KISS WINS SIX 2012 ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK AWARDS

(by matthew wilkening, ultimateclassicrock.com) Kiss were the clear champs of our reader-selected 2012 Ultimate Classic Rock Awards, taking home trophies in six of the 11 categories — including Album and Artist of the Year.

It was a very busy year for the greasepaint-wearing legends, who released a “resurrected” version of their classic ‘Destroyer’ album in addition to the brand-new record ‘Monster.’ The former won Best Reissue or Archival Release honors by nearly a four-to-one margin (48% to 13%) over the nearest competitor, Pink Floyd‘s massive ‘The Wall: Experience Edition’ box set.

Meanwhile, ‘Monster’ earned 44% of the vote in the Album of the Year race, easily outpacing Van Halen‘s ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ (14%) and Rush‘s ‘Clockwork Angels’ (10%). The album’s second single, ‘Long Way Down,’ took home the Song of the Year prize with 35% of the vote, with Journey‘s ‘Resonate’ (11%) and Motley Crue‘s ‘Sex’ (10%) also earning medals.

As you can imagine, racking up wins in all those big categories also made it pretty clear that Kiss was the Artist of the Year in the eyes of our readers, and indeed they beat Van Halen (14%) and Aerosmith (10%) out for that honor by capturing 42% of the vote.

The makeup-wearing marvels also took home prizes for Commercial of the Year (although we wonder if even they might agree Rush and Eddie Money got robbed there) and Photo of the Year, for a series of shots unveiling the latest versions of their famous stage costumes. Together with summer tour mates Motley Crue, Kiss also came in second place in the Tour of the Year category.

Click over for all the results at Ultimate Classic Rock.