Success

It has been 50 years since Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Kiss launched their thunderock-doused debut album into the pop culture stratosphere. The eponymous album, released on February 18 1974, became a platform-stacked foot in the music industry’s door. What followed established Kiss as one of the most memorable hard-rock bands of the 1970s and ’80s, with a globally recognised legacy.

The early days

• The pair then hatched a plan to form a far more aggressive and successful rock band.
• Drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley were recruited, and the new-generation Fab Four renamed themselves Kiss.
• By late November of 1973, the band had developed their bombastic live performance style, perfected their makeup and signed a deal with Casablanca Records.
• Armed with reworked songs from Wicked Lester, Kiss entered New York’s Bell Sound Studios to record their debut.

The Kiss sound

• The salesperson, responsible for the glitter glue, enthusiastically recounted seeing Kiss play VFL Park (now Waverley Park stadium) in 1980 and made me promise I’d listen to them.
• With their reputation of on-stage pyrotechnics and gore, I’d expected something more akin to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid than the jangly riffs of Let Me Know or Love Theme From Kiss.
• Despite calling the album exceptional, Fletcher described its sound as a cross between Deep Purple and the Doobie Brothers.
• This commercial unviability loomed over Kiss until the release of Alive!

Success and beyond

• bridged the gap between the audacious intensity of Kiss’s performances and the timidness of their studio recordings.
• Their early tracks were repurposed to let listeners remotely experience the infamous Kiss live spectacle.
• As Rock and Roll All Nite claimed #12 on the Billboard charts, the platform-stacked foot burst through the door to mainstream success.
• Fifty years after Kiss first stepped into Bell Sound Studios, the band played their final sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on December 2 2023.
• Promised to be their biggest and best shows ever, the farewell became a colossal celebration of the band’s legacy.

Charlotte Markowitsch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• University of Phoenix is proud to share its ongoing commitment to supporting Jobs for Arizona Graduates (JAG) by sponsoring their annual educational trip to Washington, D.C.
• A student from the mentoring program, Jenna Flores, shared her experience, stating, "The mentoring program has been instrumental in my personal and academic growth.
• The JAG LEADS mentoring program, a longstanding collaboration between the University and Jobs for Arizona Graduates, connects University of Phoenix mentors with high school students enrolled in the program, providing monthly workshops to the students, 1:1 mentorship on academic and career development.
• The University of Phoenix-sponsored mentoring program is a natural extension of the University’s deep-rooted commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

• Recognised threats to biodiversity include habitat loss and overexploitation but new analyses suggest that migratory species are faring particularly badly.
• The global extinction risk is increasing for all migratory species.
• I’m writing this in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species.

Status update

• Worse still, they suggest that the extinction risk is increasing for all migratory species, including those not included under the convention.
• Populations of fish included under the convention have declined on average by 90% since 1970.
• Many species under the convention that need or would significantly benefit from international cooperation, are identified as high priorities for further conservation action based on their conservation status and biological vulnerability.
• Understanding the scope and severity of these threats where they occur is therefore essential to informing conservation action, especially in the context of the triple planetary crises.

Effective action

• There are various reasons why such agreements are not always as effective as they could be.
• This has proven key to catalysing concerted conservation action for the saiga.
• In the last 15 years, new knowledge of the saiga antelope’s ecology, migration and trade has been generated and effective anti-poaching measures have been implemented.
• These include evaluating management approaches, sustainable use of the species, stockpile management, building the saiga conservation network and identifying key research needs along international supply chains.

Catalysing cross-border conservation

• This landmark meeting has been positive and I’ve noticed a renewed sense of commitment to improve the conservation of migratory species.
• Conservation measures should be context-specific, applied at relevant scales, and socially legitimate among local communities and Indigenous peoples if they are to be successful.
• Renewed commitment to conservation solutions identified in this report could build political will to act together.

Dan Challender receives funding from the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI GCRF) through the Trade, Development, and the Environment Hub and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and has previously received funding from the National Geographic Society. He is CITES Focal Point for the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group and is a member of the IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group.

• The 2023-25 Truist Community Catalyst Initiative focuses on issues within four key focus areas: affordable housing, small business access to capital, workforce development and essential community services.
• As each program expands, grant recipients will have the opportunity to reapply for additional funding annually through 2025.
• Grant funding will expand the nonprofit's Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing Preservation Project and Housing Loan Fund to finance and secure affordable housing units.
• Capital Good Fund: A CDFI with a mission to create pathways out of poverty and advance a green economy through inclusive financial services.