According to blabbermouth.net, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has defended KISS’ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons for their announcement that no members of KISS will be playing at the April 10th Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn.
Speaking to Rover’s Morning Glory, a syndicated hot-talk/comedy radio show airing weekday mornings on Cleveland rock station WMMS (100.7 FM), Ian joked, “Look, I’ve got Gene Simmons tattooed on my leg, so whatever Gene says is what goes.”
He continued, “I’m a [KISS] fan, just like everyone else, and would I wanna see, if I was going… I’m not going to the Hall Of Fame thing, so would I wanna see the four original dudes back in makeup one more time? Of course I would, as a fan. But bands don’t do things dictated by what the audience wants. A band would last about a year if that’s how you worked. You have to do things the way you wanna do them.
KISS has been around for 40 years and are bigger now than they were in 1977 because Gene and Paul make smart decisions — that’s why. So, as a fan, and if you love them, you have to abide by the decisions that Gene and Paul are making for their brand and their band. So, why people get so upset over these things, I really don’t understand. Like, if they decided they were playing with [current KISS members] Tommy [Thayer, guitar] and Eric [Singer, drums], so fine. That’s what they’re doing. This is their band. This has been the lineup for a long time now.
I get it — those two guys [Tommy and Eric] aren’t the guys who are getting into the Hall Of Fame [with Paul and Gene], it’s Ace and Peter… you know, I get it. So I think they made the right decision now by saying, ‘We’re just not gonna play. You can’t please everybody. We’re just gonna shut it down and just not do it.’ I get it. I understand.”
additional source: blabbermouth.net
103 Responses
Scott wants that third spot on the shed tour since Brett is doing the casinos and leaving C.C. to play checkers. Grab your stool and blab at B.B. King’s bro, you got a long summer of AC bills.
Hi Eddie. When I first heard about the idea of Kiss deciding not to play on the show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was on a Facebook post and I gave a quick comment that said, “I support that decision.” What I meant, without getting into details, was that I understood it… or, more specifically, I don’t NOT support it. However, I think that the idea of Gene and Paul deciding not to play at the show is in SOME ways an easy way of avoiding more controversy as in… if they don’t play with ANY particular line-up, at least that’s fairer than playing with a line-up that is not represented by the Hall of Fame. I do think there would be nothing wrong with the original four playing together. In essence, it’s about ceremony and respect. It is not a case of the group deciding to have a full-blown reunion with original members. It is merely a case of four guys who know the songs and have been inducted to play together as their way of saying thank you. As far as the issue with Tommy and Eric in Ace’s and Peter’s makeup, I do understand Tommy’s point about wanting the show to seem (and I emphasize the word SEEM) like a show from the Seventies. However, I think that Paul and Gene are still probably creative enough to put together make-up designs that are original to those two members. If they had different make-up designs for Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent, they ought to do the same for Tommy and Eric. As to why Paul will not do your show, I think it is because he has issues and quirks and he takes some things way too personally. Gene seemed to have non-personal reasons as to whether or not he would be on your show and I think there could be a possibility he might change his mind if he thought there was more of a lucrative result from it… as in: people buying more of his/Kiss’ records. I am interested in seeing what Paul says in his autobiography when it comes out because, just like all the original members had solo albums, now all original members have their books. The one thing I like about reading of Kiss is, even if I don’t agree with what they do, I find it interesting to read about them. I also very much like going to your website and reading your news items and the comments from you and others because… I just happen to like it. This is the first time I have made a comment on your website. I think you’re really cool for bringing us the news and the opinions on the bands. The best kind of media and journalism is the type where the author mentions his opinions. I have always been a fan of Kiss even though I was not a fan of everything they did. However, I was/still am a fan of finding out what is going on with them. A lot of the people who say negative things about you are looking only at their own opinions and giving biases that blind them. If I was in New York and I saw you at a bar, I would buy you a beer and say “Cheers, buddy!” It’s all about entertainment and I definitely enjoy stopping by your website now and again and finding out the latest on the bands I like that you cover.
🙂
Lee Gerstmann
Eric wins for his post. Extremely coherent and sane.
Just a few thoughts. 1) To the guy that doesn’t want Gene and Paul to play any songs prior to 1980. Why would they do that? They wrote and sang the vast majority of those songs. In some cases Peter and Ace weren’t even in the studio when they were recorded due to their attitudes and addictions. 2) No KISS isn’t bigger now than in 1977. No band that had already made it big then, is bigger now. 3) I understand people are pissed because they want the original four to play. I understand if you don’t like KISS or at least the current version. But I don’t understand putting down a band that still makes money touring. Whether that is selling 6000 or 10000 seats a show, it is still pretty damn good. What is UFO pulling in nowadays? 250 people? And who is their lead guitarist? Not the original guy right? Just saying… Many current bands would literally KILL to play to 6000 people. With that said.. TMS has been great this season. Good job Eddie.
I truly wish Gene & Paul could put ego aside for one night. Obviously they are not willing to do that.
They’ll look back and regret it one day. Oh well.
Sonic Boom & Monster while having a few good tunes, are not even close to being as quality as those first studio albums, not even close. I think a few fans forget that had Eric Carr not died, he’d still be hittin the skins in the band. The bridges that Ace & Peter burned obviously can not be rebuilt, but as someone else said, Gene & Paul need to stop with the whole substance abuse bs.
I’ll tell you what killed alot of my Kiss love, Gene’s dumb, fake-ass, so-called reality show. He put a knife in the demon for me.
I’ll always love Kiss, but you can bet your ass that Destroyer, HTH, LG, RNRO, D2K, all find their way into my car’s road trip rotation, whereas Sonic Boom & Monster have more in common with the dead coon on the road.
Can’t put aside the BS for ONE night. Too bad, so sad.
I’ve never seen the real Kiss, but I saw a good cover band a couple years ago – they did the full makeup thing and Gene’s bloody tongue. I’m all set, I’ll just go see those guys again if I want to see “Kiss”. No offense to all of you in the “Kiss Army” or whatever, I’ve never been much of a fan. Guess I’m just a few years too young for them to have captured my interest. I got into rock around ’83, VH and Def Leppard were my “gateway” bands. It’s too bad there’s no happy solution for everybody. I’m glad most of my favorite bands don’t have this much drama.