Jawbone Press will release Greg Prato's new book, Take It Off: KISS Truly Unmasked, on November 19. In an excerpt, former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing looks back on the short-lived period when veteran acts like KISS, Ozzy Osbourne and Priest modified their metal for the mainstream - ‘Hair metal’ is the term often used to describe this era, which is fitting... Rob Halford even grew his hair long at the time.

K.K. Downing: "Everybody had cute-looking chicks in their videos. Scantily clad women. And I think a lot of the girls thought, I want to be in a video with a rock band. And, of course, we would use girls in our videos - mud wrestlers, you name it. Fit-looking girls. In that 'Locked In' video, I think we had a total of about 36 girls.

"And that video cost our record company - if my memory serves me well - $360,000. We got caught up in that. We’ll never see those days again. But I must be right about what I’m saying about it reaching its pinnacle - if you think about those video budgets, it’s absolutely insane.

"I think bands spent a million dollars on their video - I’m sure they did. But the main thing is, we reached a point where everybody was in a good place. It seemed that people were happier and enjoying life better. And people were enjoying music a lot more than they ever did. Everybody as a whole - it was seriously big. Those massive record stores that we used to go to - doing in-stores, playing shows.

"There were a lot more bands around for the people. And now, unfortunately, so many fans have to travel so far to see a band, because there are less tour dates. It’s a big investment to see a band these days for lots of people in the States."

Read more at LouderSound.com.

A description of Take It Off: KISS Truly Unmasked follows:

Description: There is a common misconception about KISS, one of the greatest hard-rock/heavy metal bands of all-time: that their 'non-makeup' era of 1983-1996 is not as enduring as the period when they rocked stages as the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman, and the Cat.

This is untrue. In fact, this period helped resuscitate KISS's career, as they reestablished themselves in arenas, on the charts, and via MTV, and yielded some of their most popular songs - including "Lick It Up", "Heaven's On Fire", "Tears Are Falling", "Crazy Crazy Nights", "Hide Your Heart", "Forever", "Unholy", and more - many of which consistently found their way into the band's set lists.

While the majority of KISS books are focused on the iconic makeup era, the non-makeup years are ripe to be explored in book form, and Take It Off does just that, zeroing in on the twelve albums KISS issued during this period - including such gold-and platinum-certified hits as Lick It Up, Animalize, Crazy Nights, and Revenge - as well the resulting tours, videos, and other escapades.

Take It Off draws on all-new interviews with KISS experts and associates, including the band's lead guitarist throughout most of this period, Bruce Kulick, plus Crazy Nights producer Ron Nevison and video director Paul Rachman ("Unholy"/"I Just Wanna"/"Domino"). Among the other contributors are Charlie Benante (Anthrax), K.K. Downing (ex-Judas Priest), Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), and rock music experts Eddie Trunk, Katherine Turman, and Lonn Friend. The book also includes a foreword by Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho and an afterword by acclaimed producer Andreas Carlsson, as well as rare photographs and memorabilia from the period.

With KISS currently in the midst of their last ever tour, now is the time to get Truly Unmasked.