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KISS - Psycho Circus

Music Video | 1998
ArtistKISS
SongPsycho Circus
DirectorJames Hurlburt
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown
Release date

Wiki

Synopsis

KISS perform inside a surreal, nightmarish circus filled with painted performers, carnival imagery, oversized props, and psychedelic visual effects. Women transformed into exaggerated versions of the band's four personas appear alongside the musicians, while the video repeatedly pushes faces, instruments, flames, and circus objects toward the camera. The performance footage is intercut with deliberately artificial 3-D effects, presenting KISS as ringmasters of a gaudy fantasy world that blends their stage mythology with the theatrical concept of the 1998 Psycho Circus era.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was created in 3-D to match both the Psycho Circus album campaign and the accompanying tour. A home-video release included the regular version, the 3-D version, and branded 3-D glasses.
  • The original concept reportedly centered on female performers whose bodies were airbrushed with designs representing the Demon, Starchild, Spaceman, and Catman. KISS were initially not expected to appear in the video themselves.
  • Band footage was added late in the production, including material filmed in Los Angeles on August 30, 1998. This helped make the finished clip more recognizably a KISS video rather than a purely conceptual circus piece.
  • The 3-D video premiered for fans and media at the Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on September 21, 1998, during the promotional events surrounding the album's release.
  • The visual campaign extended beyond the clip. The Psycho Circus tour used large screens and 3-D imagery, with audience members receiving glasses for selected portions of the show.
  • MTV reportedly declined to give the video regular exposure, arguing that KISS did not fit the network's target demographic at the time. As a result, the clip was initially seen mainly through promotional screenings and home-video releases.
  • The video reflects the commercial presentation of the 1998 reunion period: classic makeup and costumes were combined with computer-generated imagery, theatrical spectacle, and a deliberate return to KISS' larger-than-life comic-book mythology.
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