Sunday, June 22, 2008

Kissteria: "Press Darlings" part 2

We continue with more clippings from papers and magazines from the time.


I think this was the first time I heard the expression "Kissteria". Not sure which magazine this is from, likely TV Week, circa August 1980.

Here is a (less than perfect!) pinup from Australian Women's Weekly - Sept 10, 1980. This was promoted at the time as revealing KISS' new drummer Eric Carr.
I'm pretty sure this was not an exclusive, but I think it may be the earliest image I had seen of Eric at the time. I'm assuming the image comes from Carr's debut at the Palladium in NYC.

Just check out the prices! Not sure if you can still buy Iron On Transfers, but at the time there were quite a few KISS ones available.

Here is the earliest B&W KISS Army notice board listing from TV Week that I have.And the reason the enlisting form is missing is because this is the one I used to join. For a measly $7.50 a year!

A tour report from Australian Women's Weekly - Oct 1, 1980.Great image too (second page is missing sorry).

KISS Army notice board listing from TV Week. Oct 25, 1980.

A snippet from the Ansett Airline (now defunct) inflight magazine. Circa Oct/Nov 1980.

Ah...Norman! Australian satirical comedian Garry MacDonald's character "Norman Gunston" aware of KISS' impending tour and the hysteria the band was creating, released a single "(I'm Marching in the) Kiss Army" sung to a tune not dissimilar to "I Was Made For Loving You". Norman also appeared at the Sydney press conference asking a number of questions (some confusing...some controversial...KISS gave as good as they got!). Below is a (wrinkled) image from the press conference. In Norman's hand is a stamp and pad so he could quickly give KISS his autograph!!!
"Let's face it...it was a pretty smart move...you guys touring Australia just as I had my record out!" Norman Gunston.

Said record. The B-Side was called 'Normdrum' a very funny parody of 'Humdrum', the chat/review part of "Countdown" presented by Molly Meldrum. KISS fans would know him from KISSOLOGY II.

Not sure what magazine this was from, but the rider makes for interesting reading. Circa Oct/Nov 1980.

Not all Australian media had a positive response to KISS' tour. This is from The Post magazine, circa Nov 1980.

Here is a bit of snotty journalism from one John Hindle of the Melbourne Age (I believe) paper in his regular article "It's All Too Much". Late November 1980.

This the first page of the "KISS Souvenir In The Land of Oz 1980" from November 8, 1980. I have a few others bits and pieces from this, but most haven't survived.

Another surviving page from "KISS Souvenir In The Land of Oz 1980" from November 8, 1980.

A brief Kisstory lesson from New Idea magazine; Nov 15, 1980

These are images of my ticket stub (front and back). This was my first KISS concert and the first big show I attended period. I was 9 years old and one of 45,000 people (their largest crowd up to that point). That's jumping in the deep end. It was a very hot day (42 degrees!) and a good time was had by all. Support band was The Eyes (don't remember them being that impressive). I'm pretty sure Gene is incorrect when he said The Eyes opened for them in South America 1983, unless there was another band with the same name in Rio. Tickets for the Aussie Tour were $13.50!!!! If you click on the thumbnail you'll see the approximate size of these larger than average tickets.

Here is a collage of images from a Melbourne paper, the day after the show in Melbourne.


Here are some great images. I can't lay claim to these. A very good friend of mine gave me these about 10 years ago when he worked in a record shop. He didn't take these either but was living in Sydney at the time and attended both shows. The following images are from night 1(Nov 21, 1980). My friend doesn't know who took them, if anyone does, please let me know and I'll be happy to credit them.





And to finish up, an early example the Eric Carr's generosity to KISS' fans. It speaks for itself.

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