Former Kiss Guitarist Vinnie Vincent Wants $2 Million for New Album He’s Been Sitting On for 30 Years
Vinnie Vincent, the former Kiss guitarist who has largely remained out of the music industry for decades, says he has finished a new album, but hearing it won’t come cheap. The musician is offering the record, titled Guitarmageddon, for a reported $2 million, an unconventional move that places it among the most expensive private music sales ever proposed.
Vincent, who played with Kiss from 1982 to 1984 during a transitional period for the band, announced the project through his official website, describing it as a long-developing work he considers deeply important to his legacy. “It’s been a long time in the making,” he wrote. “I am very proud of this very special album.”
According to Vincent, the $2 million price tag would give a buyer ownership of the album’s 10 completed songs in their final mastered form, along with artwork, promotional materials, and packaging designs for both vinyl and CD releases. The buyer would also have the option to release the material commercially in whatever format they choose.
However, the deal comes with notable limitations. Vincent says he would still retain approval over any marketing strategy connected to the release. Additionally, the buyer would not automatically receive rights to Vincent’s name, image, or likeness, key components that could affect the commercial potential of the project.
For those unwilling to commit to the full price, Vincent is also offering individual tracks for $200,000 each. Among the titles mentioned are songs with deliberately provocative names like Heavy Metal Poontang and Cockteazer, reflecting the over-the-top aesthetic often associated with 1980s hard rock culture.
If released, Guitarmageddon would mark Vincent’s first major new project in roughly three decades. His last official release was the 1996 EP Euphoria, which came out during a period when he was still attempting to maintain a solo career after his departure from Kiss.
Around that same time, Vincent had already begun referencing Guitarmageddon as a future project, though it never materialized. In past messages to fans, he described the album in grand terms, once calling it “the greatest album of all time” that might never be heard if fan support failed to materialize.
The guitarist’s career has been marked by both flashes of success and long stretches of absence. Before leaving Kiss, he contributed guitar work to the 1982 album Creatures of the Night and became an official member during the Lick It Up era, a time when the band was attempting to reinvent itself without its famous makeup image.
After leaving the group, Vincent formed the Vinnie Vincent Invasion and released two albums in the mid-1980s before gradually fading from mainstream visibility.
Vincent’s attempt to sell his album as a high-value collectible has some precedent. In 2015, controversial pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli purchased Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million as a one-of-a-kind release intended to function more like a piece of art than a traditional album. That record was later resold in 2021 to the crypto collective PleasrDAO for an even higher price.
One key difference, however, is that the Wu-Tang album came with strict legal restrictions preventing commercial distribution. Vincent’s proposal appears to allow a buyer to release the music commercially, provided certain approval conditions are met.
Whether Guitarmageddon will ever be widely heard remains unclear. Vincent’s pricing strategy suggests he may be positioning the album more as a collector’s investment than a traditional release aimed at fans.
