According to Ultimate Guitar, KISS frontman Gene Simmons told Radio.com that if the band is inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, they will not be re-uniting with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
Simmons stated, “No. How many chances in life do you get? When you stick your hand in fire, you get burned the first time. Fire and nature doesn’t care if you’re a good guy or a bad guy. Both of those guys had three chances to be in the band. Three times they f–ked it up. They were every bit as important as we were at the formation of the band and they would have been the ruin of the band if they had continued to be in the band. When you have a cancer in your system, it’s best to cut it out as fast as you can. It used to be a part of your body; it turned into cancer. You gotta cut it out.”
Simmons also added that he believes his former bandmates are much happier not being in the band, “I believe that both Ace and Peter are happier now. They’re healthier, they both look fine. When they were in the band, they were both on junk, or crack or alcohol. Clearly not a healthy place for them. They belong home doing autograph shows in clubs. They’re happier.”
See the entire interview below. The comments in question appear at 4:26.
source: ultimate-guitar.com
155 Responses
Uh, Gene already stated years ago he didn’t want anything to do with the RARHOF. Gene and Paul got Ace and Peter back into the band for their own fortunes. Ace and Peter never got as much $$$ as Paul and Gene did for all those reunion tours. Gene and Paul still wanted Ace and Peter in the band well after the “Final Tour” but only if they’d accept less money. Now here we go again with the Peter and Ace bashing. You know what Gene won’t like? The artists that are inducted have to pay for it. They have to buy a table at the event, if they want to attend, they’re not just “honored”, so I think Kiss should just say f-off if they are inducted, like they’ve promised they would do anyway. Who cares? Baseball, football, Rock n roll, whatever HOF you’re talking about there always someone overlooked. Once Madonna got inducted who in their right mind could call it a rock n roll hall of fame anyway?
Don’t forget that Paul and Gene had to pay Ace and Peter off when they left years ago and Paul and Gene kept the KISS name. Peter and Ace TOOK that money when KISS was at it’s lowest. Paul and Gene own the name that Ace and Peter once had a 1/4 share in. So when they re-united Peter and Ace were hired guns and not equal partners, nor should they be. They left the fans 30 years ago and people forget that. If you were in Gene’s/Paul’s shoes and you footed the bill for years, fuckin rights you’d take more money when they re-united. It’s called payback and for Ace and Peter it was the bitch they’d take cause they were still making more money as hired guns for Paul and Gene than they ever did on their own.
Wow all the hate.Let them get inducted first before anyone jumps to conclusion.I hope if they do perform Ace and Peter will do a few songs with them.Its only right.However i dont wanna see Peter back in KISS.Compared to Eric Singer whos a Monster on the drums id rather have Eric.Monster is a really good album some kick ass rock n roll.Regardless you can hate on me just speakin my mind.
Let Peter and Ace do Beth and then let the other jerkoffs do a song. They had alot of success with Bruce Kulick I hope they would let him be there. I think Revenge was there best album in the last 25 years.
Mr. Simmons apparently has forgotten the fact that if not for Ace and Peter he would not be in the position to make these crude and pompous statements. Kiss always comes off like Gene and Paul were the core life blood of the band from day one. I can say that is not true, I have been a fan since early 1974 when I snuck out of my house to see them play and I can tell you that from then (from a fans point of view anyway) until 1980 it was all about the four members. And to not even acknowledge Bruce or Eric is an outrage. If not for them kiss would have been a done deal 30 years ago. So to Paul and gene I would say this if you continuously cut your roots eventually the plant dies. I don’t think any fan out there expects a reunion but do think that they expect to see the people (ALL the people) up there that made it possible in the first place. it seems that Paul and Gene see kiss as some kind of joint solo project. Well gene we all saw what a rousing success your last venture there was…Not!
I would suggest they do a song with the current members as well as Ace, Peter, Bruce, and Vinny with pictures of Eric and Mark behind them. Of course after all the back stabbing the two have them have done I see little chance of that.
C’mon. Kiss is a joke. Don’t get me wrong–it’s a really GREAT joke. They’re entertaining as hell, they’re also probably the most successful crappy band ever. Or maybe the crappiest successful band ever. Take your pick Either way, hell of a lot of fun, but don’t mistake what they’re doing on stage for “music.” Getting worked up over the minutiae of that “band” is missing the whole point.