Had a chance to read Paul Stanley’s book on my many flights lately. I was looking forward to seeing how much Paul would open up in a book like this. In my limited dealings with him over the decades I have found him to be fairly private and very sensitive to anything not in line with the current plan, so his approach to an auto biography would no doubt be interesting. Contrary to what many think, and despite whatever feelings he has about me, Paul was actually always my favorite member of the band. For a long time he was one of my favorite singers and his songs were always what I liked best in Kiss. I agree with his own feelings throughout the book that he has always been the prime driving force in the band. In much of the press he has done leading up to this book he has painted doing this for some greater more legitimate reason than most other rock books. I don’t see any great difference with this than any of the other MANY rock books out there. It is very well written, entertaining, inspiring, and told from his perspective and how he saw it, like ALL of these books are. But I don’t see a great distinction over many other good ones that are out there as Paul has said is the case with his. The one down side is that his is the last of the Kiss members books. The good; that he answers some of the others books, the bad is that many of these stories we have heard already. Especially if you consider we just had the very in depth Nothin’ To Lose as far as Kiss books for history which he was a writer on. But still for any Kiss fan this is a more than worthwhile read. But like ANY book it is his spin and take on the story as he wants to tell it. That is the case with all the books, it’s up to the reader to find the balance from four peoples perspectives when it comes to Kiss. Not surprisingly Paul’s book paints him as the guiding force in the band throughout and rarely does he ever take responsibility for anything that was bad for Kiss. For example he describes the demise of Kiss in the late 70’s to be more about the costumes and stage show than writing a disco song. I can tell you even though it was a hit, I Was Made For Loving You was DEATH to the Kiss fan base at the time and some still haven’t recovered from it. The shots at Ace and even more so Peter are expected, but more surprising are the shots at Gene and how bad their relationship was at some stages. Almost every bad decision was because of someone else it seems at times. Some other interesting things:
*No acknowledgment of what a big song “Shock Me” was for Ace and the Love Gun LP, or the success of Ace’s solo album over the others with “NY Groove”.
*Not much made of the impact “Beth” had crossing the band to an entire new audience. A huge moment in the bands history to get on the radio.
*Glosses over some of the later 80’s albums. Almost no mention of Crazy Nights and recording with noted producer Ron Nevison. Would have loved more back story on the making of the 80’s and 90’s albums.
*Talks about the many bad songs Gene mailed in during the 80’s but outside of the two on Smashes Thrashes (which were bad and he does say so!) never mentions his role in some duds as well. Bang Bang You? Read My Body? Although his material was mostly better he had some clunkers for sure along the way.
*Good to see how he admits not handling the passing of Eric Carr within the band the right way. How the band didn’t stop while Eric attempted to recover is hard to believe. It did bother Eric Carr greatly that while he was fighting cancer his band was already recording with Eric Singer, who he predicted would replace him. Def Leppard stood by their drummer when he lost an arm, Kiss could have waited to see how Carr would do. He does take this on and take responsibility and it was good to see finally.
*Didn’t acknowledge that fans at the MTV unplugged in ’95 actually booed when current band was re introduced and chanted for a reunion at the end of the taping. I was in the audience. It was an avalanche that resulted in the reunion in ’96.
*Psycho Circus very glossed over. Who plays on it? Why were they not able to make a deal with Peter and Ace? Also no mention of performing with the symphony in Australia. Not my favorite thing in KISStory by any stretch but should have had a mention.
All that said I truly enjoyed the book and would suggest it to any Kiss fan. But like ALL Kiss books it is HIS version of how he saw things. I’m not about to go tit for tat with all four books and who’s told the story best and most accurate. They ALL are coming from that persons point of view and get that persons story out as they saw it. And something tells me there will be no shortage of more Kiss related books to come…
144 Responses
Eddie; Does Ace ever admit he was a lazy ass and not load or unload equipment in the early days?
I played in bands for 30 years…you loaded your own equipment or it didn’t get loaded. Unless you were sick or something. Trust me…folks that have never played in bands don’t really understand how that is a big deal…but it is. That’s the kinda of stuff that builds up into resentment over time. I’d say if Ace did that over equipment…obviously he did that over other things like not showing up to record his guitar parts. That’s where the average fan doesn’t understand but any musician posting on here you know exactly what i’m talking about.
Now, on the other hand if you’re willing to let other members slide when it’s time to take responsibility like showing up on time, loading equipment, rent money, studio time etc… without laying the hammer down then you are responsible as well for letting them get away with it.
I can’t read
Wasn’t impressed with the book…..Eddie and others have nailed most of the points I picked up on, too, along with the fact he blatantly contradicts himself at some points, like when he says he always gives the person the respect of firing them face to face or something like that, when 40 pages before, he was talking about how told someone else to get rid of Peter because he didn’t even want to deal with him. And he acted like that ear thing was equivalent to John Merrick’s Elephant Man situation or something…..enough about the ear.
“enough about the ear”? So I guess compassion isn’t on your priority list? Your parents did a wonderful job raising you and I hope you share that with your kids.
Don Kirschner……….quick question. Would you rather have Paul’s ear situation or John Merrick’s situation? I never said Paul’s ear situation was nothing to sneeze about. I thought it was focused on a time or two too many in the book when I wanted to hear more Kiss talk……but you carry on with your insults about me, my parents and my daughter. Classy fella you are, Donnie.
JB it’s not about “haters”. I certantly don’t hate or dislike Paul. And you’re spot on, Paul did keep KISS ALIVE….but here is the issue. Paul & Gene has had major issues since Ace & Peter’s departure. They couldn’t CONTROL Ace/Peter. And CONTROL is a serious behavioral issue with human society and a MAJOR issue with both Gene/Paul. How many times since 1983 till present are Gene & especially Paul going to hammer their ex-band mates?? How many “stories” since 83 is Paul going to change?? Personally I really don’t care who is telling the truth, I really don’t but AT LEAST keep some stories consistant, and unfortuantly both Gene & Paul have totally failed to do that on many many occasions. YOUTUBE it….it’s all there!! Joe in The Cuse
Well Joe..everything you said you have to apply to Peter and Ace as well. And again…find me something where Paul was bashing Ace in ’83. Sorry man…for a band that was trying to hide Ace’s departure for many reasons well into ’83 your not going to find them bashing Ace at that point. Yet you can go search the web and find old interviews with Peter dating back as far as ’81 complaining about having to play second fiddle to Ace, Peter and Paul. At this point we’re arguing semantics on who said what and who started it…they’ve all let it fly from every angle.
As far as stories…I kinda take them all with a grain of salt because they’ve all changed them to suit (as Eddie puts its) their agenda at the time. And in all seriousness, I do believe some people have a hard time understanding that. They take whatever is said as gospel. Example…Ace stating to Guitar World that he was replaced by a tour manager…fair enough. No of course Ace fans will say Fuck those guys. Yet Ace was repeatedly begged to stay in the band on various occasions throughout Kiss and the door was left open for him to return after the Farewell tour so in essence he was replaced because he quit…repeatedly. So who’s fault is that?
As I’ve always said…I like them all. It really doesn’t matter to me what they say about each other…sure it’d be nice to have them all give each other credit without bashing one another in the same breath but that just ain’t going to happen.
And for the record I think Peter’s book is the most entertaining followed by Gene’s. I will say this much about Gene…people can hate him for what he’s become but I would lean to Gene the most when it comes to detail. He has the memory of an elephant once you strip away the ego and cliche’s…I’d say Eddie would even vouch for that.
Sorry for the typo’s…
Eh don’t worry about typos pal, we all do them. And you made some valid points….There is a Creem interview with Paul Stanley In 1984, I made the mistake saying 83. But anyways…I can totally appreciate Paul for what he has done not just for Rock music…but what he has done for all of us….and Gene, well IMHO I believe the man has a huge heart. I really do. Hey they are all guilty of something….Peter was probably the most difficult of all four but damn, Paul really has made some ridiculous remarks, especially about the Jew remarks, that I didn’t even buy for a second. Be safe JB—-Joe in The Cuse
Agreed on the anti-semite remarks. Whether they are or not…and I don’t believe they are, those remarks from Paul were disappointing. I think he stuck his foot in his mouth and instead of retracting it said WTF…it’s out there, I’ll run with it. Not cool.
If Paul’s remarks were unfounded or made-up. Ace and Peter would both have a valid law suit. We’ll see if they go to court.
The primary, maybe only, reason they wanted to Ace to stay in Kiss in 1982 is because they had signed that multi million dollar contract with PolyGram that stipulated that three of the original members always had to be in Kiss. So, Ace cost Paul and Gene a crap load of money, not counting the lost revenues in album sales (his departure had a lot to do with Creatures stalling) and ticket sales from the Creatures tour. (Vinnie, he is either the greatest guitarist on the planet, or the worst, I can’t tell). Ace did the video and promo tour so PolyGram would think he was still in Kiss, he did that as a gesture.
Regarding the critique that Paul’s book doesn’t delve into the importance of Shock Me or Ace’s solo album or the KISS Symphony album, keep in mind that it’s Paul Stanley’s autobiography – not KISS’ biography. Obviously, there’s a crossover in that much of Paul’s life has been spent as a member of KISS and none of us would be reading this book if he’d never been a member of KISS. However, it seems like the nit-pickings of a KISS fanatic to complain that we don’t get to find out who the second engineer and intern were on the third day of recording sessions for Destroyer.
Where this book is far better than the Gene’s and Peter’s is that Paul owns up to his shortcomings (as much as can be expected from an AUTObiography). Does Paul fall on the sword and grovel for forgiveness sufficiently for all the things that people on Team Ace and Team Peter feel he should apologize for? No. Why should he?
By contrast, in Peter Criss’ maddeningly passive-aggressive book, he takes responsibility for his screw-ups…but then in EVERY instance he manages to somehow turn it around by saying that someone else took advantage of his screw-up and left him once again the poor victim.
If I had to rate the books, it would be (from best to worst): Paul, Ace, Gene, Peter.
Well stated on Peter’s book…that is exactly what he does. Hard to imagine someone reading his book and not walking away with that very conclusion. Truly taking responsibility for something doesn’t end by pointing the finger in the other direction…as Peter tends to do. It ends with taking complete responsibility.
That said I still enjoyed his book the, it was very entertaining however at most, I believe less that of what he wrote.
I would go Peters first, Gene, Paul then Ace in terms of entertainment. In terms of factual information I’d have to put Gene’s first once you peel back the ego. I liked Paul’s book a lot and though I know what he was trying to accomplish, as a fan it would have been nice to see him dig into Kiss more than he did. After waiting so long it left something to be desired in terms of details in regards to Kiss.
Of all Kiss books…The Complete Touring History just kills everything. Incredible book. I also like Nothing to Lose…was a lot better than I ever expected it would be. Those would probably be my favorites and I like Chris Lendt’s as well. An excellent book.
Just like the solo albums?
Well put brother! That’s all I was trying to say, you said it better.
I don’t think so…what Peter does is put the events in a context of what he was thinking. So, more “this was my state of mind.,” this is not offering an excuse. By fully disclosing his actions you can decide for yourself. Obviously you don’t think his state of mind justifies his actions. I, as I’m sure he does too, much of the time agree that his actions are not justified, but I understand where he was coming from.
But goddamn, Peter busts his ass in ’96, does over 200 shows, keeps his head on straight the whole time, puts Kiss back on top…it just seems very ungrateful and disingenuous to then say, “well you didn’t have anything before this reunion so you should just be glad for what you get.” Then you hear Tommy bitching about working with them in rehearsals, like he wants the credit!
Just finished reading Paul’s book and was impressed by it. I have thought for awhile that he seemed the most thoughtful of the original 4 members and consider his book the best. It was shocking , but refreshing, to hear his true feelings about Gene over the years. Sorry Eddie, but to suggest Paul spend time in his book talking about “Shock Me” or how Ace’s solo album preformed compared to the others sounds a bit biased toward certain members of the band (and this is coming from someone who’s favorite member of the band was Ace ). It is his book and he focused on what he considered important to him. One thing that I will agree with you on about Kiss is that they should not have other people wearing the classic make-up. I can understand them having to resort to that for a few shows instead of cancelling them, but personally think it’s a bit much for them to continue doing that.