‘A Little Lower than the Angels’: Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and the Corporate Kiss Machine

This paper is a collective effort on the part of the authors to remember Kiss, one of the greatest shock-rock bands of the mid- to late-1970s. Although the band in no way invented shock-rock, arguably Kiss was the first major act to present rock music as Entertainment Product firstly and music only secondarily. The monster figure historically has symbolized in popular culture the ferocious drive of capital to reproduce itself and to master everything in its path. Perhaps Gene Simmons’ blood-spitting Demon persona is the perfect symbol for the transition to a higher stage of capitalism within the popular music industry. The authors also discuss the original, democratic concept of the Fab Four - Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter - as well as Gene Simmons’ and Paul Stanley’s subsequent American Dream ideology.