"To me, the essence of rock and roll is celebrating life." The rest of the band and its fans would agree. "Rock and Roll All Night" was not deep, but it was concise and it represented what the band stood for at that point-having a good time. The live version of "Rock and Roll All Night" got the attention of lis- teners. The song would go on to become one of the top-500 influential songs in rock-and-roll history, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though it climbed only as high as number 68 on Billboards pop chart, it emerged as the theme song for a whole generation of kids and young adults who wanted to forget about the pressures of life and the deeper meanings hidden in the lyrics of other songs and just have fun.     Creating a Dynasty   Alive established KISS as national superstars. After that, the music industry took notice of live-performance recordings and began to understand their connection with fans. Soon live albums would become commonplace among other musical superstars recordings. Great commercial success ensued-a hit single "Beth" (a ballad about a girl and the stresses of being part of a rock band on the road, a lifestyle that many of KISSs male fans no doubt fantasized about); an album, Rock and Roll Over, which went platinum before it even hit the stores; recognition as the number-one band in America in a 1977 Gallup poll; and the hit single "I Was Made for Lovin You." The recog- nition was momentous because KISS had always considered itself to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. The industry also took notice of KISS because of the power of its brand, which transcended the borders of music to a whole new world merchandising. Soon the market was flooded with KISS lunchboxes, action figures, games, and makeup kits. Fans could also buy pinball machines and KISS comic books. Many of these products are collec- tors items today and remind fans from that era of the position KISS achieved in American culture. Responding to criticism for selling out, Gene Simmons poignantly says, "There are no rules, and the idea of selling out, youre damn straight we sell out ... every night we play."     But too much of a good thing can be bad, especially when it con- flicts with the core of the brand and its strategic intent. By the late 1970s, KISS had become too much about the makeup and not enough about the music, going from rock-and-roll band to family entertainment. With children in the audience, the group was com- pelled to tone things down, leaving a watered-down version of the edginess that once defined the band and the brand. Peter Criss left