From guitars to photos, KISS memorabilia to help USC students study music industry

The first time John Downs grabbed a friend’s cassette tape (remember those) and heard iconic rock band KISS sing “Detroit Rock City” he couldn’t have known he would amass a collection of KISS memorabilia so massive it would one day be hauled away in a moving van.

He also couldn’t know that what became his passion would become a learning opportunity for generations of music fans to come.

Think of all the concert tickets you’ve kept in a box somewhere or that stack of programs from your favorite shows.

Could they benefit some future South Carolina student’s career? Maybe.

Downs was 16 years old and hanging out at a friend’s house when he spotted the cassette cover of the iconic band’s Destroyer album.

“That’s what started it all,” Downs said.

He soon had the chance to see the band perform live at the Carolina Coliseum.

“We were in the very last row up in the nosebleeds,” Downs said, adding that since then he has seen the band, currently on tour, perform live about 100 times.

Along the way, Downs collected as much KISS memorabilia as he could - guitars, guitar picks, photos, handwritten notes with lyrics, and more.

But when it came time to downsize, Downs, now 62, decided others could benefit from his passion and the library at the University of South Carolina agreed.

The university sent moving trucks to Downs’ Charleston home to collect all the materials and now the collection is being catalogued and processed in Columbia.

Ana Dubnjakovic, head of the university’s music library, said the library is excited to preserve materials related to such an iconic American band.

Word of the collection has spread and the library is already receiving inquiries from fans eager to see it.

“It was sad for a couple of days,” Downs said of letting his collection, amassed over nearly 50 years go. “Then, I realized it was for a good cause.”

That’s where Jeremy Polley and his students come in

Polley, coordinator and instructor for music industry studies, oversees the university’s newest major, a bachelor of science in music industry studies.

It’s a different kind of music degree, one that prepares students for a career in the $82 billion music industry with entry requirements that make it more accessible than traditional music programs.

Normally, Polley explained, music programs include an audition, but the new degree has eliminated that requirement. Instead, students must put together a portfolio of their work, submit an essay and take part in an interview.

“We want to know they have a real passion and interest for the industry,” Polley said.

The degree has three parts - recording, live event production and how to make a living in the industry.

“What we look at are case studies,” Polley said.

That includes everything from the exploitation of Black musicians who received little compensation for their works for decades to modern events such as Taylor Swift’s well-documented battle for control over the master recordings of many of her songs.

Students also learn about understanding contracts and how live productions work. There’s a special focus on experiential learning as well.

In November, a group of students are heading to Rockville, the Daytona music festival, where they will spend time shadowing those involved in the festival and meet with groups like Strong Women In Music.

Downs’ collection will also become part of the program.

“The Kiss collection is a fantastic artifact,” Polley said. “KISS is a very polarizing band, but their merchandise is so recognizable, so universal.”

Fans of Downs’ generation might not want to consider their memorabilia artifacts, but for many of Polley’s students interacting with the collection might be their first time learning about the band and its music.

The guitars, photographs, concert items and more offer a glimpse inside the world of a world-famous band and the fans who made it so.

“We tend to think of artifacts as dusty items in a museum, but artifacts come in all shapes and forms,” Polley said.

This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 2:50 PM.