Gene Simmons Says No One Looked at KISS Twice When They Shot the Dressed to Kill Album Cover in N.Y.C. 50 Years Ago

Gene Simmons is always dressed to kill — even if the clothes don’t totally fit.

The KISS bassist said in an interview with The New York Post published on Tuesday, March 25 that when photographing their Dressed to Kill album cover in 1975, no one was fazed by their appearance.

Simmons, 75, and bandmates Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss were posing on the corner of Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street in their signature black-and-white makeup and voluminous hairstyles.

“There we are on a street corner, and the people who are walking by are going on about their day, not even looking at us twice,” he recalled.

Photographer Bob Gruen, who was behind the iconic album cover, said that the band wasn’t known at the time, which might’ve contributed to the band going unnoticed.

“And in New York City, you have to be more than weird to get attention. So we were standing on the corner, and basically, nobody stopped to talk to us or look at them or anything like that.”

Simmons also shared that there were no tailors or stylists on site for the photoshoot — and he didn’t own a suit or tie at all.

“I did not own a suit or a tie, so I had to borrow our manager at the time Bill Aucoin’s suit,” he recalled.

Added Simmons: “He was a much smaller man … So I put on his suit and nothing fits. If you look at the album cover, the sleeves were short, and the pants didn’t go all the way down.”

He also didn’t have dress shoes — hence the clogs that graced the album cover. “[Kiss guitarist] Ace Frehley had a pair of white clogs that he used to walk around with,” he continued, “and for no reason at all, I put on the clogs that are on the cover.”

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Dressed to Kill turned 50 on March 19, 2025. The album included the rock anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite” along with “Rock Bottom,” “She” and “C’mon and Love Me.”

“If rock & roll intrigues you, though, you’d best be advised that for all the simplicity, overstatement and repetition within its records, Kiss does make fantastically successful rock,” Rolling Stone said of the album upon its release 50 years ago.

The now-infamous corner in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood is now part of a walking audio tour of locations that are important throughout KISS’ history, accessible on mobile devices.

The hour-long tour also features Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village — where Dressed to Kill was recorded decades ago.