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A knight in KISS' service
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Jason Roth holds up a set of rare KISS interview albums that he has collected in his almost 20 years of acquiring items from the popular rock band. Roth’s love for the band started when he was only 10 years old and has continued to grow each year.
JIM RYDBOM / jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
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Jim Rydbom, (Bio) jrydbom@greeleytrib.com
May 4, 2008
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A ceramic head of Gene Simmons with a fiber-optic tongue is one of Roth’s newer additions to his massive KISS collection at his home in Windsor.
JIM RYDBOM / jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
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Saying that Jason Roth is just your everyday KISS fan might be like saying Michael Jordan was just an average basketball player.
For Roth, 29, of Windsor, the rock 'n' roll band has became an obsession -- he's turned his passion for music into a very profitable collection.
It all began when he walked into his older brother's room and saw the poster of the band KISS on his wall when he was just 10 years old.
"Man, I was completely mesmerized when I saw how they looked with those crazy outfits and makeup. Then I heard the music and I was like 'Wow, I am hooked,' " Roth said.
Roth said he couldn't get enough. He credits his brother Rich with adding the fuel that sparked his engine for KISS.
"Rich is a crazy music collector also, so it runs in the family. We are always looking for that garage sale that gives us that hidden, rare KISS album," Roth said.
KISS formed in January 1973 in New York. With their trademark face paint and stage outfits, the rockers rose to prominence in the mid-1970s. Their elaborate live performances, which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars and pyrotechnics, only made their fans more rabid.
The original band included Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Guitarist Paul Stanley (born Stanley Harvey Eisen) came up with the name KISS after drummer Peter Criss mentioned he was in a band called Lips. Stanley and co-founder Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz) started a band called Wicked Lester in 1972, which later became KISS.
KISS has been awarded 34 gold albums to date. The group's worldwide sales exceed 80 million albums.
Roth's collection is so large it takes up more than 1,000 square feet of his basement, including items such as posters, action figures, guitars, masks and even a toothbrush that plays "Rock and Roll All Night" while you brush your teeth.
Roth's wife, Kaycee, and daughter, Adria, 3, also enjoy the music of KISS and encourage him.
"I told Kaycee that if I could buy a pair of Gene Simmons boots, which cost around $1,700, that I would give her another child," Roth said, smiling.
That was a little more than seven months ago, and now Kaycee is due to give birth to the couple's first son in July. One could say that Roth is starting his own little KISS Army.
Roth has no solid number on the value of his collection, but he estimates it to be more than five figures.
"I never plan to sell any of it, so I really do not care at this time," Roth said. Passing down his collection to his kids is what matters most to him.
With his son quickly headbanging his way into the world in July, only the rock 'n' roll gods can know if he'll get his prized Gene Simmons boots.
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