Editing Peter Criss (section)

=== Departure from Kiss ===
On the 1979 release ''[[Dynasty (Kiss album)|Dynasty]]'', he played only on his own composition, "Dirty Livin'",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petercriss.net/homepage/sub/drumqa/default.htm|title=Criss Q and A|access-date=January 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217221207/http://petercriss.net/homepage/sub/drumqa/default.htm|archive-date=February 17, 2009}}</ref> and did not play at all on ''[[Unmasked (Kiss album)|Unmasked]]'' (1980) but was seen on the album covers and music videos for songs from those albums. [[Anton Fig]], who also played on [[Ace Frehley (album)|Ace Frehley's 1978 solo album]], was hired as session drummer for  ''Dynasty'' and ''[[Unmasked (Kiss album)|Unmasked]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.antonfig.com/discograpy/|title=Discography|website=Antonfig.com|date=November 27, 2019|access-date=August 21, 2021}}</ref> but did not tour; Criss performed on the Dynasty tour and [[Eric Carr]] on the tour for Unmasked. At the time, the reasons Criss was fired from Kiss were never made public, although it was obvious that his relationship with his bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley was not good at the time.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

[[Gene Simmons]] has said Criss was fired; Paul Stanley discussed Criss's departure in several interviews, including the commentary on ''[[Kissology Volume Two: 1978–1991|Kissology 2]]''. [[Ace Frehley]] in his 2011 book, ''No Regrets'', and he stated that Criss was fired during a band meeting in which Frehley, Simmons, Stanley and manager Bill Aucoin voted Criss out of the band. A spoken word CD released in 1999 titled ''13 Classic Kiss Stories'', features [[Bill Aucoin]] (Kiss's first manager) where he also discusses Criss being "let go". Criss, however, has maintained that he quit the band.

The video for "Shandi" (a song Criss did not play on; the only Kiss member featured on the studio recording was Stanley) was shot in one day, and Criss was out of the band at that time; Stanley said of the shoot, "We shot a video for the song 'Shandi' after the decision to let Peter go had been confirmed. He came to the video shoot knowing it was the last time he would appear with KISS. At the end of the day, he took his makeup case with him and left. It wasn't tearful, but it was a big moment. Peter was leaving. We had fired him, and this was the last time we were going to see him in the band".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stanley|first1=Paul|title=Face the Music: A Life Exposed|date=2014|publisher=HarperOne|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-211404-4|pages=242–43|edition=First|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062114044/face-the-music}}</ref>

Criss officially left Kiss on May 18, 1980. As a result, Kiss postponed the European tour until the end of August, thus giving the band enough time to find a replacement drummer, who they found in Brooklyn-born [[Eric Carr]].