KISS Has Retired: Here Is What’s Next For Metal Music

KISS’s long and storied career has finally come to a climactic close, ending after their last ever live concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. But the immortal rock legends had a secret way to cement their immortality in mind for fans, as once the band members left the stage holograms of each of them appeared and launched into a performance of “God Gave Rock and Roll to You.” But as amazing as it was, the holographic appearance left more questions than answers behind.

So, in this article, we’ll give a small synopsis of their final concert, try to dissect what could be next for KISS, and discuss the role of technology and avatars in music.

KISS’s Retirement, For Real This Time

Look, KISS has said they’ve done more than once in the past. In 2000, the band embarked on a yearlong Farewell Tour that didn’t actually send the rock gods into the sunset permanently. It’s pretty common for artists to feel like they’re ready to call it quits, only to return a short time later. David Bowie and Phil Collins are two other names that come to mind who made major comebacks. But while you should take any musician’s retirement announcement with a grain of salt, this one for KISS seems to be the real deal. Simmons is currently 74 and stomping around in platform heels in a forty-pound costume is bound to be impossible pretty soon.

Their final tour culminated with a concert at Madison Square Garden that brought the house down in a way only KISS could pull off. Gouts of fire, blood shooting everywhere, and just enough rock and roll energy to make the audience believe the legends will never die. The band walked off the stage and it was revealed that holograms of them had been created in the form of Demon, Starchild, Catman, and Spaceman. While their musical legacy will always remain intact, this seems to be the way the group will live long beyond the time when their physical bodies are no longer with us. But what does that mean for the KISS Army and fans in the future?

Will KISS Ever Perform Again? 

KISS’s avatars were brought to the brainstorming board by Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, the same group that made headlines with hologram shows of Abba depicting the band in their 1979 forms. The holograms were brought to life by the company Industrial Light & Magic, a special effects group backed by George Lucas. The goal is to freeze KISS in time, forever allowing their peak forms to perform on the main stage. But it’s a bit deeper than just being able to have a concert tour for the digital versions of KISS.

The creation of the holograms was the first time a US band had become a permanently licensed version of intellectual property. To simplify those terms, it’s the first time a US band has been digitally created as something that can be licensed or generate revenue and is protected by copyright. This essentially allows this version of KISS to perform concerts anywhere in the multiverse, from physical concert venues to the digital space. These shows can come simultaneously across locations without any effort either, allowing them to host a synchronized worldwide concert across multiple major cities.

As the ABBA holograms proved, this can be a lucrative endeavour. But that doesn’t mean they have to just stop at concerts.

KISS can license the avatars for all manner of uses. It wouldn’t be a big surprise to see them showing up as skins in video games soon or avatars for Virtual Reality software. This can be taken a step further with the use of AI, though, to pretty deep levels.

While the band won’t be returning to the stage in physical form anytime soon and might not handle recording sessions well due to age, that doesn’t mean their catalog of music can’t continue to expand. Anyone online in the last year has seen videos of AI song creations, powerful enough to produce a perfect version of any artist singing any song. It’s so accurate, there are even Spongebob Squarepants characters singing some of the biggest hits of all time, and trust me, you haven’t lived until you hear Plankton singing Maneskin’s “Beggin.’” A simple software called SVC (Singing Voice Conversion) is all it takes.

This would allow KISS to continue writing songs or ‘recording’ new ones well past the time their members are no longer able to do so. With the help of AI, one could even feasibly feed in lyrics written by Paul Stanley and some music notes to record a KISS song without ever stepping behind a microphone again. Further, it would allow vaulted tracks to be recorded and every live show to be unique by analyzing prior videos of concerts by the band and choreographing fresh performances.

So, while KISS may be officially retired for good now, technological advances and these recently-announced holograms have made it so that the future in no way looks bleak for fans of the band.

Avatars and Holograms in Music

Personas and alter-egos are common in the music industry. From Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce to MF DOOM’s numerous stage names, they’re a common way for artists to express themselves and tap into new material. Even for authors, pen names haven’t been an uncommon trend throughout history. But avatars take things a step further, with groups like Gorillaz releasing music entirely behind the mask.

Holograms would be the only effective way for current avatars to perform a live concert, but there’s a pretty distinct history of those making headlines as well. A hologram of Tupac Shakur at Coachella in 2012 shocked the world, and later tributes to greats like Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison followed in the years after. Even posthumous tours for Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, and Ronnie James Dio have either been proposed or have already happened.

We have already discussed ABBA’s virtual reunion tour in 2021 briefly, with their de-aged avatars setting the modern standard for the still-living act virtually performing around the world. With KISS following suit with their recent holographic avatar unveiling, it appears that the music industry is shifting in this direction.

Debates will go on about the ethics and authenticity of recreating artists. But the more time that passes, the more technology and AI will be able to accomplish in the field. One day, there will be a reckoning in the music industry over what is even real anymore, but for today, we should just be excited about the potential future lying ahead of us.