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TL;DR:

  • Kiss’ Paul Stanley compared one of Kiss’ tours to “H.R. Pufnstuf on Ice.”
  • Stanley said the members of the band looked like Disney characters or performers in Las Vegas shows.
  • The tour promoted an album that included one of Kiss’ most famous songs.
Characters from 'H.R. Pufnstuf' standing in a row
Characters from ‘H.R. Pufnstuf’ | Bettmann / Contributor

Kiss is a classic rock band, but the group ventured into other genres like disco. Paul Stanley said Kiss’ tour for its disco album was like “H.R. Pufnstuf on Ice.” In addition, Stanley ruminated on why his band’s image evolved to the point where it had a tour like that.

Paul Stanley said the tour for Kiss’ disco album was similar to ‘H.R. Pufnstuf,’ Disney characters, and Las Vegas shows

Kiss went disco on the 1979 album Dynasty. In his 2014 book Face the Music: A Life Exposed, Stanley discussed the Dynasty Tour. “The show we mounted to support the release of Dynasty was no longer a rock show,” he wrote. “It was more like H.R. Pufnstuf on Ice. It was something that perhaps in some ways we consciously maneuvered toward.”

Stanley didn’t like that Kiss had a broad fan base. “Over time, the band had evolved to include a broader demographic than in the beginning, but the change in our live presentation was just one of many missteps made at the time,” he remembered. “We wore ridiculous outfits for the Dynasty tour — like Vegas or Disney characters jumping around in our colorful outfits.”

Paul Stanley said the Dynasty Tour was different from the band’s other appearances

Stanley compared the Dynasty Tour to Kiss’ other live appearances. “I don’t consider what we normally wear to be costumes, but the clothes we wore on that tour certainly were,” he opined. “I had a layered lavender top.

“I guess the thought was that the black-and-silver look we’d always had was too hard-edged, so now we were going to add an individual color for each guy based on the halo color on each of our solo albums,” he continued. “It was horrible.”

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How Kiss’ ‘Dynasty’ and its singles performed on the charts in the United States

Dynasty became a hit in the United States. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 25 weeks. The album was successful, though it didn’t last as long on the chart as some of the band’s earlier albums.

Dynasty included the single “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.” The track reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. Meanwhile, another song from the album — “Sure Know Something” — became a more modest hit. It hit No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 11 weeks.

Dynasty became a huge album for Kiss — even if Stanley didn’t like the associated tour.

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