KISS Unmasking on MTV - 09/18/83 

I'm 71 yrs old, and I still want my MTV.

I remember watching this on MTV , I'm 60 now, god this memory makes me feel old.

When MTV was about Music.

This is when MTV WAS Great back in the 80’s

It was a radical move by Kiss, and what we didn't understand at the time this was the second great era for Kiss. Once that makeup was removed the song writing on the no makeup albums was amazing. It's also the peak vocal period for Paul Stanley. Kiss's live shows in the mid to late 80's had the band performing with a new up tempo sound. Add to that the changing lead guitar until Bruce Kulick stabilized the position. Maybe Gene struggled the most without makeup, he sometimes looked lost stripped of his wings not playing the demon

i was 17years old when this first aired on MTV my mom let me stay up late to watch this ❤

What's amazing about this is that this was like an earth shattering event when it happened. It was huge news and people were actually interested.

After a long day I love to come home and smoke a little weed in order Chinese food to be delivered and watch this kind of stuff for the evening before I go to bed it just gives me back to the child mentality

I remember watching this live at 11 years old. I had Kiss lunchbox

Had just started 8th grade.. AMAZING TIMES to be a young teen!

JJ Jackson is a legend. I used to listen to him all the time on the rsdio when i was a teenager.

God what a memory. I was just a kid and this was such a huge moment. Good times.

The 60-70s was the best time to be a teen/young adult and catch the best music made! Love to KISS💋🤘🔥

I'm 59 and it was a blast growing up when I did,. Parents hated kiss so I plastered my room in posters.

As a little kid I wanted to see their faces. Huge fan. To this day it is one of my favorite KISS moments. Ditch the makeup and prove people like your music and not just the makeup. The mystique was gone on the Reunion Tour. It wasn’t the same as having no idea what they looked like without makeup.

I'll never forget taking Lick It Up home and hearing Exciter for the first time.

I love KISS. Always have since the 70’s. 🖤💋

Wow it was cool hearing Peter Criss singing in Rock n Roll All Nite

Wow these guys rocked my world xxx kiss I love you

Growing up with MTV was great in the 80s

The great J.J. Jackson, one of the first Video jocks on MTV.

I remember this. I was 12.

It's Wild that they were only around for ten years at that point

He said “After TEN years together..”. They were just getting started at that point.😂

Im not American but I had a 15 yr old friend who worshipped KISS & proudly owned all their albums. KISS were still big stars back in 83 so I imagine this public unmasking was a national KISS PR event back then...

I saw them in Portland, Maine January 21st, 1983, WITH MAKEUP 😊

Eric sounded like an Aussie there when he said 'Magic, mate' after the 'Lick It Up' snippet we never got to seen. The truth is, I was a hardcore kiss fan at the age of 11 in Australia. Dynasty being my first cassette. But I knew what the guys looked like long before they went unmasked in '83. I used to buy tabloid magazines with photos of them proclaiming 'Kiss Unmasked'. And it was all true. My all-time favorite was one of Paul Stanley staring at the camera like a deer caught in headlights... The funny thing is, even after being at their very first Australian concert in 1980, I never really followed them forward after the Unmasked album. Instead buying their earlier albums back to their genesis and loving it. But being my first, Dynasty is my favorite. It was like a drug to me and still is...

Who doesn`t wanna rock in roll all day and party 😁😁🥰. They will be missed but was so so good

Funny, that before the unmasking they showed older footage before Vinnie or Eric were even with the band.

You just had to be there in the 70's to understand the craze that was known as KISS. Everybody in our school talked about them; played their music on portable cassette players in the hallways etc etc

Damn…Peter’s voice is so friggin’ good on RnRAN!

Vinny is easy to recognize out of makeup.

Vinnie Vincent: Ace's Mini Me!

This was big back then.

Cool - I dont think I've ever seen the entire video! Thank you!

I remember Peter Criss being on the Tomorrow Show without his makeup a few years before this reveal.

I remember this, I was 12 at the time. and I remember the Mad Magazine spoof that came out later that month.

Great interview. I love the vibe of the host.

In 1982 there was a Kissmania here in Brazil, I was 8 years old and I got Creatures of the Night for my birthday, still my favorite to this day!

I never really got into their music, but there’s no denying their showmanship.

I'm in Canada we never got MTV here and Much Music was a year away but we had The New Music a long running music show even before MTV. I'm from a small town but even here and me being age 14 I remember hearing about this major event.

Even as a kid, this was incredibly anticlimactic

Weird. Looking at the original air date ? I realise that I was 2 weeks into my freshman year at high school.....and high. 🚬😎👍

Fantastic. Never saw this. Thank you!

I remember watching this at 6 years old! Tattooed on my brain. Seemed so weird, but natural.

I was 10. I remember watching this. Crazy

I liked the unmasked Era and I'll bodly say musically this was there best.

Kiss kicked ass so hard in the 70s✌️

I remember seeing this when it came out

After Mother died, my 12 year old sister went KISS freak. Dad said that she could have all the records and pictures she wanted,as long as she kept the sound low and everything in her room with he door shut, so,he wouldnt have to look at them or listen to him.

i was 13 in '83.....long time ago

I watched this live and it was very interesting. They showed the world premiere of the Lick it up video and wasnt a fan. No guitar solo? Well the song and the album grew on me years later.

I first saw Kiss live after unmasking. Then again when they remasked! They stayed relevant in the era of "reunion tours" because they gave 110% on stage and earned every penny. The last live show I attended was with the original lineup back together masked. It was almost unbelievable to be there and it completely rocked. Before the internet, most people didn't know about internal conflict among the members. We just enjoyed the show, leaving happy, drunk, and deaf for a day or two.

Peter Criss' harmony vocals on the choruses starting at 0:40 are absolute fire 🔥

I was just 10 years old in 1983., I only knew of kiss, because my aunt who used to live upstairs in my grandmothers apartment when she got married and moved away I kind of took over her room, and she had a dresser and inside that dresser had a round sticker with kiss on it and I remember saying wow as a young kid it just looks so cool but I have to say I was never much of a kids fan and I do like a lot of 70s and 80s music but their music wasn’t something that I would listen to but I did record that last concert in Madison Square Garden a few nights ago just so I could have it, and I did listen to a few songs that I actually liked. It’s an end of an era. At least they are still alive and kicking so many people from that time or not even around anymore.

Ahhhh. Good ole Reliable BETAMAX BABY 😁👍🏻👍🏻

I remember this.

G'day! I was 11 years old in 1980 and obsessed with Kiss. Moved to Malaysia that year and was totally cut off due to the cultural reasons and censorship, but still played my cassettes and did the air guitar. Moved back to Australia aged 14, and saw non makeup interviews and it blew my mind. I was so shocked as it was just not ever a thing before we moved for a few years. It was like one of the biggest mysteries of the world had just been revealed to me.

I saw KISS at the Morumbi Stadium few months before they change the visual.. They were the kings of the marketing in rock industry

I was 16 when this aired, and I remember when I saw this, I immediately fell for Gene. It was the eyes. 👀 🥹🥰😁

Love the 76 footage

I always thought the song said "I want to rock and roll all night, and part of the day".

This was 41 years ago!

The funny thing is that word is Simmons and Stanley were irritated because it didn't have the shock value they were looking for. Reason was without Ace & Peter at the unveiling Carr and Vincent just didn't matter. 😂

I was in 7th grade watching that with my friend Acey Baynes !

I remember watching this as a little 12 year old boy 😂

Time flys by too quick

Nawww Eric Was so cute😭🌷

People have to remember there was no social media or computers or cell phones back then so it wasn’t like there was a tons of leaked videos of KISS without their make up this was truly an unmasking at the time.

Wow, Gene's son looks exactly like him!!! Handsome!!

Man wouldn't it have been cool if the original band stayed together their whole career and never took the makeup off?

you see Gene here and can see how much his son looks like him

RIP JJ Jackson. Been gone nearly 20 years

I remember my sis called me up to let me know this was being televised on TV. I wasn't really wanting to even see them then without makeup, it to me wasn't a big deal. It was their second coming!

12:50 that kiss make out scene came out of nowhere at the end of Lick It Up song vid lmhdo

gene said it's their 18th record.. in 10 years 😳😳😳 this is 1983!!! 🤯🤯🤯

I remember watching kiss and the phantom of the park thinking it was the coolest thing ever they kept their mojo in that little coffee table.. and a friend of mine had the comic book that was written with their blood...

People don't seem to be very fond of this era in KISStory (I see fans trash it often in comments), but I truly enjoy it. Obviously Eric Carr is awesome, and I really dig Vinnie Vincent's style. The 80s was definitely a departure from their 70s stuff, but it works for the era.

I use to see them around everywhere growing up in the Hollywood area in L.A.before they took off the makeup when I were about 12 years old.

Paul Stanley 🔥❤️

My older sister loves KISS. My parents took her to a concert in the 70s when she was around 12 yrs old. If you knew my parents you’d recognize that was a major cultural/parental sacrifice on their part. They were more the George & Tammy - Tanya Tucker - Statler Brothers type. Apparently the concert was extremely loud. They still talk about how my dad went to the concessions to try to buy himself some earplugs.

Its kinda like you can't wait till your 21 so you can drink at a bar then you turn 21 and its no big deal 😂

My first painting was a watercolor painting of kiss... I did not like the makeup going away, but... in retrospect it made it cool when they put it back on.

I remember seeing this for the first time back in the day and when LIck it Up came out #kissrules

I remember them with the makeup when I was a preschooler. Then they took the makeup off when I was in elementary school. Now that I’m older, they put the makeup back on.

Wow this was 10 days after my bday

KISS never started the make up. Bands in the 60s started it, Alice Cooper brought it to a higher level and yes KISS went full out.

There were several groups that either had make up on or put random art work on the album cover (Steely Dan being one). Never knew what they really looked like until MTV started showing music videos.

Surely they never thought after 10 years, that they have 40 years further years band history.

3 months later as a senior in high school, I went to see them in concert. My first concert, at the Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. Then I saw them again in 2005. After they had put their makeup back on. At the exact same venue, the Coliseum in Jacksonville.😊

At 6:55, you can see Gene notice a cute studio intern off camera.

I think they realized that different characters in different makeup just wasn't working and they wanted to rebrand.

Just not kiss without Peter and ace, thank goodness I saw them in 1976 and 1978. All original band members.

Hey bro, how can I get a DVD copy of this?

Poor Vinnie, he just doesn’t fit the part, and gets slammed by Eric on his first comment 😂

KISS LIVE

what was the side comment Stanley made when Gene was talking about tshirts girls made?

I always liked Peter Criss Cat Man. 😭

The announcer looks like Gene in later years. I was thinking maybe it was him at first.

I was so bummed out when i watched this and found out that wasn't their real faces, I've never been the same, you just don't do that to a youngster .