WTF!? I'm looking at the KISS website for XMAS Tshirts for the boys...and I see THIS?

[w8liftinglady]

say it ain't so....

[Junkdrawer]

1. It gets worse. Gene Simmons is a major A**hole.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=9341846

[w8liftinglady]

2. Man...i totally loved KISS in college

What a freaking disappointment.

[maddezmom]

5. I loved them in Jr High

GAWD, I'm freaking old. My parents new to the concert concept let me go to NYC with 2 of my girlfriends to stay with one of the aunts. Learned a lot about life and the city in that short weekend. :D That said, Simmons is an ass and didn't even realize he was still around or even politically active until I saw his dumbass show Family Jewels.

[w8liftinglady]

9. hehe...you sound like we did...but we SHOULD have known better

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. He was an a**hole on celebrity apprentice

[HopeHoops]

3. Oh my fucking god.

:puke:

[nunyabidness]

4. Wake up. The only reason KISS was on Earth was to sell crap. Merchandising.

Merchandising.Merchandising.Merchandising.Merchandising. It bit them in the ass before. Google it. Learn something.

* Action figures - In 1978 the popular superhero toy company Mego released a line of action figures of each band members. There exist two variants: one series with ordinary "skinny" bodies, and one series with muscular, more superhero-like, physiques. Starting in 1997 and continuing to the present day, McFarlane Toys has manufactured several different series of action figures and figurines, ranging from the exaggeratedly demonic Psycho Circus series of figures to the more realistic and representative "Alive" series, depicting the band performing in 1975 costumes. See also: Kiss action figures.
* Comic books - In 1977 Marvel Comics published a magazine-format full-color comic book presenting the band as superheroes. Blood from each band member was drawn by a registered nurse, witnessed by a notary public, and poured into the vats of red ink used for printing the comic at Marvel's Borden Ink plant in Depew, New York. <2> Marvel also published a second Kiss comic magazine in 1979 with much less fanfare. In 1997, Image comics began publishing Todd McFarlane's Kiss: Psycho Circus, a much darker and mystical series than the previous Kiss comics. 31 issues were published. <3> In 2002, Dark Horse comics published a Kiss comic book authored by X-Men writer Joe Casey, which lasted for thirteen issues. Each issue was released in two versions, one with a drawn cover and one with a photo cover. The first four of these stories were later collected in a graphic novel entitled Rediscovery. <4>. On January 30 2007 it was announced that the KISS Comics Group, a joint venture between Platinum Studios and the band, would launch a new comic "KISS 4K" with an oversized $50 Destroyer Edition, at the Wizard World Los Angeles Convention in March and with an ongoing series to follow in May by writer Ricky Sprague and artist Kevin Crossley.<5>
* Condoms - In 2002 a line of Kiss condoms ( entitled " Kiss Kondoms")entered the market, in varieties such as "Love Gun Protection," "Tongue Lubricated," and "Studded Paul". <6>
* DVD and VHS - Kiss has released - and kept in print - more video releases than many other bands of similar stature. Their video output runs the gamut from live performances like Rock the Nation Live! to MTV television specials like 1985's Animalize Live Uncensored and 1996's Unplugged, to video collections like 1989's Crazy Nights and documentaries like 1992's X-treme Close-up. A slightly edited version of their 1978 feature film Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park was finally officially released on DVD as part of Kissology Volume Two: 1978-1991 after years of alleged copyright issues which saw a VHS version released by GoodTimes in the 1980s and a contested DVD pulled from the shelves shortly after its release in 2005. See also: Kiss filmography.
* Games (non-video) - The "Kiss On Tour" board game was offered in stores in 1978. In 2003 a Kiss-themed variation of Monopoly was released as Kiss-opoly. In 2006 a card game called "Got to Choose" appeared.
* Kiss Coffeehouse - A specialty coffee retailer operating in Myrtle Beach, SC, with other outlets in the planning stages. Sells Kiss-brand coffee, food, thermoses, mugs, and other products.
* Kiss Him/Kiss Her - In February 2006, the band announced a new product line of beauty, shampoo and fragrance products entitled "Kiss Him" (for men) and "Kiss Her" (for women). <7> The Kiss Him" line includes cologne, shampoo/body wash, deodorant, body spray and shaving cream. The "Kiss Her" line features perfume, body lotion, shower gel, and bath splash. Both are marketed by Gemini Cosmetics.
* Kiss Kasket - From 2001 to 2006, Kiss offered for sale a custom-made coffin emblazoned with imagery of the band for $4500. On the Howard Stern radio show, Gene Simmons said of the casket, "This is the ultimate Kiss collectible. I love livin’, but this makes the alternative look pretty damn good." <8> The coffin is frequently cited as a prime example of just how extreme the band's quest for merchandising can be. Notable people to be buried in a Kiss Kasket include Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell after his murder.
* Pinball - In 1978 the first Kiss arcade pinball machine was introduced by Bally, and stayed in circulation well into the 1980s. <9> In 2001, a Kiss Pinball game was released for the PlayStation <10>. In September 2006 it was announced that a new coin-op machine was in the works from Kiss licensee ICUP. <11>
* Platinum Visa Card - FirstUSA bank offers a Kiss Platinum VISA card. According to their promotional material, cardholders "receive monthly updates, news and inside gossip straight from the veteran shock rockers". <12>
* Trading cards - Over the years there have been a number of Trading cards series released beginning with the original and most famous series in 1978 by Donruss since then there have been releases in the nineties and 2000s as well. Below is a complete list:
o 1978 Donruss Series 1
o 1978 Donruss Series 2
o 1980 Donruss Series (re-release of the 1978 series 1 exclusively in Australia for the 1980 Unmasked tour)
o 1997 Cornerstone Series 1
o 1998 Cornerstone Series 2
o 2001 NECA Alive! series
o 2008 Presspass Ikons series
o 2009 Presspass 360 degrees series
o 2010 Presspass Legends series
* Video games - Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child for PC and Dreamcast in 2000, Kiss Pinball for the PlayStation in 2001.
* Zippo lighters - In the 1990s a set of four Zippo lighters was released, each featuring a cover image from the band's 1978 solo albums.
* Other - There have been KISS cigarette lighters, ashtrays, wine, and a drinking game.
KISS = Corporatism

[Octafish]

19. Thank you.

Welcome to DU, nunyabidness.

[w8liftinglady]

20. I am SO embarrassed..I think I had some KISS figurines...and t's ,of course.

[PeaceNikki]

6. You didn't know that Gene Simmons is a total fuckface?

I wouldn't give a penny to him or anything he supports. He's right up there with Nugent and Chuck Norris.

[w8liftinglady]

8. hell...I do NOW.

sigh...there goes my childhood.....

[Codeine]

7. Why are you shocked? KISS was never a band, it was a corporate creation

to sell very sanitized rebellion to the dumber kids. They were Menudo with stage blood.

[gratuitous]

10. The Pre-Fab Four?

Too bad the Monkees already retired that moniker; it's so appropriate for so many "bands."

[RZM]

11. Perhaps . . .

But 'Detroit Rock City' is still a classic track in my book. At the end of the day music is still music. I care about how a song makes me feel, not the marketing behind it. Any group on a major label is a corporate creation in some way or another. And many of those who aren't aspire to be. And even those who don't make music that is probably influenced by numerous corporate creations somewhere down the line.

[Swamp Rat]

14. "Menudo with stage blood"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[thereismore]

12. As far as music goes, KISS were ponderous (not the same as heavy!) with primitive riffs. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

13. I never understood the KISS phenomenon.

Mediocre at best, and always, always strictly a commercial enterprise. It makes sense that they would be Republican backers.

[MrScorpio]

15. I never did like Kiss

And I'm from Detroit: Rock City.

[w8liftinglady]

16. lol..well,i was living in BF,texas..they were playing in Abilene..I didn't have much of a life.

Yeah..ok,we smoked a lot of pot back then,too.

[onenote]

17. There also is a KISS Obama t-shirt

http://kissmuseum.net/cart/products/KISS_T_Shirt_Obama-539-3.html

As others have pointed out, KISS was about making money, not politics.

[w8liftinglady]

18. LOL..they must have sold all of those..none on their "sale" site

[PeaceNikki]

27. Gene Simmons, on the other hand, is.

[blogslut]

21. Gene Simmons got the attention of Anonymous

...and it was glorious:

http://gawker.com/5666411/gene-simmons-doesnt-understand-the-internet

[2008 was great]

22. He voted for Obama.

"I voted for President Obama, I also voted for President Clinton, and I also voted for President Bush,” Simmons said this week at the launch of Activision’s “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock” in Los Angeles. “I will vote my conscience, and I'll be damned if anybody is going to point a finger at me and say ‘vote along party lines.’ America is like me – sometimes they vote this way, sometimes they vote that way."
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/09/30/exclusive-gene-simmons-predicts-major-change-midterm-elections/

[Toucano]

23. He's still a first-class asshole.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[flvegan]

25. KISS t-shirts? The War on Christmas has officially begun.

[the redcoat]

26. Please, everyone knows if McCain was in KISS, he would be Peter Criss.

[w8liftinglady]

28. hehe....I guess Dick Cheney was Gene Simmons