Kiss appeared without make-up officially for the first time for the general
public on MTV on Sept 1983 at 11:00 PM after a Van Halen documentary rerun,
where their 'Lick it Up' video was also premiered. Apparently at the time
MTV felt that KISS was no longer relevant. Little did they know...
A caption in a 1983 issue of Cream Magazine under the first officially
released photo of Kiss without makeup stated, "AT LAST! KISS without their
makeup on! OR: If we don't care, why should you?"
Rick Derringer played the lead guitar parts on 'Exciter.' Derringer also appeared
on the KISS track, 'All-American Man' from Alive II.
Lick It Up' reached # 24 on Billboard's album chart--their highest since 1979's
'Dynasty.'
Vinnie Vincent, who was very unhappy being a member of KISS, believing that
the band was holding him back. He would often run his solos overtime during
concerts to tick off Paul and Gene in hope that the fans' positive response
to his solos would show the reigning members of KISS what they were missing.
By mid-March 1984, Vinnie Vincent was out of KISS, having never signed a legal
contract to be a permanent part of the band. Before he left, Vinnie had worked
on 3 songs that were slated to appear on 'Animalize'; Animal, Twisted, and
I Wanna Be Your Victim. Instead, they showed up on the first Vinnie
Vincent Invasion album in 1986.
'And On The 8th Day' was a song originally written by Vinnie and called
'Boyz Are Gonna Rock.' Vinnie
re-recorded the song for his first solo album.
Despite the mutual parting of Vinnie and the band after the tour for 'Lick
It Up,' Paul and Gene still asked Vinnie to come up with some songs for the
next studio album. Vinnie came up with 'Animal,' 'Twisted' and
'I Wanna Be Your Victim,' all of which saw release on Vinnie's first
solo disc rather than on Kiss' 'Animalize.' Vinnie Vincent later co-wrote
Unholy, Heart of Chrome, and I Just Wanna for Kiss' 'Revenge'
album.
