Quoted from vid1900:Shhhhh....don't get them angry with a bunch of facts.
I can get where the OP is coming from. While KISS has indeed sold a ton of records, they're not exactly relevant in the sense that nobody under 50 knows much about them. I'm 36 and I couldn't tell you the name of a single album of theirs. I know a few songs, I guess. "I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night", "Calling Dr. Love", "Detroit Rock City" and the bodacious tune at the end of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
Now, I feel like I'm coming in late to the conversation here, but I haven't actually seen an announcement for any kind of KISS-themed pin. So it's time for UvulaBob's Rampant Speculation! I spent some time chatting with Steve Ritchie at the Tacoma pinball show, and he seems to love rock music as a general pinball theme. He spoke really highly of the theme AC/DC and Metallica pins. And the thing that both pins bring to the table is less about "The Music Of" and more about "The Image Of".
In that vein, I think a KISS pin is just fine for a theme. Everyone knows that KISS exists. Everyone knows that they had this crazy-ass makeup and played to huge arenas. Play it up as an over-the-top tribute to the idea of KISS, rather than trying to generate a new generation of KISS fans, and I think you've got a fine pin as long as it plays well.
I wouldn't buy one (even if I could afford it) but I think I can see where Stern is coming from if they are indeed planning on a KISS pin.