Funny you mention that, as the primary reason Kiss never got much respect, for a long time, was because of that. A radio station I used to listen to (who recently came back on the internet after 20 years!) never played Kiss, even though their music would normally fit the format, because they thought of them as clowns, and not serious.
Only after a lot of time passed, could the haters admit Kiss wrote some pretty memorable stuff. A lot of it, in fact.