Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
It’s 1987 again. You’ve just ditched class, you’re on a thrift-store couch with your friends, and someone asks, “Is KISS that band with the makeup?” In this episode, Robert John Hadfield and author Shelle Crow crack open a beat-up issue of Metal Edge and fall down a rabbit hole of KISS history, VHS tapes, monkeys, and what it actually takes to stay creative over decades.
They read through a vintage Paul Stanley interview about the Kiss Exposed video, retrace the band’s insane five-year run of albums, movies, and merch, and talk about how overexposure, lineup changes, and an act-of-desperation unmasking almost killed KISS. Along the way, they pull in Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Prince, and why too much studio time can actually ruin a band.
And because it’s Robert and Shelle, the conversation keeps widening: from Home Depot KISS encounters to wild monkey stories in Thailand, to the real-life parallels between rock bands and writing books, deadlines, perfectionism, and relationships. They wrap up with Shelle’s work as a relationship author and their ongoing series Communicating With Men—for anyone trying to keep love, creativity, and life from “phoning it in.”
⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – 1987 flashback & “Is KISS that band?”
01:15 – Meet Shelle & the beat-up Metal Edge issue
02:30 – Which one is Paul Stanley? The Star Child
03:30 – Ace Frehley & Peter Criss are gone
04:30 – “Didn’t they never take off the makeup?”
05:20 – The desperate unmasking: Lick It Up era
07:00 – KISS overexposed: the five-year whirlwind
08:10 – Albums, solo records, movie & non-stop merch
09:40 – Lunch boxes, makeup kits & Halloween costumes
11:00 – The public gets tired: Unmasked & Music From The Elder
12:30 – Creatures of the Night & Ace on the cover (but not on the album)
13:40 – Only two original members left… and nobody cares
15:00 – MTV unmasks KISS & how Lick It Up saved them
16:30 – Losing the kids, competing with Iron Maiden & Van Halen
18:00 – KISS vs. the bands they influenced
19:10 – Setting up the Metal Edge Paul Stanley interview
20:00 – Kiss Exposed: live footage, rockets & fire-breathing
21:20 – 146,000 fans in Brazil & how big KISS really was
22:10 – Home Depot story: young clerks who’ve never heard KISS
23:40 – How quickly giants get forgotten over generations
25:00 – VHS culture: buying band tapes before the internet
26:15 – Playboy centerfolds, Shannon Tweed & the famous chimp
27:40 – Real monkey trouble: Thailand’s Tiger Temple story
29:15 – Monkeys as tiny humans plotting theft
30:10 – Video shoot chaos & Chanel No. 5
31:00 – Paul’s favorite KISS videos (Heaven’s on Fire, Tears Are Falling)
32:10 – Why KISS videos were weirdly bad despite perfect visuals
33:30 – Acting ambitions, Phantom of the Opera & saying no to bad projects
35:00 – Gene producing other bands & Paul eyeing similar paths
36:30 – KISS still “successful” but a shadow of their 70s dominance
38:00 – Writing non-stop, co-writers & building the next record
39:15 – 1986: the first year with no new KISS album
40:00 – Too much time ruins records: constraint vs. perfection
41:40 – Black Sabbath’s debut in one day vs. later “phoned-in” albums
43:10 – Deadlines, books & why constraints make art better
44:20 – The 98% vs. the last impossible 2% of perfection
45:30 – KISS’s 5-year blitz powered by schedules & urgency
47:00 – Van Halen’s home studio & the danger of “no constraints”
48:15 – Producers as coaches: objectivity, song choices & saying “no”
49:30 – Upcoming album, timing, and making fans “hungry” again
50:30 – Topping each tour & believing in the magic
51:30 – Keeping the voice & body in shape (and chasing women)
52:40 – Relationships, rock star life & secure partners
54:00 – What Paul finds sexy: more than just looks
55:00 – Brains, humor & wanting one right person
56:00 – Gene vs. Paul: workaholic vs. selective
57:20 – Gene’s distractions & Paul carrying the band
58:15 – 5150, Van Halen & possible songwriting collabs
59:00 – Favorite KISS albums & why he doesn’t live in a KISS museum
1:00:10 – Gene buying his own albums in disguise
1:01:00 – Popcorn dinners & Paul’s early “non-chef” life
1:02:00 – Smartest move: following instincts vs. safe careers
1:03:10 – Could you do anything else? “There is nothing else.”
1:04:10 – Knowing when to stop & the never-ending “final” tour
1:05:30 – Old-school mail-in contests & VHS vs. streaming
1:06:30 – Shelle’s intro: relationship author & Communicating With Men
1:07:30 – Why relationships, deadlines & rock history all overlap
1:08:30 – Where to find Shelle’s books & closing call-to-action
It’s 1987 again. You’ve just ditched class, you’re on a thrift-store couch with your friends, and someone asks, “Is KISS that band with the makeup?” In this episode, Robert John Hadfield and author Shelle Crow crack open a beat-up issue of Metal Edge and fall down a rabbit hole of KISS history, VHS tapes, monkeys, and what it actually takes to stay creative over decades.
They read through a vintage Paul Stanley interview about the Kiss Exposed video, retrace the band’s insane five-year run of albums, movies, and merch, and talk about how overexposure, lineup changes, and an act-of-desperation unmasking almost killed KISS. Along the way, they pull in Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Prince, and why too much studio time can actually ruin a band.
And because it’s Robert and Shelle, the conversation keeps widening: from Home Depot KISS encounters to wild monkey stories in Thailand, to the real-life parallels between rock bands and writing books, deadlines, perfectionism, and relationships. They wrap up with Shelle’s work as a relationship author and their ongoing series Communicating With Men—for anyone trying to keep love, creativity, and life from “phoning it in.”
⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – 1987 flashback & “Is KISS that band?”
01:15 – Meet Shelle & the beat-up Metal Edge issue
02:30 – Which one is Paul Stanley? The Star Child
03:30 – Ace Frehley & Peter Criss are gone
04:30 – “Didn’t they never take off the makeup?”
05:20 – The desperate unmasking: Lick It Up era
07:00 – KISS overexposed: the five-year whirlwind
08:10 – Albums, solo records, movie & non-stop merch
09:40 – Lunch boxes, makeup kits & Halloween costumes
11:00 – The public gets tired: Unmasked & Music From The Elder
12:30 – Creatures of the Night & Ace on the cover (but not on the album)
13:40 – Only two original members left… and nobody cares
15:00 – MTV unmasks KISS & how Lick It Up saved them
16:30 – Losing the kids, competing with Iron Maiden & Van Halen
18:00 – KISS vs. the bands they influenced
19:10 – Setting up the Metal Edge Paul Stanley interview
20:00 – Kiss Exposed: live footage, rockets & fire-breathing
21:20 – 146,000 fans in Brazil & how big KISS really was
22:10 – Home Depot story: young clerks who’ve never heard KISS
23:40 – How quickly giants get forgotten over generations
25:00 – VHS culture: buying band tapes before the internet
26:15 – Playboy centerfolds, Shannon Tweed & the famous chimp
27:40 – Real monkey trouble: Thailand’s Tiger Temple story
29:15 – Monkeys as tiny humans plotting theft
30:10 – Video shoot chaos & Chanel No. 5
31:00 – Paul’s favorite KISS videos (Heaven’s on Fire, Tears Are Falling)
32:10 – Why KISS videos were weirdly bad despite perfect visuals
33:30 – Acting ambitions, Phantom of the Opera & saying no to bad projects
35:00 – Gene producing other bands & Paul eyeing similar paths
36:30 – KISS still “successful” but a shadow of their 70s dominance
38:00 – Writing non-stop, co-writers & building the next record
39:15 – 1986: the first year with no new KISS album
40:00 – Too much time ruins records: constraint vs. perfection
41:40 – Black Sabbath’s debut in one day vs. later “phoned-in” albums
43:10 – Deadlines, books & why constraints make art better
44:20 – The 98% vs. the last impossible 2% of perfection
45:30 – KISS’s 5-year blitz powered by schedules & urgency
47:00 – Van Halen’s home studio & the danger of “no constraints”
48:15 – Producers as coaches: objectivity, song choices & saying “no”
49:30 – Upcoming album, timing, and making fans “hungry” again
50:30 – Topping each tour & believing in the magic
51:30 – Keeping the voice & body in shape (and chasing women)
52:40 – Relationships, rock star life & secure partners
54:00 – What Paul finds sexy: more than just looks
55:00 – Brains, humor & wanting one right person
56:00 – Gene vs. Paul: workaholic vs. selective
57:20 – Gene’s distractions & Paul carrying the band
58:15 – 5150, Van Halen & possible songwriting collabs
59:00 – Favorite KISS albums & why he doesn’t live in a KISS museum
1:00:10 – Gene buying his own albums in disguise
1:01:00 – Popcorn dinners & Paul’s early “non-chef” life
1:02:00 – Smartest move: following instincts vs. safe careers
1:03:10 – Could you do anything else? “There is nothing else.”
1:04:10 – Knowing when to stop & the never-ending “final” tour
1:05:30 – Old-school mail-in contests & VHS vs. streaming
1:06:30 – Shelle’s intro: relationship author & Communicating With Men
1:07:30 – Why relationships, deadlines & rock history all overlap
1:08:30 – Where to find Shelle’s books & closing call-to-action
