This week's post is about one of the most intriguing, and polarizing, figures in 80's metal - former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent.

First gaining success by both recording and writing 2 of Kiss' best albums, 1982's 'Creatures Of The Night' and 1983's 'Lick It Up', Vincent was exactly what Kiss needed to make their sound and style current in the early 1980's. A "shredder" in the Eddie Van Halen/Yngwie Malmsteen mold, Vinnie's ego quickly became too much for Gene and Paul to handle and was fired immediately after the Lick It Up tour.

Vincent then formed the Vinnie Vincent Invasion and set out to record his first solo album. While the band's second record 1988's 'All Systems Go' (featuring Mark Slaughter on vocals) was standard late 80's hair metal, with radio friendly songs and singalong choruses, their first album is still one of the most completely ridiculous and over the top records ever made. Imagine an album where every song has the most insane quitar solo on top of high pitched screaming vocals and you're almost there. It's become a cult classic beloved by both Kiss fans and lovers of guitarists playing as fast as humanly possible.

Following VVI's breakup Vincent disappeared for a couple of years before returning in 1992 to once again help Kiss write one of their greatest records, 'Revenge'. Old issues came back up and Vinnie was dismissed again.

Vinnie then reappeared in the mid 90's as a guest at several Kiss fan conventions and this is when his story gets extremely weird. I won't go into all the detaila, but he started a website selling box sets, guitars, demo cassettes, autographs, etc., collecting thousands of dollars and never delivering any of the purchased merchandise. He then went into complete seclusion.

He only resurfaced following an arrest for domestic battery, with his mugshot being the first known photograph of him in over 15 years. Just as quickly as he returned to the headlines he disappeared again. He hasn't been seen or heard from since.

As troubled as he obviously is, there's no denying his talent. Even if the video below is one of the craziest things a major label ever thought they could sell.