1980:
* Kiss signs what was then the biggest record deal in the industry, with
Mercury/Polygram Records. But because of Polygram's recent acquisition
of Casablanca, Kiss decides to just continue recording for their old
label.

* The band begins work on their next album. Peter is not involved in the 
recording. Again, Anton Fig is brought in to fill in.

* Plans for a second movie, entitled "Behind the Mask" are put on hold.

* "Unmasked" is released in May. It's again produced by Vini Poncia and
shows a very "poppy" side to the band. It only reaches #35 on the Billboard
charts, and goes gold.

* Kiss and Peter decide to go their separate ways. Peter's final job 
with the band is the filming of the "Shandi" promotional video clip.

* "Shandi" is released as a single. It reaches #47 on the Billboard Hot
100.

* A search is put into effect for a replacement for Peter. Hundreds of
applicants are looked over. Thirty are called for an audition.

* Chosen for the replacement is Brooklyn born Paul Caravello. The band
likes his charisma and charm, as well as his strong vocal capabilities.

* Paul Caravello chooses the name Eric Carr and becomes the new member
of Kiss. He takes the persona of "The Fox" and makes his television debut
on the Sunday morning children's program "Kids Are People Too."

* Eric makes his live debut with Kiss at the Palladium in New York City.

* "Tomorrow" is released as the second single off of "Unmasked" in America.
It fails to chart. In Europe, Japan and Australia "Talk to Me" is released
as the album's second single.

* Kiss travels to Europe for only the second time. They tour the continent
extensively.

* Kiss goes to Australia to perform for the first time. It becomes one
of their most successful tours, with 6 sold out stadium concerts.

1981:
* Kiss is relatively quiet throughout the year, writing and working on
material for their next album. They originally plan on making a heavier
sounding album, along the lines of their earlier albums. "Destroyer" 
producer Bob Ezrin is brought in to work with them.

* Kiss decides to try a concept album for their next project, much to
the dismay of both Ace and Eric. The concept is a simple one, based on
mythological characters and heroes. The story is written by Gene.

* "(Music from) The Elder" is released in November. The album is critically
received, but it perplexes both the band's record company and the band's
fans. It becomes Kiss's poorest selling album, reaching #75 on the Billboard
charts. The band also change their image, with shortened hair and less
elaborate costumes.  

* "A World Without Heroes" is released as a single. It peaks at #56 on
the Hot 100.

* Due to the album's failure, Kiss decides not to tour.

1982:
* Paul and Gene get involved in Cerebral Palsy charities.

* Kiss films their only live "Elder" performance on the late night ABC
show, "Fridays." "The Oath," "A World Without Heroes" and "I" are played
live. Kiss also plays "I" on the syndicated music show "Solid Gold."

* Kiss is awarded as Europe's top performing act and plays "I" at New
York's Studio 54 for a live remote all across Europe. Missing from the 
ceremony is Ace.

* At the request of Polygram Europe, Kiss puts together the compilation
album "Killers," which features four new studio songs: "I'm a Legend 
Tonight, "Down on Your Knees," "Nowhere to Run" and "Partners in Crime."
The songs are more along the lines of early Kiss. Ace is not featured
on of the songs. Bob Kulick steps in for most of the lead guitar work.
To this day, the four songs have never been released on an American Kiss
album.

* Kiss decides to part company with manager Bill Aucoin. Kiss's affairs
are now handled by their business management.

* Ace is involved in a serious car crash and is unable to join the band
for work on their next album.

* Kiss starts recording their 17th album in New York City. At the same
time, the band begins to fly guitarists in for possible replacements for
Ace. Numerous guitarists audition to play on the record including future
Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby, future Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora
and former Angel guitarist Punky Meadows. Bob Kulick, Robben Ford and 
Steve Ferris lend their lead guitar talents to the new album, as does
session guitarist Vinnie Cusano, who co-wrote numerous songs for the 
album.

* "Creatures of the Night" is released in October. It's Kiss's "return
to form" music-wise, with a very heavy drum sound. It reaches #45 on the
Billboard charts and eventually goes gold.

* Kiss travels to Europe for a promotional television tour. Ace joins
them, but also decides to leave the group once they return to America.

* The band films the video for "I Love it Loud." It's Ace's farewell
to the band.

* "I Love it Loud" is released as the album's only single. It "bubbles"
under the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #102.

* Kiss decides to recruit Vinnie Cusano as Ace's replacement. He changes
his name to Vinnie Vincent and is given the persona of the "Egyptian
Warrior."

* Kiss begins their new North American tour on New Year's Eve in Rockford,
IL.

1983:
* The North American "Creatures of the Night" tour is plagued with two
problems: 1. poor attendance. The band plays to numerous half empty venues.
2. The band is faced with problems from religious fanatics claiming Kiss
is Satanic and that their image is corrupting to America's youth. It's
these two problems that the tour is called off halfway through.

* The band travels to South America for the first time in their career.
There, they play to the biggest crowds they've ever played to. Outdoor
concert audiences total nearly 200,000 people per show.

* Kiss return to America to begin work on their next album. Vinnie Vincent
contributes a great deal of new material.

* Kiss sign a new deal with Mercury Records due to floundering business
with Casablanca.

* The band decides at their photo shoot for the new album cover to finally
unmask. They supposedly take photos with and without makeup and costumes
(pictures from the session with the makeup have yet to surface). The
clothes worn in the pictures without makeup are the street clothes the 
band members wore the day of the shoot.

* Kiss officially unmasks on MTV, on a late Sunday evening, without much
hype and promotion. However, news of the image change makes headline news
in the entertainment industry.

* "Lick it Up" is released in September. It becomes Kiss's strongest
album in years, chartwise, reaching #24 on the Billboard charts, eventually
going platinum. The video of the title track gets heavy airplay on MTV.

* The band travels to Europe for their third tour of the continent.

* The band comes home and begins a new North American tour, playing small
arenas and large theaters. Ticket sales increase due to interest in the
image change.

* "Lick it Up" is released as a single. It reaches #66 on the Billboard
Hot 100.

1984:
* "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" is the album's second video and single.
The video gets decent airplay, but the single fails to chart.

* The band winds up their successful tour, but personal problems begin
to develop with Vinnie. Contractual disputes and ego problems on both
sides cause Vinnie to leave in the spring.

* The band is given a tape of ten guitar players to audition. Among
them are California native Mark Norton. Mark's playing highly impresses
the band, particularly Paul. He's given an audition and is hired as
Vinnie's replacement. He changes his name to Mark St. John.

* The band begin work on their 19th album, produced by Paul Stanley.
Gene gets preoccupied with his new acting career. Filming of his first
movie "Runaway" takes him away from the studio.

* Paul finishes up the production of the album. Right before he hands
over the master tapes to Polygram, he decides to remix the entire album.

* "Animalize" is released in September. It peaks at #19 on the Billboard
charts and goes platinum (some sources say that it's nearing double 
platinum).

* "Heaven's on Fire" is released as a single. It gets extensive radio
airplay and peaks at #49 on the Hot 100. The video also receives heavy
MTV rotation.

* The "All Hell's Breakin' Loose" video is nominated, but loses for best
cinematography at the first ever MTV Video Music Awards.

* Kiss begins rehearsals for their "Animalize" tour. However, Mark begins
to show signs of an arthritis condition called Reiter's Syndrome. It 
makes his hands and joints swell up and he is unable to play guitar.

* In a frenzied panic, Kiss manage to acquire Bruce Kulick to fill in
on lead guitar while Mark recovers from his illness. Bruce had been a 
friend to the band for years. His brother Bob was one of the guitarists
to audition for the band in 1973. He was almost chosen before Ace came
into the rehearsal loft. Bruce had played the lead guitar solo on the 
song "Lonely is the Hunter" on the "Animalize" album.

* Kiss travel to Europe in September to begin their tour with Bruce on
lead guitar. They take Mark on the road with them, in case he's well 
enough to take over.

* Upon returning to America in December, Mark is still not healthy. The
band make a decision and decide to make Bruce a full time member.

* Kiss films their Detroit, MI show for an MTV Saturday Night Concert
and future home video.

1985:
* "Thrills in the Night" is released as a single. It fails to chart.

* The "Animalize" tour winds up with a sold out show at the Meadowlands
Arena in East Rutherford, NJ in March. 

* The "Animalize Live Uncensored" home video is released in the spring.
It reaches platinum status.

* Kiss immediately begin work on their 20th album. They record at New
York's Electric Lady Studios. This is currently the last Kiss studio
album to be worked on in New York.

* Gene works on two new movies while work on the album is being completed:
"Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Never Too Young to Die." He plays a hermaphrodite
in the latter.

* "Asylum," Kiss's 20th album is released in September. It reaches #20
on the Billboard charts and eventually goes platinum.

* "Thrills in the Night" is released as the album's first single. It
reaches #51 on the Hot 100. The video receives heavy rotation and becomes
a #1 requested video on MTV's new "Dial MTV" program.

* The "Asylum" tour is set to start in early November, but is pushed
back a few weeks due to Paul suffering from a groin injury.

* The tour starts in late November. The band incorporates more colorful,
"glam" oriented costumes, as well as a 40 foot logo. They also decide to
play cover songs on the tour: The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and Led
Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." The tour is successful, but not as big as 
the previous two.

1986:
* "Uh! All Night" is released as a single. It fails to chart. The video
receives decent airplay.

* "Who Wants to Be Lonely" is the third video to be filmed from "Asylum."
It receives minimal MTV airplay.

* Kiss winds up their tour in April and takes a break to prepare new
material and work on other projects. Bruce films a guitar instructional
video for Star Licks. Gene works on some acting projects, including the
horror movie "Trick or Treat," where he plays a DJ. He also produces
new albums for rock acts Keel and Black 'n Blue 

* Kiss begin filming a new documentary home video for release in early
1987.

1987:
* The "Kiss Exposed" home video is released in the spring. It instantly
becomes a huge seller, hitting the #1 spot on the Billboard Music Video
chart. It reaches platinum status.

* Kiss relocate to Los Angeles to begin work on their next album. They
call in producer Ron Nevison (Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Survivor, UFO) to
work with them. 

* "Crazy Nights" is released in September. It reaches #18 on the Billboard
charts and goes platinum. It features a lighter sound with heavy keyboard
emphasis.

* "Crazy Crazy Nights" is released as the first single. It peaks at #68
on the Hot 100.

* Kiss begins their "Crazy Nights" tour. Attendance is moderate. Some
full houses, some half full.

1988:
* "Reason to Live" is released as the second single off the album. It
peaks at #64. The video becomes the #1 requested video on MTV for a full
month.

* The band winds down the North American portion of their tour. They 
then travel to Japan for the first time in 10 years. They take with them
a rather scaled down stage show, lacking the major theatrics and light
up logo that made them famous.

* "Turn on the Night" is released as a single. It fails to chart.

* Paul and Gene appear on both the Oprah Winfrey and Geraldo Rivera shows
to discuss life on the road and groupies.

* Kiss play two packed club shows at the Ritz in New York as a preparation
for their upcoming European tour.

* Kiss goes to Europe to co-headline the "Monsters of Rock" stadium tour
with Iron Maiden. Also on the bill are David Lee Roth, Megadeth, Guns 'n
Roses and Helloween.

* A special home video titled "Crazy Nights" is released. It features
all three videos from the last album.

* Upon their return to America, Gene sets up his own record label, Simmons
Records, distributed through RCA/BMG Records. The first and most successful
act on the roster is House of Lords, who release two albums in 1988 and
1990 respectively.

* Kiss readies their second "greatest hits" album. They remix and remaster
13 classic songs as well as record two new tracks. Eric Carr is forced to
record a new vocal on Peter Criss's classic "Beth," which doesn't fit 
well with both Peter and with Kiss fans.

* "Smashes, Thrashes and Hits" is released in November. It reaches #22
on the Billboard charts. It ultimately makes double platinum status.

* Plans for a small club tour go into effect, however those plans are
soon nixed.

* "Let's Put the X in Sex" is released as a single. It peaks at #97 on
the Billboard Hot 100. The video becomes another #1 requested video on
Dial MTV.

1989:
* "(You Make Me)Rock Hard" is released as a single. It fails to chart.
The video gets minimal airplay on MTV's "Headbanger's Ball" program.

* Paul decides to do a Northeastern club tour while the band takes a 
break. Paul's band consists of guitarist Bob Kulick, Kiss's tour keyboard
Gary Corbett, bassist Dennis St. James and future Kiss drummer Eric Singer.
Paul incorporates many Kiss classics that are not played in years. Fan
reaction is great. The tour concentrates in the New York/Pennsylvania
area, but also travels to Ohio and Los Angeles.

* Kiss reconvene in L.A. to begin work on their next album. Friction
between Paul and Gene arises. Paul wants Gene to concentrate more on
Kiss matters and less on outside projects like acting and managing. 
Gene understands and begins to focus more on the band.

* After successful demo recording at a small studio called The Fortress,
the band decides to record the whole album at this studio. They strip
down their sound to being more guitar oriented.

* "Hot in the Shade" is released in October. The album features Eric 
Carr's first original composition/vocal on the song "Little Caesar."
The album peaks at #29 and goes gold.

* "Hide Your Heart" is released as a single. It reaches only #66 after
a strong showing on Top 40 radio. The video receives decent airplay on
MTV.

* Plans for a "return to form" stage show are made, based on the "sphinx"
album cover. Both Britny Fox and former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley are
offered the opening slots. However, fan interest begins to wade and album
sales slip, causing the band to put their touring plans on hold.

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