How Kiss made millions from ‘air guitar strings’

Of course, for Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, it’s always been about the money. When it comes to selling the sizzle rather than the steak, the pair’s business acumen borders on genius. In the 15 years that followed a hastily rescinded retirement in 2001 – don’t ask: Kiss have come back from the dead more times than Boris Karloff – the band grossed more than $500 million from merchandise sales alone. They didn’t stop at cotton, either. For a group who would stick their logo on an air ambulance if it flew past low enough, the possibilities were endless. 

Since forming in New York City, in 1973, Kiss have licensed their name to more than 5,000 products. We’ve had Kiss condoms, action figures, comic books, cartoons, credit cards, board games, pinball machines, branded coffee (“Koffee”), memorial prayer cards, pet-cremation urns, and more. At the start of the century, prospective customers with an eye for long-term eventualities were even able to buy coffins emblazoned with the group’s name (”Kiss Kaskets”, they were called) for a mere $4,500. Brothers Vinnie and Darryl “Dimebag” Abbott, from the Texan metal band Pantera, did just that, and were duly buried in them. (Alas, this most tasteful item has since been discontinued.) 

If I had to choose, though, I think my favourite product from a band never knowingly oversold was a line of “air-guitar strings” that was in fact an empty packet of clear plastic beneath a cardboard strip bearing – but, of course – the Kiss logo. A price-tag of $4.99 meant the product was seen as a good-natured joke rather than a rip-off. In the run up to Christmas in 2017, the band are said to have made a fortune from this one item alone.