Will there be unseen Vintage footage (70's-Early 80's) in the 4 hour A&E Special??

[johnkissfan1974]

Probably unlikely but it's worth asking: Any recording studio footage floating around from the 70s era?

Not that I have seen.

[JJ Smalling II]

Probably unlikely but it's worth asking: Any recording studio footage floating around from the 70s era?

Not that I have seen.

Cool, thanks!

[jetcity]

I do recall Ivan Kral said he recorded about a minute of footage of the band at the New Years' Eve Academy of Music, I wonder if that was found?

Yes, over 20 years ago. The footage was from the Academy of Music but was filmed on January 26, 1974. It is not the best of footage but it does include Paul performing in the bandit makeup which is the only known film/video of Paul in this short-lived makeup design that I am aware of.

We used it to promote KISS Alive Forever at a couple of conventions back then. I thought it circulated but I may be wrong on that point.

That was as great find. Curious if you have any knowledge of what may have been included in that shelved documentary from a few years ago. Any idea if anything special from a "rarity" standpoint would've been featured in that? Still can't believe that one couldn't get released. Would love to interview the director on that story.

That one that was being helmed by Alan Parker (not the same Alan Parker that directed Mississippi Burning and Pink Floyd's The Wall)?

No clue what happened to it. That just fell apart, which isn't an uncommon fate for documentaries.

Frankly, it's remarkable that the A&E doc got to the finish line considering the multiple changes of directions (and directors) it took over the past two-plus years.

[jetcity]

Has anyone online talked about seeing Kiss on those Canadian shows? Is the unseen footage from concerts 8mm or video?

I don't think anyone has surfaced who specifically recalls seeing the KISS episodes of those shows when they were broadcast, but I've interviewed Bob Ezrin who was at the Boogie taping (because he was a guest on the show during a different part of the episode...NOT with KISS whom he did not know at the time), and I've spoken to the cameraman from the Barry Richards Rock 'n' Soul show. I don't believe either Bob or the cameraman saw the broadcasts, but obviously participated in the taping. Bob's only memory was passing KISS in the hallway on his way to the stage, and the cameraman recalled KISS lip-synching at least one song, and scaring the shit out of him with their pyro (because he wasn't warned about it prior to taping).

The footage of the concerts spans multiple platforms: Super8mm, 16mm and videotape.

[Miss Kitty]

This is the first I've heard of a 4 hour A&E show. When is it supposed to be on?

[gothunder]

This is the first I've heard of a 4 hour A&E show. When is it supposed to be on?

I mean 4 hrs??? What hasnt been said already that couldnt be done in 30 min/with commercials?

[redinthesky]

This is the first I've heard of a 4 hour A&E show. When is it supposed to be on?

I mean 4 hrs??? What hasnt been said already that couldnt be done in 30 min/with commercials?

I'd love to be proven wrong and be totally knocked out, but it sounds like a LOT of talking by a bunch of talking heads, including Gene and Paul. Four hours is a lot of time for them to churn out all their usual pearls of wisdom

And to also try to get every musician who is a little bit of a somebody to even say a mere sentence in their favor. It can be a long four hours, or a fast four hours if it's good.

Again I'd love to be wrong and be pleasantly shocked, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[gothunder]

This is the first I've heard of a 4 hour A&E show. When is it supposed to be on?

I mean 4 hrs??? What hasnt been said already that couldnt be done in 30 min/with commercials?

I'd love to be proven wrong and be totally knocked out, but it sounds like a LOT of talking by a bunch of talking heads, including Gene and Paul. Four hours is a lot of time for them to churn out all their usual pearls of wisdom

And to also try to get every musician who is a little bit of a somebody to even say a mere sentence in their favor. It can be a long four hours, or a fast four hours if it's good.

Again I'd love to be wrong and be pleasantly shocked, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

As the hipsters would say, right?

[gothunder]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

[Tito]

[redinthesky]

Definitely a great-looking ad. Damn they looked so badass then. Funny how Kiss is usually associated with glam, but real early on they were a bunch of sleazy subway dudes who looked like they crawled out from under a rock, and I mean that as a compliment.

[Spiritual_Chaos]

Wait. Is Peters pointy black makeup over his eyes suppose to be/reference cat-ears?

[mrmajester]

What I'm really hoping for is some of Lydia's home movie stuff, especially aboard the bullet train in Japan where the band are sans make up, I'd love to see more unmasked footage of them in the '70's, fascinating stuff.

Oh my I'm replying to my own post! Did I get this right then? Or does nobody know?

[Spiritual_Chaos]

I hope this has a great director cracking away Paul and Genes boilerplate snoozefest of regular answers.

[kiss-1976]

What I'm really hoping for is some of Lydia's home movie stuff, especially aboard the bullet train in Japan where the band are sans make up, I'd love to see more unmasked footage of them in the '70's, fascinating stuff.

Oh my I'm replying to my own post! Did I get this right then? Or does nobody know?

I may be wrong but I believe that Lydia's footage was going to be used in the shelved Alan Parker KISS documentary? Who knows if it'll be used in this one? I hope some of it is...

[johnkissfan1974]

This is the first I've heard of a 4 hour A&E show. When is it supposed to be on?

I mean 4 hrs??? What hasnt been said already that couldnt be done in 30 min/with commercials?

I'd love to be proven wrong and be totally knocked out, but it sounds like a LOT of talking by a bunch of talking heads, including Gene and Paul. Four hours is a lot of time for them to churn out all their usual pearls of wisdom

And to also try to get every musician who is a little bit of a somebody to even say a mere sentence in their favor. It can be a long four hours, or a fast four hours if it's good.

Again I'd love to be wrong and be pleasantly shocked, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I agree with this. Again Im expecting to hear a line or two from a song (footage) and then have someone talk over it and cut/end the footage scene. Im concerned there will be too much thrown at you visually that you will have to re-watch it just to understand all the clips bc they are moving so fast and spitting out at like 16 seconds here or 5 seconds there. But I hope im wrong

[mrmajester]

What I'm really hoping for is some of Lydia's home movie stuff, especially aboard the bullet train in Japan where the band are sans make up, I'd love to see more unmasked footage of them in the '70's, fascinating stuff.

Oh my I'm replying to my own post! Did I get this right then? Or does nobody know?

I may be wrong but I believe that Lydia's footage was going to be used in the shelved Alan Parker KISS documentary? Who knows if it'll be used in this one? I hope some of it is...

Thanks.

[rwgriffith]

I am gonna go into watching this with an open mind!

[KiwiKeven1966]

Hopefully we get to see footage of possibly Boogie? Or the Cadillac, MI concert. That would be KILLER. Or better yet...The Barry Richards Rock n Roll Show

• We contacted some crew members of Manfred Mann and Savoy Brown who were at the May 16, 1974 concert that was filmed for the episode and while one of them had a couple of cool photos of KISS and their crew, none of them had any material or information on Tea With Lea.

• And in the cases of the deceased cameraman, we figured out when he died, where he died, what funeral home held the service and contacted them for a copy of the guest registry to see if it clued us into any media-type persons who may be good leads. Yes...we seriously got a funeral registry to find KISS footage.

And we came up empty. The footage is almost certainly gone for good. Still, despite the occasional strike outs, there has been some amazing footage that has been discovered for the A&E doc.

Ah Yes , Leave no grieving family member unacosted ...... people are grieving and have to deal with some clown to see if they are in possession of rare Kiss video footage so they can rush back to their vault and horde !! .... look what I've got and you don't ... There is a word in the english dictionary to describe you : VULTURE .. next time you channel surf and come across a david attenborough documentary , hang around you may see yourself !!!!!!!!

Well, you certainly didn't get cheated on that swing...but you missed the ball by a mile.

First of all, the people who were deceased had died 20-30 years ago. These weren't 'grieving' family members, and we asked the funeral home (not the family) for the registry which, again, was 20+ years old.

Secondly, the families (had we found anything) would have made thousands of dollars in licensing fees should they have chosen to allow any film/tape's inclusion in the documentary.

And the absurd accusation of hoarding falls apart considering that the express purpose of finding this footage was to broadcast it in the A&E documentary, which definitively dismisses your hoarding accusation.

Of Course .. My sincere apologies for being so out of line ... They hand over 30 minutes of footage , you use 20 seconds , pay them a thousand in licensing , you make thousands on your deal and get to stash 29 minutes and 40 seconds of footage . Sounds like EV - BODY WINZ ..... Still smells like a vulture to me

[Spiritual_Chaos]

Hopefully we get to see footage of possibly Boogie? Or the Cadillac, MI concert. That would be KILLER. Or better yet...The Barry Richards Rock n Roll Show

• We contacted some crew members of Manfred Mann and Savoy Brown who were at the May 16, 1974 concert that was filmed for the episode and while one of them had a couple of cool photos of KISS and their crew, none of them had any material or information on Tea With Lea.

• And in the cases of the deceased cameraman, we figured out when he died, where he died, what funeral home held the service and contacted them for a copy of the guest registry to see if it clued us into any media-type persons who may be good leads. Yes...we seriously got a funeral registry to find KISS footage.

And we came up empty. The footage is almost certainly gone for good. Still, despite the occasional strike outs, there has been some amazing footage that has been discovered for the A&E doc.

Ah Yes , Leave no grieving family member unacosted ...... people are grieving and have to deal with some clown to see if they are in possession of rare Kiss video footage so they can rush back to their vault and horde !! .... look what I've got and you don't ... There is a word in the english dictionary to describe you : VULTURE .. next time you channel surf and come across a david attenborough documentary , hang around you may see yourself !!!!!!!!

Well, you certainly didn't get cheated on that swing...but you missed the ball by a mile.

First of all, the people who were deceased had died 20-30 years ago. These weren't 'grieving' family members, and we asked the funeral home (not the family) for the registry which, again, was 20+ years old.

Secondly, the families (had we found anything) would have made thousands of dollars in licensing fees should they have chosen to allow any film/tape's inclusion in the documentary.

And the absurd accusation of hoarding falls apart considering that the express purpose of finding this footage was to broadcast it in the A&E documentary, which definitively dismisses your hoarding accusation.

Of Course .. My sincere apologies for being so out of line ... They hand over 30 minutes of footage , you use 20 seconds , pay them a thousand in licensing , you make thousands on your deal and get to stash 29 minutes and 40 seconds of footage . Sounds like EV - BODY WINZ ..... Still smells like a vulture to me

How is it vulturing looking for old footage for a documentary, and asking relatives of someone who died 20 years ago if they have said footage.

[Demian1977]

Love these types of threads; let’s keep it going!

What fascinates me the most is that after all these decades there is still unseen footage being unearthed. That missing Winnipeg 74 footage is intriguing; kind of reminds me of the Toronto 74 footage that showed up a few years ago. I am really looking forward to seeing the A&E doc now. Not so much for hearing the same expressions over and over from Gene and Paul but more for seeing unseen 70s footage.

[jetcity]

Of Course .. My sincere apologies for being so out of line ... They hand over 30 minutes of footage , you use 20 seconds , pay them a thousand in licensing , you make thousands on your deal and get to stash 29 minutes and 40 seconds of footage . Sounds like EV - BODY WINZ ..... Still smells like a vulture to me

Hi. I'm Jeff Suhs, and you are?

Right now, all I see is someone who created an account for the express purpose of posting drive-by insults. It certainly doesn't further the conversation for anyone here except, I assume, whatever joy you get out of personally attacking me predicated on your baseless set of inaccurate assumptions.

You're anonymous and you're making this personal.

[jetcity]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

[stutterer]

Wow, there's Ace and Peter in the ad. What could it mean???

[redinthesky]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was. I'll be watching, and hopefully not turn it off .

[kiss-1976]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was.

Personally the Vh1 Specials were done fantastically. They included some new footage at the time. This documentary has to make a statement. The reason that the call out went to all collectors and people worldwide was to try and make it just that and not another weak attempt. There will most likely not be another opportunity to make another one.

[kiss-1976]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

Again, thank you Jeff for your input. Your information and discussion is welcome and always add to any thread. Please ignore any negativity and know that there are many posters who enjoy hearing details regarding the vintage KISS Era.

[AstroWarped]

I have a gut feeling I'll be face palming and groaning away at this just like when I first saw, "Kiss Meets the Phantom..." on tv, just because its only Gene and Paul telling the story!

[Marty Scurll]

I do recall Ivan Kral said he recorded about a minute of footage of the band at the New Years' Eve Academy of Music, I wonder if that was found?

Its out there

Anything at all as far as unseen Destroyer,Dynasty or Creatures era footage? Thanks in advance.

Personally speaking - Dynasty and Destroyer yes. Aside for Creatures era news reports and the Rio ‘83 show no .

Cool! Thanks for answering!

[Kissologist]

Yup
Nice ad

[johnkissfan1974]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was.

Personally the Vh1 Specials were done fantastically. They included some new footage at the time. This documentary has to make a statement. The reason that the call out went to all collectors and people worldwide was to try and make it just that and not another weak attempt. There will most likely not be another opportunity to make another one.

Since you pointed out the Kiss Vh1 specials I will tell you how I view them (even today) because they are a great example of the point I am trying to make. Non-stop music with a few seconds of audible speech thrown in behind an already [visually] mish-mosh of previously unreleased footage isn’t exciting to me. I’m either trying to focus on what the hell the person is saying (over the loud music track) or trying to figure out the 10 seconds of footage I’ve never seen before. Something gets lost either visually or audibly and find myself going back to either hear what was said or process the visual I just saw. The overall end result with the Kiss documentaries, for me, comes across as being a half-assed job that was rushed to get out the door. Its not exciting seeing Ace wink at the camera or Gene making the same facial expressions he always have in the first tour costume - regardless if such footage has never been seen before. I’m betting the commercial for this documentary will be a mish-mosh of shit I just described and those that watch will have to watch it again for the simple fact of absorbing what is being said against the music track and the visuals. Its going to move way too fast. If you prove me wrong with what I am saying I will gladly be a man and say I was wrong. I have no problem admitting my mistakes, but if I’m right then you can’t fault me for calling it out.

[tmcfaddin]

Wait. Is Peters pointy black makeup over his eyes suppose to be/reference cat-ears?

[tmcfaddin]

Hopefully we get to see footage of possibly Boogie? Or the Cadillac, MI concert. That would be KILLER. Or better yet...The Barry Richards Rock n Roll Show

Barry Richards, Tea with Lea, and Boogie are not in the A&E documentary. The shows are gone...for good.

The effort (both for the A&E doc and in general over the years) that has gone into searching for those three 1974 appearances is simply staggering. For example, Tea With Lea was a short-lived show in Winnipeg, and on May 25, 1974 KISS appeared on the show. Almost nothing is known about the content of the appearance, but we do know from a statement by a local journalist that the camera crew filmed "hours" of footage at the KISS / Savoy Brown / Manfred Mann concert in Winnipeg on May 16 for the episode.

To try and track that footage down we:

• Attempted to contact the cameraman for the show and the journalist who mentioned the hours of footage, only to find they are long since dead, but we have reached out to their families to see if the tapes were bequeathed to the existing family members.

• We determined the producer of the show is deceased as well.

• We contacted the local historical societies.

• We contacted the station that produced and aired it.

• We figured out who the Warner Bros. rep was at the time (recall Warner were doing the promotion for Casablanca at that point) and tracked him down.

• We contacted some crew members of Manfred Mann and Savoy Brown who were at the May 16, 1974 concert that was filmed for the episode and while one of them had a couple of cool photos of KISS and their crew, none of them had any material or information on Tea With Lea.

• And in the cases of the deceased cameraman, we figured out when he died, where he died, what funeral home held the service and contacted them for a copy of the guest registry to see if it clued us into any media-type persons who may be good leads. Yes...we seriously got a funeral registry to find KISS footage.

And we came up empty. The footage is almost certainly gone for good. Still, despite the occasional strike outs, there has been some amazing footage that has been discovered for the A&E doc.

Ah Yes , Leave no grieving family member unacosted ...... people are grieving and have to deal with some clown to see if they are in possession of rare Kiss video footage so they can rush back to their vault and horde !! .... look what I've got and you don't ... There is a word in the english dictionary to describe you : VULTURE .. next time you channel surf and come across a david attenborough documentary , hang around you may see yourself !!!!!!!!

What a damn moron....

[Lofton23rdSt]

The VH-1 specials aired 15-20 years ago.

[Randall Stevens]

I suspect there will be unseen footage and images throughout. I'm hoping this will be easy to consume post-airing on A&E, like distribution via Amazon Prime or something. Maybe, just maybe, we get the final edition of Kisstory as part of its home release?

Hulu airs all the A&E content. I'm recently using a free trial to catch up on all the stellar biography episodes of various WWE legends. Ill be using a free trial that night as well, albeit with a different email...lol.

[jetcity]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was. I'll be watching, and hopefully not turn it off .

Completely get everyone's built-in skepticism. I don't blame anyone.

Again, I've not seen the doc, and don't know how they've cut the elements together. I do know that there's lots of unseen footage collected for it, and I'm hopeful people don't have their arms crossed and brows furrowed too tightly before even seeing it.

[jetcity]

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was.

Personally the Vh1 Specials were done fantastically. They included some new footage at the time. This documentary has to make a statement. The reason that the call out went to all collectors and people worldwide was to try and make it just that and not another weak attempt. There will most likely not be another opportunity to make another one.

Since you pointed out the Kiss Vh1 specials I will tell you how I view them (even today) because they are a great example of the point I am trying to make. Non-stop music with a few seconds of audible speech thrown in behind an already [visually] mish-mosh of previously unreleased footage isn’t exciting to me. I’m either trying to focus on what the hell the person is saying (over the loud music track) or trying to figure out the 10 seconds of footage I’ve never seen before. Something gets lost either visually or audibly and find myself going back to either hear what was said or process the visual I just saw. The overall end result with the Kiss documentaries, for me, comes across as being a half-assed job that was rushed to get out the door. Its not exciting seeing Ace wink at the camera or Gene making the same facial expressions he always have in the first tour costume - regardless if such footage has never been seen before. I’m betting the commercial for this documentary will be a mish-mosh of shit I just described and those that watch will have to watch it again for the simple fact of absorbing what is being said against the music track and the visuals. Its going to move way too fast. If you prove me wrong with what I am saying I will gladly be a man and say I was wrong. I have no problem admitting my mistakes, but if I’m right then you can’t fault me for calling it out.

I was with you up until the point you brought up the trailer. Comparing the pacing for a documentary with the pacing of a two-minute trailer is a false equivalency, don't you think?

If you want the pacing of the trailer to encapsulate the pacing of the documentary itself, I 100% guarantee you'll be disappointed. The trailer will have much shorter edits than the doc will because it's serving an entirely different purpose.

[jetcity]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

Again, thank you Jeff for your input. Your information and discussion is welcome and always add to any thread. Please ignore any negativity and know that there are many posters who enjoy hearing details regarding the vintage KISS Era.

Sure...glad to share input. The skepticism doesn't bother me because it more or less boils down to each person's subjective experience. I get why someone who's been disappointed in previous documentaries would assume the A&E doc would be more of the same. That type of 'negativity' doesn't distract me in the least.

And as for the occasional personal attacks....those posts are the gestures of cowards and the less said about them, the better.

[johnkissfan1974]

You may be right, but you can't really blame people for being skeptics - so far, there's really no reason to believe that this will be anything better than any other Kiss 'story' we've seen. Doesn't mean it will be "bad," like I said, just gotta wait and see. Even three hours is a very long time, an eternity even, (to me anyway), to see people like "Dave Grohl" ( ) gush about why Kiss is so great and why he loves them. If he and Tom Morello are the "big names", who is gonna pad the remaining time? And johnkissfan1974 above makes a good point about how rare footage may be presented - a brief rare clip with talking and that ends abruptly isn't going to be too exciting.

Again I'm not saying the show will be bad, I'm simply saying it has to be really good, I mean really, really good, to make a casual fan sit through four hours of TV time, let alone a huge Kiss fan sit through it. If it is I'll be the first person to rave about how great the show was.

Personally the Vh1 Specials were done fantastically. They included some new footage at the time. This documentary has to make a statement. The reason that the call out went to all collectors and people worldwide was to try and make it just that and not another weak attempt. There will most likely not be another opportunity to make another one.

Since you pointed out the Kiss Vh1 specials I will tell you how I view them (even today) because they are a great example of the point I am trying to make. Non-stop music with a few seconds of audible speech thrown in behind an already [visually] mish-mosh of previously unreleased footage isn’t exciting to me. I’m either trying to focus on what the hell the person is saying (over the loud music track) or trying to figure out the 10 seconds of footage I’ve never seen before. Something gets lost either visually or audibly and find myself going back to either hear what was said or process the visual I just saw. The overall end result with the Kiss documentaries, for me, comes across as being a half-assed job that was rushed to get out the door. Its not exciting seeing Ace wink at the camera or Gene making the same facial expressions he always have in the first tour costume - regardless if such footage has never been seen before. I’m betting the commercial for this documentary will be a mish-mosh of shit I just described and those that watch will have to watch it again for the simple fact of absorbing what is being said against the music track and the visuals. Its going to move way too fast. If you prove me wrong with what I am saying I will gladly be a man and say I was wrong. I have no problem admitting my mistakes, but if I’m right then you can’t fault me for calling it out.

I was with you up until the point you brought up the trailer. Comparing the pacing for a documentary with the pacing of a two-minute trailer is a false equivalency, don't you think?

If you want the pacing of the trailer to encapsulate the pacing of the documentary itself, I 100% guarantee you'll be disappointed. The trailer will have much shorter edits than the doc will because it's serving an entirely different purpose.

I was comparing the two as both being similar in style which is rush - fast - alot of information thrown all together. I understand th doc would have (should have) longer clips than the commercial spot for it. Again, If I am wrong I am making the promise of posting my apology on this board for everyone to see. It is not me being a pr-ck but bc I am a man of my word and I admit when I am wrong about something and own it. I give my word on this - if I am wrong I will say so. If I am right I will try not to post any comments that sound like I am rubbing it in bc again that would be a dick thing to do also. With that being said lets wait until the doc premiers and I have had a chance to watch it. As odd as this may sound I am hopeful to be wrong bc like so many others here, I love watching previously unseen footage. I just dont want it thrown all together in second segments. I want to enjoy it!

[razor]

4hrs???? Really though? What am i missing here jetcity??

I'm not sure you're missing anything. Look at it this way: with commercials, we're looking at roughly 3 hours of content, which seems about right to cover, with some depth, 50-ish years of KISS's history.

Everyone here on the FAQ is an expert when it comes to KISS's story, which makes surprising us with new facts/footage/etc. difficult. Happily, the filmmakers have made a huge effort to appeal to both an undoctrinated audience and to us experts who live and breathe for 'new' footage and stories. With that said, I would encourage everyone to do their level-best to go into watching this documentary with something like this mindset:

'OK, I already know the majority of this story. That's cool. But can this film surprise me? Can it capture what KISS was? Can it use all its elements, its interviews, its photos, its music, its live footage (the familiar stuff AND the rare/unseen) and tell the KISS story? But most importantly, can it make me remember why I got hooked on this band in the first place?'

If we can all park our completely understandable skepticism at the door for a few hours, I think we'll all find a lot to enjoy about this documentary.

Again, thank you Jeff for your input. Your information and discussion is welcome and always add to any thread. Please ignore any negativity and know that there are many posters who enjoy hearing details regarding the vintage KISS Era.

well said kiss-1976 its i love hearing this sort of info etc

[redinthesky]

Completely get everyone's built-in skepticism. I don't blame anyone.

Again, I've not seen the doc, and don't know how they've cut the elements together. I do know that there's lots of unseen footage collected for it, and I'm hopeful people don't have their arms crossed and brows furrowed too tightly before even seeing it.

I do plan a major snackage preparation for part 1 at least. Pizza, chocolate of some sort, ice cream, I'm going all out. It better be worth it!

[Strutterer]

I suspect there will be unseen footage and images throughout. I'm hoping this will be easy to consume post-airing on A&E, like distribution via Amazon Prime or something. Maybe, just maybe, we get the final edition of Kisstory as part of its home release?

Hulu airs all the A&E content. I'm recently using a free trial to catch up on all the stellar biography episodes of various WWE legends. Ill be using a free trial that night as well, albeit with a different email...lol.

Thanks for the tip!

[rocknrollallnight]

Hopefully we get to see footage of possibly Boogie? Or the Cadillac, MI concert. That would be KILLER. Or better yet...The Barry Richards Rock n Roll Show

Hoping for Cobo 1975.

What's the Barry Richards Rock n Roll Show, and when was KISS on it? What's Boogie? Been around here a long time and it's the first I recall these two things being mentioned.

I think Boogie was a show from Canada, Kiss were on it in 1974.

[razor]

is their anything new from aussie/ european tour 80 ?

[kiss-1976]

is their anything new from aussie/ european tour 80 ?

I'm sure that there will be something regarding the 1980 tour but no one would know at least until it's shown at the film festival I guess.