Though it's hard to imagine those nice Jewish boys from New York City with the black and white face paint and giant tongues without their makeup now, the members of Kiss once went 13 years without their "costumes." To drive up enthusiasm for their 1983 album Lick It Up, the Starchild & Co. held a press conference on MTV, where they appeared in public without their makeup for the first time. This lasted until 1996, when Tupac Shakur introduced the group, in full Love Gun attire, at the 38th annual Grammy Awards in 1996. Crazy nights, indeed.
Today is the anniversary of Kiss' resurrection, and in honor, we thought we'd take a look at 10 famous bands, including Gwar and Slipknot, with and without their masks. It's not hard to imagine why they decided to cover up.
With:
Without:
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/679/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/kiss-beth-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/01/gene-150x123.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/10/petercriss-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/08/Picture-111-150x150.png)
Paul Gray from Slipknot should show a skull since he died a few years back.
Gene Simmons has the most punchable face in rock ‘n roll.
For $500.00 you can order your very own “Punch the Demon” bop-it bag from kissarmy.com. ORDER NOW
wow the dude from ghost looks so much differnt without the evil pope get up
Damn white people you scary!
No!
He took a pallid mask and he glued it to his face. It gave him the temerity to join the human race. He stood like great Ulysses with guitar in his hand. Pledging to deflate the cynical that plagued the glory land.
Buckethead.
The illusion is shattered. Shattered!
What, no love for Hollywood Undead?
/Yes I know they perform most of their show without the masks on.
that’s not even the same Kiss dudes. The makeup picture is the original line up; the non-amde up has Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent (or some form of replacement) rather than Ace and Peter.
@Eric123 you’re actually wrong, too. The makeup picture is Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, the current lineup. The non-made up picture does indeed include Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr, though.
The made-down (?) KISS looks like a collection of my Jewish friend’s aunts. Slipknot contains every sort of white dude that I would imagine is in Slipknot.
What?!? No Insane Clown Posse. Ass Dan is spinning in his grave.
mushroomhead doesn’t get as much love as they should
I agree. I was a big fan way back when, and I always thought they would have been a much bigger band if they had ditched the costume act. Then again, the costume act is the sole reason some people know them.
Also, one of my best friends is still a massive Slipknot fan. It makes me a sad panda.
Of all the gimmicky nu-metal bands with facepaint and/or masks (Slipknot, Mudvayne, I’m sure I’m forgetting others), Mushroomhead were the least terrible, but to me they are still a reminder of how god awful “metal” from 2000-2003 really was.
Not sure the last guy is wearing a mask.
I have such a soft spot for Slipknot. They’re terrible but I love them
Also, wasn’t expecting Buckethead to look anything like that
slipknot is scarier with their masks off