“I’d give Lick It Up two stars. Although at least we hadn’t gone off into disco-land again.” -Kiss-Behind the Mask, p. 355

Michael James Jackson

“There were just some things that Vinnie couldn’t play. His sensibility was often too melodic for the band’s style. Vinnie was always struggling to find his place within Kiss, both musically and personally...As I recall we brought Rick Derringer in to take a pass. Moments like this were difficult for Vinnie, but the attitude all of us maintained was that the quality of the record would always be a the priority rather than anybody’s ego.”
-Kiss-Behind the Mask, p. 355

Vinnie Vincent:

“I think what Kiss really wanted was more of an old-school player who wouldn’t get in the way and sit in the corner and behave himself and do what he was told. Their love of guitar playing lies back in the past, and I love that too, but I’m a guitarist of today and tomorrow.” -Kiss-Behind the Mask, p. 357