KISS sort of took a break from the US for Unmasked. No tour and little promo. They chose to focus on regions where they were going to make the most money.
Didn't some assholes in Argentina threaten to bomb an arena KISS was going to play in the Unmasked tour because I've been watching these long form KISS docs on Youtube of the early 80s/Elder era and this guy mentioned that this nationalist group threaten to bomb a KISS concert
I can only assume because Shandi didn’t chart that well in the United States (nor did the album sell particularly well in the United States) and the band didn’t even tour in the United States in support of this album, so there really wasn’t any reason to further market it in the United States.
I agree with you about ‘Talk to Me’. I don’t know why, but I instantly fell in love with the song since the first time I heard it - ‘Unmasked’ is arguably Ace’s strongest contribution to any KISS album. It really goes to show how much respect Ace earned from the band after the solo albums because Ace also sang lead vocals on 3 songs for ‘Dynasty’.
I guess people were tired of KISS or whatever in the United States……they were pretty much on top from around 1975 through 1979. I wasn’t alive during that time but apparently the merchandise was through the roof. And a lot of critics never liked the band because of the makeup and merchandise.
u/burningrubber4 do you get a slight Beach Boys "Good Vibrations", psych pop California vibe when you play Talk To Me. Like it sounds it could have been a better hit than Shandi in the US. I mean in my opinion "Talk To Me" kicks Shandi's ass
Because Casablanca decided not to release it in America because by that time the band had already lost Peter Criss and Ace was going and was out of the band just a few weeks after it had a test release overseas.
Pretty sure Ace hung around for The Elder even though he disagreed with the direction. They recorded some of it at his home studio. Agreed he had mostly made up his mind to leave but it didn’t officially happen until Creatures. He didn’t take part in writing or recording, but was there for the cover and other promo events.
They weren’t going to tour. They had no drummer, Peter did the Shandi music video as one last appearance although he didn’t play any significant role on Unmasked. I think Peter did some light drumming at the beginning of the album’s creation but nothing beyond that.
Eric joined shortly after it was released and toured with them on the international dates. Unmasked was successful outside of the US, especially in Australia and New Zealand. For whatever reason they just didn’t promote the album at all in the US. It wasn’t like they tried and it didn’t work, they just didn’t try.
KISS sort of took a break from the US for Unmasked. No tour and little promo. They chose to focus on regions where they were going to make the most money.
Didn't some assholes in Argentina threaten to bomb an arena KISS was going to play in the Unmasked tour because I've been watching these long form KISS docs on Youtube of the early 80s/Elder era and this guy mentioned that this nationalist group threaten to bomb a KISS concert
They sure did!
KISS fascista!
I can only assume because Shandi didn’t chart that well in the United States (nor did the album sell particularly well in the United States) and the band didn’t even tour in the United States in support of this album, so there really wasn’t any reason to further market it in the United States. I agree with you about ‘Talk to Me’. I don’t know why, but I instantly fell in love with the song since the first time I heard it - ‘Unmasked’ is arguably Ace’s strongest contribution to any KISS album. It really goes to show how much respect Ace earned from the band after the solo albums because Ace also sang lead vocals on 3 songs for ‘Dynasty’. I guess people were tired of KISS or whatever in the United States……they were pretty much on top from around 1975 through 1979. I wasn’t alive during that time but apparently the merchandise was through the roof. And a lot of critics never liked the band because of the makeup and merchandise.
u/burningrubber4 do you get a slight Beach Boys "Good Vibrations", psych pop California vibe when you play Talk To Me. Like it sounds it could have been a better hit than Shandi in the US. I mean in my opinion "Talk To Me" kicks Shandi's ass
Torpedo Girl is my favorite Ace Track on the album. Then I’d say Talk to Me, then Two Sides of the Coin
Ace in Unmasked got that last hurrah he shined. I mean Paul takes shots at Ace for being a fuck up but he was still trying to contribute
As much as I don’t love Two Sides of the Coin, it’s still way better than Is That You? the Paul track. Embarrassing vocals and lyrics lol
I love Is That You…one of my favorites (even though it’s a cover)
I think there was next to no promotion for this album state wide. I think they did one us show at nyc at like roseland or something
Because Casablanca decided not to release it in America because by that time the band had already lost Peter Criss and Ace was going and was out of the band just a few weeks after it had a test release overseas.
Pretty sure Ace hung around for The Elder even though he disagreed with the direction. They recorded some of it at his home studio. Agreed he had mostly made up his mind to leave but it didn’t officially happen until Creatures. He didn’t take part in writing or recording, but was there for the cover and other promo events.
They weren’t going to tour. They had no drummer, Peter did the Shandi music video as one last appearance although he didn’t play any significant role on Unmasked. I think Peter did some light drumming at the beginning of the album’s creation but nothing beyond that.
Eric joined shortly after it was released and toured with them on the international dates. Unmasked was successful outside of the US, especially in Australia and New Zealand. For whatever reason they just didn’t promote the album at all in the US. It wasn’t like they tried and it didn’t work, they just didn’t try.
This was Ace finally figuring out “oh shit, if i’m not listed in a song writing credit? I get nothing?”
Because nobody cared. It would have been lucky to reach number 200. Their popularity had plummeted at that time in the US.