Classic Rock Magazine interviewed KISS frontman Paul Stanley about the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Read the interview below.
Classic Rock: Did you feel honored at being inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?
Paul Stanley: No, it was done begrudgingly and because it had become absolutely ludicrous that they were choosing to ignore us. At the end of the day most people don’t realize that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was a privately created establishment and that it has a self-appointed board. It’s a perfect case of perception becoming reality. People heard “Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame” and gave it credibility. So whether it deserves the title has to be weighed against who it inducts. So was it an honor to be nominated? No. It means a lot to the fans and I understand it because it’s validation for them. So for that reason I accept graciously and accept on their behalf.
My feelings and my ambivalence about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame hasn’t changed any. Their attitude is elitist and it doesn’t reflect the public. It reflects a small group who dictate who meets the criteria that they set up as “rock and roll”. I’ve always felt the spirit of rock and roll meant not only ignoring your critics, but ignoring your peers and going your own way. I think we’ve done that pretty much with few exceptions for forty years. So that same criteria that kept us out has not gotten us in. I scratch my head a little and I also take issue with a certain arrogance within that group.
Nonetheless I look at some of the inductees and any club that has Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and The Who and the Beatles and the Stones is company I don’t mind being in and my feelings have nothing to do with any of them, it purely has to do with a system which I think is tainted, corrupted and distorted.
Classic Rock: Are you looking forward to playing it?
Paul Stanley: Honestly, I have no plans at the moment to do anything, and that includes playing with Ace and Peter or anyone else. My plan at the moment is to go and accept the award. Anything else, we’ll see how it unfolds or unravels. It was interesting to me, or offensive to me, that when the question was broached with the hierarchy about inducting additional members it was shut down immediately as “a non starter,” which to me is arrogant. People who sit behind desks need to respect the people who are actually either inductees or possible inductees into this so-called hallowed organization. So the fact that there are 30 or 40 or 50 or some absurd number of Grateful Dead members all inducted, the fact that all of the Chili Peppers, including people who played on early albums that never amounted to very much are not inducted, the fact that John Rutsey, the drummer on the first Rush album is not inducted, the fact that Rob Trujillo, who’s a great guy but didn’t play on any of the classic Metallica albums, was inducted after being in the band six years makes me wonder exactly what are the rules? If the rules don’t apply to everybody then they’re not rules.
Classic Rock: Do you plan to bring Ace and Peter up on stage with you?
Paul Stanley: Of course it goes without saying that Ace and Peter deserve this moment in the spotlight. We wouldn’t be here without them. We couldn’t have built what we did without them at the foundation. That being said, we couldn’t have built what we built without a lot of people who followed them. We couldn’t have been here without them and we couldn’t be here today with them. So absolutely, of course they deserve and belong up there.
Classic Rock: Ace and Peter jammed together at recent party for That Metal Show presenter [and radio DJ] Eddie Trunk. How did you feel about that?
Paul Stanley: I didn’t feel one way or the other. I don’t own those songs, I only wrote ‘em. There’s nothing to guard or lock away. Those songs are public domain and they played on those songs so why wouldn’t they play them? For that matter, why wouldn’t anybody play them?
source: classicrockmagazine.com
115 Responses
He’s already a part of the “club” though. I watched an interview with Rick Nielsen and he defines his success by the fact that Mick Jagger and Pete Townsend, among other rock icons, know who Cheap Trick is…and that he worked with George Martin. He felt that all of that alone was validation, not awards or inductions. It makes perfect sense to me. I think Paul Stanley is right, just like the Grammys, especially in the past, seemed to have a very narrow and snobbish view of what ‘they’ considered music , so does the RARHOF. All we need to do is look at the list and the order of inductions to see that it’s BS. I agree that it’s the fans that seem to have the biggest concerns about this. The KISS Army is what made them…the Hall of Fame shouldn’t mean anything…the fact that I have probably spent thousands of dollars on KISS albums, cassettes, CDs, MP3s, concert tickets, comic books, action figures, posters, jewelry, books, Pez dispensers, etc…should be validating enough. Now, times that by ?million fans…
And, as much as I like Eddie Trunk, he’s my age and still gets as freaked out about this stuff as I did when I was a teenager watching the Grammys or American Music Awards. Just enjoy the music and be glad that it’s here for you. I don’t have time to picket or write letters to the HOF because they haven’t inducted KISS or Deep Purple or…it’ll never end…
There’s really only one thing to be said about Kiss and the so-called Rocknroll Hall of Fame:
Kiss IS rocknroll. If you don’t like Kiss, you don’t like rocknroll. If you don’t want to induct them, fine. Then just call it the “Annoying petty former-Rolling Stone journalists who couldn’t be in bands themselves’ tastes based on personal beefs hall of fame.” Leave rocknroll to the people who really understand it.
I have to say that the HOF has been a problem for me for some time. They induct artists and groups that are not true rock n roll and have no place in this hall. For that reason I agree with Paul. I got into Rock listening to them in the early 70’s and the hall would be nothing without them. That being said, Eric, Vinnie and Bruce all deserve their part in what Kiss has been over the bands career and it is unfair of the hall to exclude them while letting the others Paul mentioned and so on…. If it was called just the music hall of fame I would be more understanding of some of the inductees but not as The Rock n Roll Hall…. To me that makes it a joke….
I Have & Always Will Be A Life Long KISS Fanatic. I agree 110% with Paul Stanley and his feelings
which are all true about the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame/Shame.
That being said Ace and Peter definately need to be there to accept the award with Gene and Paul for their Contributions to the Band in the beginning. However as we all know If you know your KISSTORY, allot has happened with the band after they were Gone. The Late Great ERIC CARR God rest his soul Deserves equal recognition because he saved KISS by bringing back a thunderous heartbeat into the band when they needed it listen to THE ELDER , CREATURES, LICK IT UP, ANIMALIZE & ASSYLUM. THEN ALSO Vinnie Vincent. St.John and of course Kullick and Singer and yes like it or not Thayer. They all deserve Mention and a moment in the Spot Light. To Much History in my Favorite Band thats had many a Spinal Tap Moment of their own . LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM , BUT NEVER IGNORE THEM. YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST ; THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its the G N’ R thing all over again. And btw Axel deserves to be in there.