Andy Greene of Rolling Stone reports:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s President and CEO Joel Peresman had to deal with the wrath of KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who has gone very public with his anger over the Hall of Fame’s decision to only induct the band’s original lineup. “I don’t need the Hall of Fame,” Stanley told Rolling Stone. “And if there’s not reciprocity, I’m not interested. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, practically every member was inducted, and virtually all 175 members of the Grateful Dead. Rules need to apply to everybody.”
“I don’t like all the sniping back and forth, though mostly it’s been forth,” says Peresman. “And I totally understand his point of view. What he’s failing to understand is that there are certain acts that are nominated and brought in on their entire body of work, up until the day before the nominating committee meets. They are still evolving bands that are breaking new ground. With KISS, there wasn’t a single person we spoke to that didn’t feel the reason these guys were being inducted was because of the four original members. It’s an incredibly unique situation. I can’t think of another band, outside of Gwar, that has members that are dressed up in costumes. You basically have these new members that are replicating exactly and playing the music that was created by the two other members that are being inducted.”
KISS has invited current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer to sit at their table, along with former guitarist Bruce Kulick. “I appreciate how Tommy and Eric have filled in and the way they do things,” says Peresman. “They are fine musicians and I’m sure they’re lovely guys, but they are basically replicating the two members that are getting inducted. How could we have asked Ace and Peter to accept the award and then have other people in their guise playing their music? They probably wouldn’t have even come. They were very clear about that. . .Frankly, I’m really, really happy that KISS are being inducted. It should have happened a while ago. The four of them will get up, accept their award, say what they want to say and then we’ll move on.”
Read more at Rolling Stone.
source: rollingstone.com
121 Responses
Being from Ohio, I have been to the Hall several times and I gotta say – their record store is amazing!! The best thing is, you don’t have to pay admission to visit the store!!
I too am from ohio…I never been to the rrhof….I pledged not to go until kiss was inducted…I guess ill be going this summer….
PS: I think akron would be a great place for a heavy metal/hard rock HOF…
Lucky this is the last time KISS will be inducted!! What a Psycho Circus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
clever–LOL
paul stanley recently talked about gene simmons reality show not really reality, . he’s (paul) is living the real life , don’t have time to film a fake one, well he (paul) needs to look at this current lineup in kiss . that’s denial ,wanna talk about living and filming fake reality. this guy contradicts everything his says and does.
schocoman ….your right to, if these guys took off the makeup and toured on their own they would end up in bars playin to empty crowds….. their playing the fiddle ,question is can you people hear it..kiss is and will always be with ace and peter , get over it or get under it.
Classic Kiss meant something to us, does the current lineup mean the same to us?? – I bought my first guitar because of Ace, I saw them on German televison (must have been an extract of their Love Gun tour) when my dad switched channel after 20 seconds but I was addicted. I wanted to find out about that cool, nvere before seen look, and sound. I forgot about them when I was into other bands in the late 80s and 90s. But when the reunion was annoucned, the feeling was there again, the excitement to be able to finally see them, and me and a bunch of friends went to see them feeling like a little kid who first discovered something they truly fell in love with. So that is never going to happen again, it was emotional, and that is also why so many people here and elseweher are so upset about Gene and Paul lying about almost everything that might keep the attention away from the current lineup. I suggest we put on the classic albums and video tapes and rejoice in what they left us, rather than argue too much about the relevance of the band today.
Something unrelated and very cool was the unmasked unplugged show 2 nights ago that was Gene,Paul, Eric and Tommy…the setlist was deep,and Paul’s voice was much better than as of late. The setlist has been revealed and .”Take Me” from Rock n Roll Over performance is available to stream. Check it out for yourselves.