Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone reports:
Current KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer aren’t going to be inducted with the band at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, and they won’t perform, either – but they’re showing up, nevertheless.
Gene Simmons confirmed to Rolling Stone via e-mail that he and Paul Stanley have invited Singer and Thayer to sit at their table during the April 10th ceremony, along with guitarist Bruce Kulick, who played in KISS during its make-up-free period, from 1984 to 1996. “The fact that they want me at their table means the world,” says Kulick.
With founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss also on hand, that means all surviving KISS members will be at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center, except for hard-to-track-down guitarist Vinnie Vincent. “He’s kind of the Howard Hughes of KISS,” says Kulick.
Simmons and Stanley are upset with the Hall of Fame’s decision to induct only the four original members. “Tommy has been in the band 10 years,” Stanley told Rolling Stone in interviews for their current KISS cover story. “Eric’s been in the band 20 years.” (Minus a five-year interlude when the original band reunited.) “The idea of no one being even a candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame other than the four original guys is hogwash.”
Not surprisingly, Kulick, Thayer and Singer all endorse that sentiment. “Even if I was an outsider,” says Thayer, “I would say that all of the guys that have been in KISS over 40 years, all of the members, should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
As of last month, Singer was somewhat reluctant to attend. “If the choice is up to me, do I want to attend or not, then I don’t wanna go,” he told Rolling Stone before Simmons and Stanley invited him. “I personally don’t care about attending, but if Gene and Paul say, ‘No, we want you there,’ no problem. I’m there for you guys. I’m there for Gene and Paul and Tommy. For Kiss, the way it stands now, no problem. Or if they just want me to be there to celebrate Kiss in general, and that means everybody, fine, great, because I’m part of the whole story.”
There is no KISS performance slated for the ceremony. As reported in our cover story, Stanley and Simmons offered to allow the former members to jam with Kiss’ current lineup, featuring Thayer and Singer, who wear Frehley and Criss’ makeup, respectively. Frehley and Criss found that proposition deeply insulting. “I won’t be disrespected,” Criss says. “How can you put me in the Hall of Fame and then tell me to go sit over there in the corner while another guy puts on my makeup and plays? That’s an injustice. To the fans, too.”
source: rollingstone.com
149 Responses
Making them sit at their table is of course a sign, the only possible sign now, saying these are the guys WE want to be inducted, not the old guys. I wonder what A and P will do … I have just read the free chapter of Paul’s book on the official website, all insult, all saying hey those were the dumb guys, the disrepectful, the weird and musically lame, the irresponsible, all bashing again, indirectly calling Peter stupid, glorifying Tommy, the sand-by man, as a life saver, oh dear, prolonging the legend that THEY taught Ace to play the songs he originated which has always sounded like rubbish to me, so when you call other people fools, YOU will look like the clever guy, right? So Paul must be the smart guy. Never thought of that. What a loser he actually is. Remember: even though Paul here again claims they were unbearable, Ace was never told to go! what does that tell you about G and P’s personal and business attitude?!? Well they would have born him because they knew that his presence was one of the factors people kept giving them sell-out arenas!
Of course it says all that about Ace and Peter….. because that’s the truth.
How do YOU know? You have been there, in colo Pauli?
So that particular show Paul is talking about…what if you had paid your hard earned money, being the Ace and Peter fan you seem to be…what happens if one of those guys is a no show. How would you have felt if Ace hadn’t made the gig because he was too freaking lazy to get on the plane…would that have been Gene and Paul’s fault. After all Ace was only making a mere 2 mill a year. But that’s Gene and Paul’s fault…for making him late, right? Or what about another time…opening night of the Reunion tour in Detroit. Arguably the biggest and most important show of Kiss’s entire history and guess who’s not there on time? Yep, missed the flight. Almost missed the show. Good old Ace. What if you had been in the audience that night for the return of Kiss and Ace didn’t show? Woulda been a great way to start a Reunion tour. The fact is, Ace and Peter are screw ups…as much as I love original Kiss, as much as I dislike what Kiss has become it doesn’t change the fact that those two guys are walking disasters. Nothing is their fault, it’s always someone else’s fault. Hate all you want but two guys kept this thing together for 40 years and in the process gave a lot of people a good time. Very sad indeed that being reliable, being responsible, giving the fans what they want for so many years is a bad thing. Nope…some would rather defend a couple of clowns that walk onstage stone drunk and do their best to tank shows on numerous occasions. Ask anyone that was in attendance at the Farewell show in Nashville how many times Ace tried to start Shock Me, or trying to latch his guitar in the noose that went up into the lighting rig which you guessed it…he dropped it like a rock onstage. Or Peter with his list of demands for hotel staff…sorry, didn’t realize Peter was Elvis. No doubt I’m sick of all the fighting between the guys…60+ year old men acting like teenagers. I really wished they’d stick a fork in the band after all I’ve refused to see them since the Farewell tour. Farewell does mean bye. Still, I’ll always side with Gene and Paul because without them…it would have never lasted. End of story.
I saw them several times on the reunion tourS and nothing like this ever happened, maybe I was at the wong venues – did you actually witness this or are you just repeatig what others claim? Still Ace did make it. And how many bands out there do we know about what is going on behind the scenes, someone nearly not making it, because of drugs, egos etc.? No one gets to know because we can only see what is happening on stage. An that is all that matters in th end, the rest is their private business. In this money, sorry music business that might just be commomplace, so if you write about it in a book that is clearly designed to shoot back at the two that first wrote about the times back then,and were quite blunt about certain things regarding the hyper egos of the two “that kept the band going” (For what? For you, the fan? Or maybe for the big big money – compared to the seemingly much 2mill G and P made a real fortune, I can assure you) there is an obvious reason for emphasizing the “fact” that P and A were irresponsible freaks, and that is again rather creating than recalling Kisstory and getting back at them. I think Paul cannot understand that even though people might have witnessed and might have known that Ace would or could be unreliable they wanted to see them/him and that gave G and P the chance to earn two digit figures of millions of dollars which probably made it quite easy to stand A and P’s weird behaviour. And now Paul is making money of it again by selling the book, I call this hypocracy. End of argument.
Propaganda and JB awesome comments and I totally agree. What there is to this is that there are 4 original members and each have their own rabid following. I get it. Many of you on this site are obviously choosing to side in this sad Kiss Civil War where no our beloved Kiss Army has brother against brother lashing out at each other and always the two originals that stuck with the band all these years and I’m quite aware Gene is guilty of putting Kiss on backburner as well . Paul Stanley kept Kiss alive during many years when a lot of us fans still needed Kiss and the escape they have always help provide from the stresses of life. Peter in his book may have blamed somethings on himself and knocked himself sometimes but he spoke mostly that entire book harshly and derogatory of Gene and Paul and yes now Paul’s book will fire back. Why isn’t the fact the Kiss make-up designs scant live on when the two originals no longer want to record with Kiss,tour with Kiss, or even at one time even valued their designs less then the cash they took to throw it away. Eric Singer has been with Kiss for roughly 20 yrs..I was there since the 70s but Eric is by far my favorite drummer. He does NOT drum the same as Peter and never has half of the 40 and not inducted??..Now for Tommy he is a better far better guitarist than Bruce and technically better than Ace but while I also do not consider him fake , Ace is my favorite Kiss guitarist but his lack of responsibility,missed flights,forcing Kiss to pay airline another ticket just for his guitar or he would refuse to play Olympic that year in Utah. I mean I don’t need to mention drugs and alcohol. I know they are sober over 7 years yet they still are flawed. Gene and Paul are flawed as well. I guess what bothers me is that as much as I enjoyed growing up with the originals,then each era, I completely love the current lineup. And whether you hate the Spider stage, new albums,tours,Paul’s voice, it still is work that is written by all current players,co planned by each other and now 4 guys that are professional, solid as a band, and that what I like is the fact that Gene,Eric,Tommy,Paul hang out away from Kiss and actually like each other and have their own chemistry though different from the original band that I also enjoyed. The current band are friends and I for one dig that. I think it shows in the performance. The Spider stage is one of my favorite Kiss stages ever and I haven’t missed a tour from Dynasty on. That fact alone validates to ME the current validity of Kiss 2014. The HALL denied a Kiss jam with all members including Ace and Peter and had they not celebrating 40 years together would have been cool. But forcing Gene and Paul to play by the Hall’s rules would not be something I would be proud. I’m glad they stuck to their guns against an institution that makes fun of our favorite band and honestly doesn’t really even want them there. And had all this not happened with Halll so many words all sides will ONE DAY regrow would not have happened.
Great post JB
Can’t really argue with that.
I was indeed at a show where one of the guys didn’t show, and I drove eight hours to get there! The moment the show started we could tell it wasn’t Peter on the drums, turns out it was the drum tech, Eddie-something. Paul fessed-up after waiting to finish two songs, probably to save the gate. We of course stayed for the show but have always been suspect about it, felt a bit robbed so to speak. So three guys have worn the Catman persona for a live show, why isn’t this guy attending? Sounds silly to even ask that, but remember Mark St John only played three live shows with the band. The Hall say “original four,” so any others should gracefully bow out just for this night.
Respectfully, your post makes no sense whatsoever. You are so predisposed to hate Gene and Paul that your logical fails. Why didn’t they tell Ace to go??? How about for the very reason all the cry babies are throwing Gene and Paul under the bus for: to give him the benefit of the doubt. So what happened? Ace left YET AGAIN… AND badmouthed the band YET AGAIN when he left (saying he thought it was a one-and-done tour and then they’d all quit).
There’s always two (sometimes more!) sides to every story and while it is the easy and convenient way to bash Gene and Paul, it is not the most accurate. That Bruce, Eric, and Tommy were invited and will by all accounts attend, shows that five guys recognize that Kiss is bigger than any one person, and two people – who are no longer in the band of their own free will – are still stuck on the notion that they are bigger than the band.
What a stupid counter argument, if a band announces and embarks on a farewell tour, why would a member not think it actually is?? It is not about hate, that is your stupid way of wanting to look at it. critizign them does not mean hate, that is the typical (I fel tempted to say: American) way of exaggerating each and everyting. Btw, I and very many others here critize P and G because they are bashing A and P, it is just a normal reaction to set things even. There has probably been bad blood from all sides, but the amount of unnecessary bashing from G and P during the last, let’s say one or two years is just ridiculous and only aiming at minimizing their contribution to justify the current lineup’s existence. Do they need that? I do not think so, it is their band, they could go on without the bashing, that would much more become their age and their status in the business, so one gets suspicous that there are other reasons why they keep on shooting at them. Can YOU think of any or do you take G and P’s arguments for the truth?
Haters gonna hate in 3..2..1…
will gene & paul ever grow up? all this name calling childish bullshit, stop bashing each other for us fans and leave the legacy of 70’s kiss alone! hey gene & paul, if it wasn’t for 70’s kiss, there would be no 80’s kiss or any kiss today, that’s why HOF only want the original 4! with all-do respect to everybody else that was/is in kiss, especially eric carr, this night is just to celebrate the original kiss.
Gene, if it’s such “hogwash” as you put it, then please, don’t go.
Well the same can go for Eddie Trunk then. If the HOF is a sham and a joke, why is he attending?
For attention, what else? Eddie can’t lose in this soap opera.
At least the current KISS lineup will not perform in makeup, much to Ace and Peter’s satisfaction. With almost all living members of KISS together it’s a great way to celebrate KISS’ 40th Anniversary. I hope Paul and Gene track down Vinnie Vincent before the ceremony happens. It sounds Paul and Gene want to make a statement to the HoF by having Bruce, Eric, and Tommy with them, but you can also see who is part of Paul and Gene’s inner circle as well.