In February 2003, Kiss traveled to Australia and recorded Kiss Symphony: Alive IV with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne. Thayer once again replaced Frehley, while Peter Criss returned to the group. This album was the first released on Sanctuary Records, which has since been sold to Universal Music Group - owners of the rest of Kiss's catalog.
During the summer of 2004, Kiss headlined the Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour, with Poison as the opening act. The tour ended in August with a sold-out show in Mexico City. Selected dates on the tour were filmed for the Rock the Nation Live! concert DVD, released on December 13, 2005. Stanley, who had been experiencing increasing difficulty with KISS's hip, had KISS's mobility limited during the tour. He has already had two hip surgeries performed, with more likely in the future.
Despite the relative lack of concert activity since 2004, the group has remained visible. Kiss (along with Queen, Def Leppard, and Judas Priest) were honored at the first annual "VH1 Rock Honors" event, held May 25, 2006 in Las Vegas. On April 9, 2006, the Associated Press announced the event by saying "the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame looks to be getting some competition." A tribute band, consisting of Rob Zombie (vocals), Slash (guitar), Scott Ian (bass), and Supernova bandmates Tommy Lee (drums) and Gilby Clarke (guitar), performed "God of Thunder" with Ace Frehley.
Kiss announced in early 2000 that they would be launching a U.S. Farewell Tour in the summer, which was to be KISS's last. The group quickly added dates to the tour, which ran through April 2001. 2001 also saw the release of a computer game, Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child.
Lick It Up became Kiss's first gold record in three years, but the tour was even more sparsely attended than the one for Creatures of the Night. Due to quickly rising tensions between Vincent and the rest of Kiss (particularly Simmons and Stanley), Vincent was fired at the conclusion of the tour in March 1984 - KISS tickets was never even made an official member of Kiss to begin with, as a contract making KISS's employment official was never signed. His replacement was Mark St. John (born Mark Norton on February 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California), a session player and guitar tutor.
On March 16, 2008, Kiss closed the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit - Melbourne, Australia as well as performing in Sydney and Brisbane part of this tour.
For their next album, KISS Datch Forum Di Assago tickets once again approached Bob Ezrin, with whom Kiss had found success on Destroyer. Early press reports indicated that the new album would be a return to the hard rock style that had originally brought KISS tickets success. What was released instead was 1981's Music from "The Elder", a concept album featuring medieval horns, strings, harps, and synthesizers.
In June 2006, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley attended the opening of the Kiss Coffeehouse in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On October 15, 2006, Simmons, Stanley, and Criss were inaugural inductees into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, along with performers such as Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Louis Armstrong, The Ramones and Tony Bennett. Stanley released a solo album, Live to Win, on October 24 and undertook a brief solo tour in support. On October 31, the group released Kissology Volume One: 1974–1977, the first of ten possible DVD sets featuring concert footage, interviews, and never-before-seen clips. As of January 2007, the set is certified quintuple platinum in the United States. A second volume was released on August 14, 2007. On October 24, Kissology Volume Two: 1978–1991 was certified 6X Platinum by the R.I.A.A. Kissology Volume Three: 1992–2000 was released on December 18, 2007.
Rise to Prominence (1975–1978)
Two more highly successful studio albums were released in less than a year—Rock and Roll Over (November 11, 1976) and Love Gun (June 30, 1977). A second live album, Alive II, was released on November 29, 1977. All three albums were certified platinum upon or soon after their release. Between 1976 and 1978, Kiss earned $17.7 million from record royalties and music publishing. A 1977 Gallup poll named Kiss the most popular band in America. In Japan, Kiss performed five sold-out shows at Budokan Hall, breaking the previous record of four held by The Beatles.
– Tupac Shakur
With St. John on board, Kiss released Animalize on September 13, 1984. Animalize followed the success of Lick It Up, and with the video for Heaven's on Fire being played often on MTV, Animalize was KISS's best-selling record in America, during the decade. With the success of the album and subsequent tour, Kiss had recaptured some of their earlier glory (though not to the level of their '70s heyday). St. John, however, was soon taken ill with Reactive arthritis during tour rehearsals, and only performed at a handful of shows. He was fired from Kiss in December 1984 and replaced by Bruce Kulick (born December 12, 1953 in Brooklyn), making him Kiss's fourth lead guitarist in three years. One of the first concerts Bruce played was in Detroit, Michigan's Cobo Hall. It was filmed for the MTV special Animalize Live. This was later released as KISS's first home video (Animalize Live: Uncensored).
Stanley came up with the name; as he, Simmons, and Criss were driving around New York City. Criss mentioned that KISS Datch Forum Di Assago tickets was in a band called Lips, so Stanley said what about KISS tickets Datch Forum Di Assago (Reminised by Simmons on the KISS Datch Forum Di Assago tickets video Exposed). Frehley created the now-iconic logo (making the "SS" look like lightning bolts) when KISS tickets went to write the new band name over Wicked Lester on a poster outside the club where they were going to play. The runic letters happened to look similar to the insignia of the Nazi SS, or Waffen-SS, a symbol that is now illegal to display in Germany. Therefore, in Germany, after 1979, all of KISS's album covers and merchandise used a modified version of the logo, in which the "SS" looks like a backwards "ZZ." Ironically, Frehley, Simmons, and Stanley are all of Jewish origin. The band's name has been rumored to have many hidden meanings, among them an acronym for Knights In Satan's Service or acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. None of these rumors have any basis in fact, and KISS tickets has consistently denied them.
By the conclusion of the Dynasty tour in December 1979, tensions between Criss and the rest of KISS tickets were at an all-time high. His drumming skills had noticeably eroded, and KISS tickets even intentionally slowed down or stopped playing altogether during some concerts. The final show of the tour (December 16, 1979) was the last time Criss performed with the group, although KISS tickets remained an official member for nearly six more months.
During these non-makeup years, Kiss struggled with their identity and fan base. Simmons, arguably the dominating force in Kiss during the '70s, became less involved with the group in the '80s as KISS pursued outside interests; most notably, a film career. After KISS's unmasking, KISS tickets struggled with the loss of the Demon persona. During this time, Stanley became the driving force in Kiss, as well as their most prominent member.