The bitterness between the current and former members who founded Kiss will not be quelled anytime soon. It’s been a little over a week since the group announced that it would not perform “in any lineup” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, following Ace Frehley’s comment that he would not perform with current guitarist Tommy Thayer wearing Frehley’s sometime makeup. Now, in a new interview with Guitar World, vocalist-guitarist Paul Stanley has questioned Frehley’s talent.
“What we had at the beginning was magical. . . Ace and I played great together,” Stanley said. “But in my mind it’s a crime what Ace did: He threw away incredible potential and talent. The Ace I played with when the band first started out was a comet – and not [Frehley’s late-Eighties band] ‘Frehley’s Comet!’ But he was burning bright and really had the ability – and this would rub him the wrong way – to be a real contender. But he stopped practicing. He got involved with a whole lot of things that really diluted and diminished his craft. I saw that comet grow dim.”
Stanley added that after KISS fired drummer Peter Criss in 1980, he decided the band needed to reinvent itself, and that’s why they removed their makeup in 1983. It’s a decision he now feels hurt the band. “Rather than saying, ‘We’ve built these iconic figures together and we’re going to continue on with what we built,’ we bought into the idea of, ‘We have to have a new character,'” he said. “That watered it down. Some people may argue with me, but I feel that Batman is Batman whether he’s played by George Clooney, Christian Bale, Val Kilmer and on and on.”
additional source: Rolling Stone
238 Responses
Team, all I know is we’re still 56 posts away from our goal. I know we’ve got it in us. Don’t be shy. As you can clearly see we’re taking all the posts we can get, even the incredibly uninformed stupid ones. So if you’re reading these, and think to yourself, I just don’t think I should post – please give us your thoughts no matter how ridiculous they are. We’re trying to set a record here at Trunk Nation. My goodness Scott Ian got over a hundred posts on this subject. Surely we have it in us. Richman, Lee, Scott, and the rest of the regulars can’t tow this line all on our own. Bigsled, we’ll even take a few more from you to hit the target. That’s how desperate we are here at Trunknation. Post four times today and I’ll see if Dana can get you a Crazy Nights official tour t-shirt (worn), and signed by Shannon Tweed. Lets go guys!
Don’t know why Shannon and Gene went with the facelifts.
Shannon looks like the Joker and it really didn’t effect Gene, he still looked the same.
Is he bald? Does it matter?
Sure think with all that money, he’d hire a trainer….talk about plump.
It’s a real shame that it has come to this with these guys.
Maybe Ace should put on Vinne’s Creature make-up and Peter should wear Eric’s Fox make-up to the RNRHOF induction?
Afterall, they’re only characters, per Paul himself.
Ace & Peter would never stoop that low, but imagine the chaos it would cause.
The buzz would be bigger than the Crazy Nights Pre-Release Party.
I never said I was more than I am
Do what I want, I don’t give a damn
Here’s a questionfor ya. If G &P own the makeup/character rights how did Ace manage to use the likeness on the Anomaly cover w/out them suing him? Imho maybe the reason P & A used dugs/drank was because the other two have been a-holes from the beginning.
It is not the same design
That didn’t stop Gene from suing king diamond years ago. Still not sure how he won that one either