Ace Frehley believes Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has “alienated just about everybody on the planet” with his recent comments on depression, addiction and poverty. And the guitarist has predicted his former colleague could next turn on gay people – all because he doesn’t understand the human condition.
His comments stem from Simmons’ incendiary comments about depression, when he claimed his message to anyone preparing to take their own lives was, “Fuck you, then kill yourself.” He later apologized for his statements.
Now Frehley tells Artisan News Service, “First he attacks immigrants, then he belittles poor people by saying, ‘Be nice to the rich people because we’re the ones that give you jobs.’ Then he attacks people with depression, alcoholics, drug addicts. The only thing left for him to do is to attack the whole gay movement. I’ve heard him do that in private, so that’s probably still yet to come.”
The guitarist argues Simmons isn’t as clever as he likes to think. “I don’t think he makes any sense,” he reflects. “He prides himself on being such an intellectual, he brags about being able to speak seven languages, but when it comes to being knowledgeable about the human condition – depression is a very serious disease.
I’ve suffered from it, I know my daughter suffers from it. Alcoholism is a disease, so is drug addiction; it’s the disease of addiction. Many people are born that way – and Gene just seems ignorant of that whole fact. I think it’s time for Gene to go back to school and get educated in the health field.”
source: classicrockmagazine.com
141 Responses
Loving the new CD! Should be interesting to see the sales for the first week of the CD
I wonder if Gene really means anything he says, or if he just likes to hear himself talk? I guess if you’re Gene Simmons you can’t make a friend without making a few enemies. Whatever it is he means or doesn’t mean by the things he says, I’m just SO sick & tired of this F’N soap opera! Everybody has a right to speak their mind, as long as they think about what they’re saying first. Gene, from now on , just be very careful about the things you say, because everybody’s “Watchin’ You”. 😉
Gene paybacks a Bitch!
And the payback would be what? Worth over $100 million? Hot wife? Mansion in the Los Angeles area? Sold out world tours as a headline act (and no smart comments about “half-full arenas; I was at the show about 10 days ago, and that f-er was damn near full during Kiss)? The fact that every one knows who he is and is talking about him?
I’d say Gene’s having the last laugh on this one.
According to ultimateclassicrock.com, Gene’s net worth is $300M, tied with Sting for #2 for bassists behind McCartney.
Hot wife? Yeah when she was 20 years younger and didn’t turn her face plastic!
The very last sentence in this article is very miscontstrued, and takes some liberties with what Simmons said. But hey why let facts get in the way. Ace, I’ve loved you for taking the high road where others haven’t. Try and stay up there buddy. Your veering a little lower after this article.
DR,
Since, you felt the last sentence was confusing, I have since omitted it.
Dana from ET.com 🙂
Before we go any further with the Kiss soap opera, I just want to say,
🙂 HAPPY BIRHTDAY DANA! 🙂
I know I’m a day early, but I might not be around tomorrow. So anyway, have a great day, and party like it’s 1979! LIVE IT UP! CHEERS! 😉
Sorry Dana. I didn’t mean to imply that you should delete anything. But I appreciate it. I read the original story a week back and Simmons was making point about a persons right to privacy relative to Sterling. Happy Birthday!
Really??
I didn’t know! Happy Birthday Dana!!! I hope you will be able to take some time off and enjoy it!
Like Doug said, you could use some time away from the Kiss soap opera. Lol
It’s funny, Ace keeps saying that he’s gonna take the high road, yet all week all I’ve heard from him is one negative comment after another about Gene and/or Paul. He has every right to do it – but that’s not taking the high road.
As for things that Gene has said in private. Ace should be careful, there are 2 books written (by a former leech) about all of the racist and egotistical things that Ace has done and said.
This “hereditary addiction” is psuedo-science, it’s just an idea…..everyone is a case by case basis, there are so many factors that weigh in to someone’s depression. Ace misconstrued the purpose of what Gene said: it’s like someone who interprets the letter of the law, and not its context, but Gene should’ve known better, (Dana, always the voice of reason). And I think we should just accept people for who they are to an extent: Gene is the “know it all,” Ace is the laid back person who sometimes gets into trouble, this is who they are, people are package deals, no one is perfect. Gene didn’t drive drunk and almost kill somebody, did he? In other words, this idea that someone has to have been an addict themselves to be able to comment on it…isn’t true. But, Gene has been slagging Ace since 1983, sometimes flat out lying, saying Ace was in such poor physical condition on the European tour for Creatures that he couldn’t tour with Kiss. That is a flat out falsity, and he may have damaged Ace’s reputation within the business but for saying that. What’s interesting is that in the same interview Gene vehemently defended Peter’s decision to “leave the group.” This whole thing is just weird.
Just like DYNASTY, the soap opera, not the album! LOL! 🙂
thanks for clarifying that, doug. there is nothing like dynasty, the album. it may be my favorite kiss album. I’m not kidding or inebriated.
You’re welcome Elliot, that’s good to know. My favorite songs on DYNASTY, “Charisma”, and “Hard Times”. 😉
charisma is the greatest song in the history of music. ’nuff said. ha!
Lorenzo Lamas could have replaced Peter. Eddie mentions famous musicians who won’t comment publicly about Tommy and Eric wearing the makeup, could some of their names be Bob and Bruce? Bruce is such a great guitarist, he was the best guitarist Kiss ever had, but then, it just wasn’t the same….the 4 guys get up there and do 2,000 Man unplugged and it’s as though the previous 15 years just melted away into the abyss, it made the other lineups IRRELEVANT in about 10 seconds.
Very true, I just watched some full concert Dodger Stadium footage of 1998 again on YT, bad sound quality and camera work, but though they were not as perfect musically as they might have been with Bruce or as they might be now, the energy and the sound is just different, the memory of first discovering the band is just instantly revived, they obvioulsy did not just go through the motions, Paul’s voice still good, Gene’s stage moves still there – they had the classic sound and atmosphere about the songs, you just cannot recreate that with different peole, which would also be ridiculous because every musician must needs put his own feel into it. We are not robots. Also age will always take its toll. So we might say as a compromise that every lineup will stand on its own, the two periods with the originals standing out as THE Kiss sound to be remembered.
There is stuff to like in the other lineups, I really appreciate the artistry in Bruce’s rhythm guitar flourishes, he did some cool stuff, but, but, it’s not even a close call really. The original sounded almost unhinged, Ace sounds like a Sherman Tank, and Peter sounds like boulders rumbling down a hill, Peter is to rock drumming what 3 angles and 180 degrees are to the triangle. There is nothing in Kiss that says “drum clinic” absolutely nothing. With Peter it’s so instinctual, I never see the wheels in his head turning, going, “now I am going to do this paradiddle on the bass drums and then hit the cymbal…isn’t that clever?” Uh, no it’s not.
If you watch the Cobo Hall show from ’76, it’s on the Kissalogy Vol. I, Ace is on fire, Gene is a bit tired (from all that young love!) but check out Peter’s drumming in Parasite, in the chorus, he is playing that beat with his entire body, he’s throwing his body into the beat, and it swings like crazy…that’s how it’s supposed to sound.
To staten island clown below or above: instinctual is a good way to put it. I think that in the long run Ace and musicians like him will be remembered for the feeling and the attitude they conveyed, while someone like Vai will be forgotten, too many notes, no cohesion. The secret is: all great artists, in music, in literature, in painting, they all found a way of creating something that might be intricate in how it is done, but looks simple, beautiful and unique, that is the tue greatness of really great artists – chohesion of form and function, make it look like any idiot can do it, the solution most difficult to find is almostn always the simple solution. many willafterwards cliam, well that is just simple, but the truth is: they did NOT come up with it. I do not compare Ace to Picasso, but in his early work there actually is some of that quality, in his prime he was able to create something that will last and that has touched people, and it seems that he did it, as you said, instinctively which makes it look/sound natural adn able to appeal to many people.
The thing I liked about Bruce, he never tried to act like he was a Kiss guy, he just did his own thing and played the hell out of the songs. So, by not fitting in, he fit in.