Good one! I'll have to hide that stuff when you come over.
I always felt in some ways that the over the top theatrical way they went into rock took away from the real recognition they deserverd as some of the best straight rock I have ever heard. When I wrote my post I was basing it on Keithie's examples with Manilow and Motorhead. Having lived in NY state for a good part of my life, I always sensed that the rock music gods had this sense of disdain for Kiss and that they were not considered a "real" band worth of the company of say Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple or any of the mainstream hardrock bands. I've seen many cases where someone said, oh you like them with eyes rolling up or nose snub. To this day I never hear any classic rock station play Kiss. And yet when the circus comes to town it is always sold out. Go figure.