10 Greatest Hard Rock Frontmen Of The '70s

Once the psychedelic movement started to die after the events of Altamont, the new wave of rock music was making for acts that were a lot prettier than you may have expected. Starting with David Bowie and T. Rex, the glam rock movement gave way to bands brandishing loud riffs, glittering guitars, and a whole lot of makeup to go around. Compared to KISS though, the other glam rockers looked like outright posers.

Rather than go in the direction of someone like the New York Dolls, Paul Stanley had the idea of making a band completely covered in makeup to give a bit more of a theatrical element to the music. Whereas each respective member of KISS had their own personality, it was Stanley who really functioned as the ringleader whenever they took to the stage.

Across every minute of their live album Alive!, Stanley practically rewrites the handbook on how to control an audience, with a voice that fits somewhere between a rock star, a game show host, and an evangelical preacher trying to convert everyone in his congregation to the holy church of rock and roll. Then again, when you have the ability to keep the audience in the palm of your hand, you can make a believer out of pretty much anybody.