The issue - which makes headlines every few years - recently surfaced again as the New York group marked the 40th anniversary of its 1976 album "Destroyer."

"Why wouldn't we use the classic makeup? We own it," Simmons tells Rolling Stone. "The saddest thing of all is here we are, top of Mt. Olympus with all this cool stuff happening, really enjoying ourselves, the fans are thrilled, and nobody ever holds up a sign, 'Where's Ace and Peter?'"

After early fans of KISS struggled to accept guitarist Vinnie Vincent as the Ankh Warrior and drummer Eric Carr as the Fox in the 80s, the group revived its then-sagging fortunes by unmasking entirely.

Following reunion and farewell tours with Frehley and Criss, Simmons and co-founder Paul Stanley took ownership of the designs and passed them on for use by Thayer and Singer.

"In retrospect, it was the right decision," Simmons adds. "There's always going to be five percent or 10 percent of people who were there at the beginning who will complain about anything. And listen, I think that's valid from their point of view. But people get onto a train at different times.