Through the late 70's, there was no bigger band in the world than Kiss, but once their fan base hit puberty, suddenly the idea of seeing the girls at school in heels and make-up became preferable to seeing Kiss in heels and make-up.
Gene Simmons recognized this more than anyone, of course, so around 1978, you couldn't pass by a magazine rack without spotting the latest issue of 16 Magazine, Teen Beat, or People teasing their readers with promises of photos depicting members of Kiss sans make-up.
In hindsight, such 70s tabloid fodder seems positively innocent by today's standards, but at the time, it was quite the big deal. Not for me, of course, because one flesh colored Crayola crayon had already revealed the band's true identities to this prepubescent sleuth back in '76, but there was obviously someone out there who kept buying these magazines.
In 1980, the band themselves capitalized on the concept by calling their eighth studio album Unmasked, while still refusing to remove their make-up.
Fans responded by largely ignoring the album. The wheels soon fell off the Kiss Kruiser as Peter Criss became the first original member to exit the band.
Two more albums, Music From 'The Elder' and Creatures Of The Night, would flop before the band would finally reveal their true identities to the world on MTV in 1983. By then, of course, Ace Frehley had also left the band and, quite frankly, nobody gave a shit about seeing Vinnie Vincent or Eric Carr unmasked.
MTV VJ J.J. Jackson drew the short straw and was called on to feign interest in this desperate spectacle which proved to be about as anti-climactic as an episode of "Hee-Haw".
It wasn't until 1996, when the original line-up decided to put their make-up back on, that interest in the band re-ignited with a frenzy not seen since the band's initial heyday.
For that hotly anticipated UN-unmasking event aboard the USS Intrepid, Conan O'Brien drew the short straw and was called upon to feign interest in this even more desperate spectacle.
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kiss unmasked on mtv