"Psycho Circus" is a song by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 band Kiss

KISS (band)

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...

. It is the title track from the 1998 album with the same name

Psycho Circus

Psycho Circus is the 18th studio album by American band Kiss. The album features the original four members back together, and in full make-up....

. The B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 is the non-album track "In Your Face", a song written by bassist Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, actor, and rock bassist. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s.-Early life:...

 and sung by Kiss guitarist/vocalist Ace Frehley

Ace Frehley

Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Kiss. He took on the persona of the "Spaceman" or "Space Ace" when the band adopted costumes and theatrics...

.

"Psycho Circus" was written by guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley

Paul Stanley

Stanley Harvey Eisen , better known by his stage name Paul Stanley, is an American hard rock guitarist, singer, musician, painter and songwriter best known for being the rhythm guitarist and primary lead vocalist of the rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's...

 and Curt Cuomo specifically to fit the theme of the Psycho Circus Tour and album. According to producer Bruce Fairbairn

Bruce Fairbairn

Bruce Earl Fairbairn was a Canadian musician and international record producer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999 and is considered one of the best of his era...

, "We didn't have an opener for the record. We didn't have anything that was going to start things off. And [Paul] just looked at me and said, 'check this. This is it...' We both sat there and looked at each other and started to laugh. Because that was it"

As a single, the song became the band's first number one hit on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, while also proving to be a Top Ten hit in other countries in the world, including Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

The song would open sets for the band on the Psycho Circus Tour

Psycho Circus Tour

Psycho Circus Tour was a Kiss concert tour in 1998-1999. It was the first concert tour in history to have 3-D visual effects. One notable show on the tour was the March 12 Bremen, Germany show. After the opening song, Paul Stanley announced that the local fire marshall had banned Kiss from using...

 to support the album, and was performed on Kiss's live album Kiss Symphony: Alive IV

KISS Symphony: Alive IV

Kiss Symphony: Alive IV is a 2003 live album from Kiss performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra . The arrangements were made by David Campbell, who also conducted the MSO. It is the group's fourth album in the Alive series and first release under Kiss Records and Sanctuary Records...

in 2003.

"Psycho Circus" was nominated for a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 1999 for Best Hard Rock Performance

Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...

, losing out to Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page

James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

 and Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

's "Most High".

Video

A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was made to promote the single, which was made in the same 3-D

3-D film

A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...

 theme as the album and tour, and was directed by James J. Hurlburt and produced by Doc McGhee

Doc McGhee

Doc McGhee is an American music manager, best known for working with KISS, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. The latter two groups experienced their rise to stardom under his management...

 and Eddie Vasker. The video was generally ignored by MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

To compensate for the lack of MTV airplay the band released the video on VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 complete with 3-D glasses. In addition to "Psycho Circus" the included CD single features Ace Frehley's "In Your Face", a song not available elsewhere in North America.

The video was certified Platinum in the US.

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1998	Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...	1
	Swedish Singles Chart	4
	Norwegian Singles Chart	8
	Dutch Singles Chart	98
	Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....	10
	Australian Singles Chart	22