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
o.k. MR. Stanley we get it, you & gene couldn’t work with ace & peter anymore, IF everything you say in your book is true, I will go as far as saying I can understand that much, but the name calling and the other bullshit is what I and most others have a problem with. you see it may not matter to you & gene, but to MOST kiss fans it DOES matter who’s behind the make-up! ace & peter created those characters, not tommy & eric, I agree with eddie trunk 100% that tommy & eric should be their own character, or just be themselves. ANYTHING except the spaceman & the catman! WE THE REAL FANS WILL ALWAYS SEE THE SPACEMAN & THE CATMAN AS ACE & PETER NO MATTER WHO YOU PUT THEIR MAKEUP ON!! and you & gene will always be the only starchild & demon, don’t you get it? DON’T YOU THINK THE “BRAND” OF KISS HAS GONE AS FAR AS IT CAN GO? why do you want to tarnish your own legacy?
hey paul Stanley one more thing, you & gene always talk about how much you care about the fans and how much we mean to you, BUT YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO US, the majority of us just want the original kiss to STAY the original kiss, BECAUSE WE CARE MORE ABOUT THE BAND THAN THE “BRAND”!!!!
So it only counts when Gene and Paul throw rocks. Hmm…so Ace and Peter have never said anything negative about the other two? Did you read their books? It goes both ways you know.
The difference would be that they did it IN THEIR BOOKS, they don’t take to twitter and they don’t use the media to throw stones ala Gene & Paul EVERY chance they get.
Of course people like them don’t understand what the high road is.
thank you buddy, excellent response.
Sad that’s it’s taken 40+ years of hard work touring, endless interviews battles with record labels over money etc. etc that Gene and Paul (as KISS’) leaders have done..to see all that ended in one night.
Refusing to play with Ace and Peter for one night will tarnish the entire legacy they have worked on in the view of it’s fans and KISStory itself.
“At table #1, the phonies with the endless soundbites. At table #2, the people who have heart and tell it like it is”…
Have heart and tell it like it is? That’s hilarious. It’s more like the two that need a liver transplant and tell it like it may or may not be because all my memories are clouded by booze and drugs.
You sound like Gene and Paul, did Gene buy a piece of your mind so you would spout the same ol dribble?
Think about the rock and roll hall of fame and who’s in it.
I wonder if Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrision, the Rolling Stones, etc, etc, etc, should all be thrown out for alcohol and drug abuse. LMAO
Sex, drugs, & Rock & Roll………..wonder if that was ever said before. 🙂
This really is “propaganda”, i.e. just the same lies and half-truths G and P try to sell us.
Anyone attending the ceremony? If so, get a chant of “Peter and Ace! Peter and Ace!” going…
I second that emotion , brother.
There have been enough members of KISS to make a wall calendar, one member per month…not supposed to be with a special band….