AUGUST 9, 1995 – The original members of KISS play together for the first time since 1980 when drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley joined the current band to record their “MTV Unplugged” special. Prior to the taping, singer/guitarist Paul Stanley and singer/bassist Gene Simmons had contacted Criss and Frehley invited them to participate.
“The sound was deafening: the sound of rock ‘n’ roll history coming full circle in a TV studio,” wrote Kerrang!’s Don Kaye in a review of the taping at New York’s Sony Music Studios. “Complete pandemonium ensued as they struck the opening chords to (the Rolling Stones cover of) “2,000 Man” and it continued when Ace’s voice rang out in the clear, sardonic manner we all know and love.”
Not counting Ace Frehley’s 1976 wedding, it also marks the only time the four original members performed without makeup in public, and was also the only time Frehley and Criss shared a stage with drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Bruce Kulick. It was also the first time Singer had part of a lead vocal on an album (shared with Criss on “Nothin’ to Lose”). On March 12, 1996, the concert was released on CD as “Kiss Unplugged” and, on December 18, 2007, on the “Kissology Volume Three: 1992–2000” DVD set. This included the original DVD release of the concert plus five previously unreleased songs: “Hard Luck Woman” (with Stanley on vocals), “Heaven’s on Fire”, “Spit”, “C’mon and Love Me”, and the infamous country version of “God of Thunder”. The LP version of the album includes a poster and some were pressed on yellow marbled vinyl.
A stand-alone VHS and DVD documentary was produced around the same time as the CD release, with archival footage of the bands’ rehearsal sessions at SIR Studios in New York. It also shows the first “KISS Konvention” appearance with Peter Criss joining the touring members onstage to sing a few tunes earlier in the year. According to Peter, this invite gave Gene the idea of reaching out to both he and Ace to be a part of the “Unplugged” taping in an unannounced reunion. Because of the contentious split, the worldwide fan base never thought this would happen, and it was kept a closely held secret until the day of the event. Fan reaction to Criss and Frehley at the “Unplugged” show was so positive that, in 1996, the original lineup of Kiss reunited, with all four original members together for the first time since 1979, and the subsequent “Reunion” tour became the top grossing tour that year.