Kiss — Lick It Up

JUL 01 1983 · 12:00

Kiss — Lick It Up (1983) Director: Martin Kahan Era: MTV Golden Age / Early Hard Rock Video Era (1983) - The pivotal year MTV transformed rock marketing; bands leveraged the channel to redefine their visual identities at scale. Exceptionally high. This video is a direct primary-source artifact of one of the most discussed image pivots in rock history. The confirmed unmasking, the MTV premiere event, and the post-apocalyptic visual language make it essential viewing for researchers of 1980s rock culture, MTV history, and music video as promotional medium. Its moderate runtime (3:53), moderate editing pace, and legible aesthetic make it highly accessible for archival screening and educational use. Context: Released in September 1983, 'Lick It Up' arrived at a watershed moment for Kiss and for MTV-era rock. After nearly a decade performing exclusively in theatrical face paint, the band removed their makeup publicly for the first time in this video — an unmasking that was treated as a genuine cultural event, receiving its own dedicated MTV premiere special hosted by J. J. Jackson. The video's post-apocalyptic visual language — scavenged clothing, desolate industrial backdrops, women in rags — drew from the Mad Max aesthetic then saturating popular culture, anchoring Kiss's reinvention within a recognizable genre framework while signaling a harder, less theatrically costumed direction. The video marks the transition from the Casablanca-era theatrical Kiss to the Mercury Records hard-rock-oriented act. Director notes: Kahan directed Kiss' 'Lick It Up' in 1983 — a landmark production as it was the band's first video to feature the members without their iconic makeup. He also directed the companion single video 'All Hell's Breakin' Loose' for the same album cycle. The video was produced by Lenny Grodin and premiered on MTV on September 18, 1983, in a dedicated half-hour special. The clip is set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic location — an industrial/urban wasteland — transitioning to a night-time party scene. Kahan's deliberate reveal structure (opening on the band's legs before showing their faces) maximized the dramatic impact of the unmask moment for MTV viewers.