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…
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Not to seem like I’m kissing Eddie’s ass here, but I enjoyed Peter’s book the most out of the 4. I thought there was a lot of real honesty not only about the other three members, but about himself as well. I also feel like Peter offered a much more elaborate behind the scenes picture of the Reunion and Farewell Tours. Peter had lots of surprising and untold stories that I had not seen written by the other members, where he could have rehashed a lot of the stories and events…..Paul, Gene, and Ace often told of stories and events that every KISS fan has already heard a million times. I will say that Paul’s chapters up through starting KISS were interesting, only because it was a lot of traumatic events that he’s never really talked about before. But everything Paul talked about from 1973 and on is just rehashed and boring dribble. And Gene’s book was just delusional and self promoting. At least half of Gene’s book is total bullshit.
What book are you people reading when you say that Peter didn’t except responsibility for his actions? Not a chance that one could not read that book and see that he throws himself under the bus.
I’ve read Pete’s book twice…very enjoyable. It’s my favorite of the books. And yes he does take responsibility but more times than not it always ends up being someone else’s fault for putting him in that situation. Again, taking responsibility for something means owning it…not saying “yeah it was my fault but because they treated me bad, that’s why I did it” type thing. Either you see that or you don’t…but it’s clearly there. Hey, just look at how he dealt with Lydia.
I’m glad Eddie touched on the absence of Paul’s book mentioning Kiss Alive 4 since this is just one of many major topics – conspicuous by it’s absence – that Paul doesn’t even mention particularly over the past decade or so. The fact that Paul didn’t say a word about the night of the Kiss show where he almost died and had to be rushed to the hospital to have his heart restarted, which left Gene to perform as a three piece!? Not a word on Live To Win, the cruises they’ve been doing, etc. It’s like after the reunion era, even Paul doesn’t see what Kiss has done as relevant based on how he covers or doesn’t cover this period.
Aside from Paul being open about his ear deformity and subsequent insecurities, I got little if any accountability on his part for his faults and mistakes related to Kiss or otherwise, as Eddie mentioned. Paul’s book reads more as an inspirational self-heip book that’s better placed next to the likes of self-help guru Tony Robbins than being the great rock ‘n’ roll tell all I was hoping for. It was more like he was trying to make amends with his current wife and justifying to his kids why he slept with thousands of women. Like everything questionable (Kiss or otherwise) that he could be faulted far is somehow pardoned because he had this ear deformity, which he reveals was cosmetically fixed in the early 80’s. How anyone can see this book as being this great testament to honesty over Ace and Peter’s books clearly haven’t read them or are taking from them only what they want to believe vs. what is clearly laid out in black and white. Overall Paul’s book is good, but way overrated. It’s more of a commentary on Stanley Eisen and less on Paul Stanley of Kiss.
i read Perter’s book and I feel that although he wore his heart on his sleeve and really felt like he was left out and not appreciated and left out things. He dosnt t take responsibility about why. He does make mention in the book that he use to threaten the band that he was going to quit all the time. He fobs it off but it must have been disruptive.He also dosent take ownership that being so out of it ,drugged & drunk. Not rocking up to rehearsals or recording sessions because of substance abuse would have pissed Pau & Gene no end. Whould it have pissed you off if you were trying to keep a band going – there is just so much one can take. Re Aces book. How much can you really put a lot of faith in when he cant recall many of the years in kiss. He was so
spaced out -blurred recounts
Though “I Was Made for Loving You” certainly became a discofied hit, Dynasty wasn’t a total disaster, and in fact was largely rock-based (OK, X-Ray Eyes was pretty cheesy), but as it was the biggest hit, it’s what people remember the album for, for better or worse. On the other hand, during their peak era, from 1973-1978, it seemed like each studio album was a keeper with very little filler. It’s fair to say that such lame songs as “Bang Bang You”, “Read My Body”, “Torpedo Girl”, “Dance All Over Your Face”, etc… would have NEVER made it onto any of Kiss’ earlier albums. They continued to sell, but the quality sunk to a low level, Gene went Hollywood, and a lot of the fans moved on. It would have been nice for Psycho Circus to have been a full band effort, and though it was a pretty enjoyable album, it’s disappointing at least for this Kiss fan to read how little input Ace and Peter actually had on that album.
I am no rush to read Paul Stanley’s book as I was turned off by his refusal to do a few songs with Peter and Ace at last month’s Hall of Fame Ceremony in Brooklyn. Gene in an earlier interview said he had no problem doing it – Paul showed utter selfishness towards the fans for not wanting to play with the Original Lineup one last time. I was at the ceremony wearing Ace makeup and have to say that his speech was the worst; how dare he criticsize the Hall of Fame at his induction ? It’s like winning Lotto and complaining about the taxes…he was out of line and I will never see another Kiss concert again because of this. This and the anti-semetic remarks about Peter and Ace…terrible !
Boo !
Once again, you got the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame situation wrong. Try to pay attention.