KISS--Rock and Roll All Nite (1975)

     KISS was in danger of losing it all....

     It was 1975 and all of the work that Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had put into the group was in danger of being for naught. Their 5th single, "Rock and Roll All Nite" had a short life on the charts. The album that it was taken from, "Dressed to Kill" had done much better than it's two predecessors, but their label, Casablanca Records was in danger of going bankrupt. 

    Simmons and Stanley had been frustrated that the hot live shows that had already received lots of notice couldn't be translated to studio. So they came up with the idea of attempting to capture the excitement of their live shows on vinyl. The result was "Alive" released in September of 1975 and a re-release of "Rock and Roll all Nite" a month later. It reached the top 20, and set the wheels in motion that elevated KISS to one of, if not the most popular American band in rock history.