Rolling Stone has printed KISS’ acceptance speech from their Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction on April 10th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Read it below.
Gene Simmons: Lemme hear ya! Tom Morello, we are humbled—all of us—to stand up on this stage and do what we love doing. This is a profound moment for all of us. We are humbled that the fans gave us the chance to do what we love doing. And so I’m hear just to say a few kind words about the four knuckleheads who, 40 years ago, got together and decided to put together the band that you see on stage, critics be damned.
To Ace Frehley: his iconic guitar playing has been imitated, but never duplicated, by generations of guitar players around the world. To Peter Criss, whose drumming and singing…Well, there’s not a guy out there who beats the sticks who sounds just like Peter. Nobody’s got that swing and that style.
Something happened, 40 years ago: I met the partner and the brother I never knew I had—Paul Stanley. You couldn’t ask for someone more awesome to be on the same team. I am humbled.
I was going to say a few kind words about Eric Carr, Rest in Peace. Mark St. John, Rest in Peace. Vinnie Vincent, the great Bruce Kulick, and of course, here we are 40 years later with the great Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, and we continue on.
However, we wouldn’t be here today without the initial Fantastic Four. God bless you all. May I introduce the powerful and attractive—Peter Criss!
Peter Criss: Thank you. I want to say it’s great to be home in Brooklyn. I’d like to thank the Hall of Fame for this honor; I never thought this could happen in my life. Thank you. I’d like to thank everybody that had to do something with my career and the band’s career. For 50 years, I’ve been doing it; 40 years, we’ve been doing it.
Jesus—from the grips, to the truck drivers, to the great producers, to the great managers, to the great people who were just all there for us through all the years and the hard times. God bless you and thank you so much.
I definitely want to thank our first manager, Bill Aucoin. We would not be here if it wasn’t for Bill. Sean Delaney, the great Joyce Bogart, and the great Neil Bogart—who with Casablanca Records…those were the great days and I thank them all. I’d like to congratulate the band, of course—Mr. Stanley, Mr. Simmons, and the one and only Spaceman, Ace Frehley.
I’d also like to say I’m now seven years male breast cancer-free. Thank you—I’m very proud that I have… my fancy support center, and my doctor, who saved my life in the first place. Thank you so much.
I would like to thank my family—my sister Donna who I know is out there. All my friends who have come…and God, I’d be here all night. I’d like to thank my lovely wife Gigi, who makes my life really, really a lot easier. Lemme tell ya: walking through life with her is a blessing. I love you, baby.
I got my first lesson from my best friend, Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls. And boy, that’s what started it all off.
I want to say that, even out of makeup, I’ll always be the Catman. God bless each and every one of you—I will remember this the rest of my life. Thank you so much.
Ace Frehley: I have a speech here, but these [glasses] aren’t prescription, so I can’t work it out [laughs]. It’s so great to be here with all these celebrities and other musicians.
I want to thank Paul, Gene, and Peter. Thank you so much, Tom, for that beautiful introduction. I want to thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for inducting us; thank you very much.
When I was 13 years old, I picked up my first guitar, and I always sensed that I was going to be in for something big. Little did I know, a few years later, there it was. I experienced the Summer of Love. [laughs] Alright. That was before I met these clowns. Several years later, we got together—you know the story, it’s all KISS-tory.
A few quick names—Bill Aucoin, Joyce Biawitz—who used to manage us in conjunction with Bill, then ended up marrying Neil Bogart. We wouldn’t be here without Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records. Everyone at Casablanca Records, everyone at ATI, Jeff, and Wally. Everyone at the press office; Carol and Al Ross; Carol Kaye; just to name a few. If I named everyone who helped us through our career, I’d be here for another half an hour. It’s great to be here.
I wanted to touch on the fact that I’ve been sober now for seven and a half years. We still need to educate the people in this country about sobriety because some people think it has to do with willpower. But unfortunately, most addicts are born that way and people need to be educated about that. My sponsor, he used to have a good saying, to try and explain what it’s like to be an addict: when people would say to use willpower, he’d say, “Try using willpower when you’re having diarrhea.”
So, only by the grace of God I’m here. I want to thank my first wife Jeanette, my daughter, my current fiancé Rachael Gordon. Life’s been good to me; hopefully I’ve got 10 or 20 more years to go. Thank you very much.
Paul Stanley: I can make this short and sweet because everybody said everything and has been much funnier than I’ll ever be.
So, I got to thank Tom, who’s championed us shamelessly and unapologetically. Took a lot of balls, and God bless you. For us, this is a special night, but it’s really a special night for all of our fans—this is vindication. We couldn’t have done this without you.
To Peter, Ace, Gene—we are the original four, so we could not have done this if we didn’t start this together. Everything we’ve done is built on the past. We’ve got a great, great legacy. We’ve got Bruce here, we’ve got Tommy, we’ve got Eric…
When I first started listening to music, I was lucky: I saw a lot of people I loved. When I was a kid, I saw Solomon Burke, I saw Otis Redding, I got to see the Yardbirds. I got to see Led Zeppelin; Jimi Hendrix; Sly and the Family Stone; the list goes on and on. What I loved about all these musicians is that they had the spirit of Rock and Roll. I believe that the spirit of Rock and Roll means you follow your own path regardless of critics, and regardless of your peers. I think we’ve done that for forty years.
Here we are tonight, basically inducted for the same things that we were kept out for. The people, I believe we’re speaking to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and what they’re saying is, “We want more.” They deserve more. They want to be apart of the induction. They want to be apart of the nomination. They don’t want to be spoon-fed by a handful of people. Choices. The people pay for tickets. The people buy albums. The people who nominate do not. Let’s not forget that these are the people that make it all possible.
So, I look out here and I see all these people. I see faces that over the years inspired me. People who made me what I am. So I am here tonight because of the people who inspired me, but I’m also here because of the people I inspired. So God bless you all; it’s been a wonderful night.
Watch the full speech below.
source: rollingstone.com
129 Responses
I wonder if anyone clocked the various acts and speeches. Would be interesting to see how lop sided it was. Peter Gabriel also had alot of time iirc… Bit in his case it could be due to Kiss not playing.
And is it just me or are 75% of the bands the Hall loves boring? I mean aside from Nirvana, did any act performing rock the house Loud and proud? Its a shame because when I think rock, I think raucous noise makers playing distorted guitar.
I’m just so glad this sh*t is over with. I’m tired of hearing about Kiss!!!
so don’t listen!
Why are you here then? This post is about KISS. Lately, its all ABOUT them, so…
are you nick??
actually, you’re sort of right, these posts are all about kiss, so if nick is tired of it, he should go somewhere else, right? and take you mike b. along with him, along with jb, dr, and the “so called truth”.
In which case you can listen to yourself and not receive any feedback on your opinions? LOL!
Kind of funny you would take offense at me since I seem to be supporting your position with my initial comment (you said to Nick, “so don’t listen”, then attacked me for supporting your comment). I will just leave you to your own devices. Have a nice day.
Sorry doug, opinions are free here no matter how stupid they are, kinda like yours.
sorry mike b. I just realized I responded to the wrong reply, now I see yours was to nick as well, if you read too many of these posts, it can get confusing sometimes. now as far as YOU DR, I’ve read a lot of stupid opinions in my life, and let’s just say your’s are up there with JB’s & the so called “TRUTH’, I usually skip the post when I see those names above them, like most people do.
Also, if Paul wanted to stick it to the Hall, him and Gene couldve played a FREE concert at a nearby venue with tickets being given to all members of the KISS Army. Thay would have been a giant screw you no matter who played with.
That would have been great if peter and Ace played with them. Instead, we were treated to a shitty performance of “King…” on Fallon. Whoohoo, yippee! My former favorite band that now sounds like Black Sabbath with Elmer Fudd singing lead!
Loved the acceptance speech, especially Ace. Great night.
Ace’s speech was a little cringeworthy. Futile attempts at humor and you could hear the crickets.
Ate you kidding me? Seriously, is this really Paul posting?
just ignore the so called “truth”, he’ll or she’ll go away eventually.
I thought ACE was ACE and hilarious as usual. Paul thinks he’s funny too despite some of the conflicts they had as a band.
After hearing some recent performances from Paul, I have a pretty good idea for a replacement when he finally hangs it up. Kermit the Frog. The guy needs to quit. His voice is shot.
Absolutely. Have you seen/heard the conccert footage from the Tonight Show one day after the HOF? I mean, they are not even embarrassed to put that on their official website! King of the … – it is a disgrace, his voice is just a shadow of what it was – and now he’s got another 42! concert tour ahead …! I bet he is telling Eric to cut the booze and only drink chamomile tea to be able to cover him on the high notes or entire chorusses. Also, I do not think it a coicindence that they performed on the Tonight Show just ne day after th HOF with Tommy and Eric to show everyone that the current line up is SO good.
You know schoco…don’t watch. How easy is that. Yep, just turn the channel or turn the TV off if it bothers you so bad. I’m sure you’ve got all of Peter’s albums…so relax, grab a glass of wine and put on the smooth styling’s of Moon over Brooklyn.
To JB, once again you just do not have a clue, I do not own ANY of Peter’s albums as I do not like his personal approach to music. It is not rock’n roll, if it is him alone, but for him that is perfectly alright. It is not about music here, at least not in my posts, it is about the strange way people behave. It is about a singer who cannot properly sing anymore telling his former bandmates they are not able to properly perform anymore. It is about hypocracy, about useless and pointless public bashing for which there can be no sensible reason if not the reason that they want to sell their current and slowly fading product for which they have to minimize or even totally question other people’s contributions and talents. Btw I listened to Peter’s solo album of 1978, found it boring and did not buy it. Did you? So, JB – Are you surprised now? All YOU do here is calling people idiots for having a different opinion than YOU and trying to be so VERY clever and well-informed, why don’t YOU just turn the channel and go post somewhere else when people like me here,and we are quite a few, who just love the originals for what they have been and are, warts and all, and who (what insult!) keep criticizing Gene and Paul for their obviously lame and strategic behaviour are making you feel so bad, hm?? You also have been calling me and others here names, why do you do that? To make you feel better? Go ahead, if you need it. I am glad I can contribute to make you feel better because you think you are so way above idiots like me 🙂 Probably you can very well identify with the haughty Paul Stanley as you behave just in the same way thinking that only your opinion can be the right opinion. Cheers!
Schoco…response to below…my problem with your train of thought is the fact that Ace and Peter can dish it out, you defend it…but Paul isn’t allowed. That is the very essence of hypocrisy. And has been my main bone of contention with people arguing on here…I personally could care less what each member said but if they all are going to have say…so should Paul. And if you are going to criticize Paul, then you need to criticize the others just as much. Because they have all hammered each other.
It doesn’t mean that you have to agree with it or like it…I don’t. I hate this crap. I’d love a perfect world where the guys who got me into rock n roll back in ’75 could sit back and get along with each other. And yeah, I own Pete’s albums, us older Kiss fans lived it in real time.
See, when those 4 guys got onstage the other night I remember everything they did for me….not that they owed me. It would have been awesome had the 4 guys played some tunes in street clothes at the RRHOF, then brought up Bruce, Eric or a guest but it didn’t happen. Maybe the Hall nixed the non-makeup idea if there ever was one, maybe Paul did that as well, I don’t know. Doesn’t matter, as a fan I’m not going to shit on any of them…the band and those 4 guys, mean to much to me. And i’ll defend every one them equally. You either get that or you don’t.
I hope you realize your post is an unjustifiably cheap shot and lame attempt at humor. Regarding all the comments I have heard about Paul’s voice–most of them come across as hateful attempts to discredit him as a singer. I could say a lot about other’s voices but because I respect them as musicians, I hold back. Criticism like this cant be taken seriously. Are you a singer? Have you had throat surgery? I bet if you had you would not make stupid comments like this. Peace.
Lol if fans think Paul’s voice sucks they have a right to say so. Quit being so butthurt over people’s opinions! Face it dude Paul’s voice sounds TERRIBLE! I had to turn off the tonight show! It was cringeworthy!
Yea his voice is burnt but you have to put in context .The guy is in his 60s and has done hundreds of shows over the last 40 years. He isnt the first singer to lose his voice from years of touring. Bob Seger plays everything a full key lower in concert because his voice is gone. Robert Plants voice has been bad since the late 70s. Have you ever seen ac/dc in concert?Brian Johnsons voice is terrible live. Stevie Nicks didnt sound all that great on the tonight show the other night either. so give Paul a break he’s an old man. One guy who never lost it though was Dio. He was in his mid sixties when he died and he still sounded as good as he did in the eighties.
I am sorry, it is not about being hateful, why do you think that? Remember, you buy a ticket for a Kiss concert at, let’s say, 80 Dollars, now is it hateful to expect a singer to be at least half-way able to perform and to deliver what you paid for? Every singer or frontman like Paul knows that his performnace is more memorable to the average one in the audience than, e.g., the guitar solos, just a fact. So he knows that his is a special responsibility. I think it is rather hateful that Paul’s has used a number of occasions – especially in the wake of the upcoming induction – to hint that Ace and Peter could not perform well today. That, in my opinion, can be criticized. If I pay for a performence, I maintain the right to criticize if the performer does not deliver like he should or could have. You clearly have to dinstinguish between justified ciritcism and hateful bashing here.
Love Ace & Gene & Peter but Paul’s done to much to hurt the band Kiss That I liked so much of late ! Just telling it like it’s now a cover band !