KISS Shocked The World And Unmasked On MTV  On This Day In 1983:

An unthinkable event in Kiss-story took place: the world’s most famous masked band removed their makeup and revealed their true faces.

The 'stunt' came at a critical time for the band, as sales were declining and interest had dwindled.  After the unmasking on MTV, they released Lick It Up to stellar sales and packed concert halls.  The album later went platinum, their first since 1979's Dynasty.  Gene Simmons later revealed in his book Kiss and Make-up that Paul Stanley, the other founding member, convinced him it was time for a 'big' change for their 11th studio album.

“‘Let’s prove something to the fans,’ Paul said, ‘Let’s go and be a real band without makeup.’ I reluctantly agreed. I didn’t know if it was going to work, but I heard what Paul was saying – there was nowhere else for us to go. We did a photo session just to see what it would look like. We looked straight into the camera lens. We were defiant. I made one small concession to the fans: I stuck out my tongue, to try to keep something that connected us with the past.”

 

Up until this time, the band had never before been seen without their traditional makeup.  Bodyguards were instructed to obtain any photos that press, or anyone else, snapped of them.  Although they had been captured au natural in the 70's by Creem Magazine (below).

The successful trend would continue for KISS with consequent releases Animalize (1984), which would have the massive hit “Heaven’s On Fire”, and Asylum (1985). 1987’s Crazy Nights would also do well, but significantly explode successfully in the UK and in Japan. While the Eighties never saw KISS reach the pinnacle they’d touched in 1977 and 1978, the decision to remove the make-up in 1983 provided them with enough direction and success to continue forward. If they had decided to leave the make-up on at the time, it may have been the conclusion of the band at that time.