“What’s wrong with giving ten minutes of your time for the forty years that you’ve given us?”
-Peter Criss on VH1 Classic’s "That Metal Show"
As deeply as I have intended for Synesthesia to be a virtual haven for celebration and uplift, I hope that you won't mind that I feel the need to vent.
By this time, the gargantuan rock band KISS has achieved two most significant milestones. First, the band was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for the very first time, a most surprising feat, as I was certain that must have been featured on the cover during the 1970's. But even greater than that accomplishment, KISS has now been rightfully inducted into this year's class for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Now, all of that would be well and good but of course, there has been a certain amount of controversy regarding their induction. As with the Academy Awards, an event I celebrate and yet I am simultaneously irritated by due to the political structure of the event which sits at odds with the actual art of the movies, I do realize that being inducted the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame suffers from the same dubious issues.
While I am actually not terribly aware of the Hall Of Fame's rules and regulations, one that did indeed stand out this time around was brought to mass attention by KISS guitarist/singer/songwriter Paul Stanley forever known as "The Starchild," whether he wears the iconic make-up or not. He expressed his distaste when discovered that if KISS was going to be inducted, then only the four original members, which also include bassist/singer/songwriter Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), lead guitarist/songwriter/singer Ace Frehley ("Space Ace" or "The Spaceman") and drummer/singer/songwriter Peter Criss ("The Cat"), would officially be inducted and not any of the musicians who joined the band over the years after both Criss and Frehley departed. Yes, Stanley was indeed right to call out the Hall Of Fame for its inconsistencies, bringing up the Red Hot Chili Peppers' induction, which supposedly included every member who had ever taken part in that band.
But, this piece is not about the rules and regulations regarding induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Dear readers and listeners, this piece is simply about me expressing my dissatisfaction, or better yet my sadness, at the fact that Stanley, Simmons, Frehley and Criss could not get themselves together to perhaps perform together one more time just for the sake of the event, and most importantly, for the 40 years worth of fans whose devotion as members of the legendary "KISS Army" assisted greatly to bring the band to this monumental moment in time in the first place. And hey, even if the band did not perform, could they at least just stand shoulder to shoulder in musical and superheroic brotherhood instead of the deep animosity and acrimony that has remained entrenched between them?
With those sentiments, I am fully aware that I am dramatically speaking against feelings I have always harbored towards bands and musicians who once created music together but now do not for the waters under the bridge are just too terribly deep to cross. I am also more than aware that bands consist of real live human beings who sometimes have made great music and musical history despite the actual relationships that may or may not exist between the band members. In short, the people that comprise the members of a band are not always friends, and the very things one would have endured during one's late teens or twenties are not the things they would continue to endure in their forties, fifties or even sixties. People grow up. People move on and not always together and that fact of life is entirely understandable, especially under the intense and highly unusual circumstances of being professional musicians who have achieved a certain level of recognizable fame and fortune.
Sometimes, there is great harmony within and between band members, as in the band Rush, for instance, where the bonds of friendship and loyalty between bassist/keyboardist/songwriter/singer Geddy Lee, guitarist/songwriter Alex Lifeson and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart are seemingly carved into stone. But on the other hand, for a band like The Smashing Pumpkins, where the tensions between the original four band members have grown to be so paramount that it is extremely difficult to imagine them ever standing in the same room together let alone perform together, you realize that perhaps, and despite all of the great music they created together, those four people are probably individuals that possibly should have never joined forces together at all.
All of that being said, there is this part of me that wishes that KISS happened to be different than all of the others, which is an odd sentiment to have considering how I could see, understand and accept how even The Beatles disbanded and the emotional turbulence that followed immediately after the break-up. Yes, I know all about the tensions between the band members of KISS. Yes, I know of the variety of excesses that have fractured the original members' relationships with each other. Hell, they have each written tell-all books in which they have lacerated each other mercilessly. But even so, the rock and roll fantasy has remained in my heart for KISS and why not? For what else is KISS but a rock and roll fantasy world come to vibrant, explosive life?
If you grew up during the 1970s as I did, the band KISS most definitely carved out a specialized space within your memories. For me, and especially as I was under 10 years old during much of their towering notoriety, KISS just had it ALL!!! I loved them just as much as they terrified me. I just waited to hear their songs played on WLS-AM and loved every single one I heard from studio gems like "Hard Luck Woman," to the iconic live tracks line "Rock And Roll All Nite." I loved seeing KISS in photographs, on their album covers and especially on television programs which always presented me with images that were just unfathomable to my very young and impressionable mind. The costumes were outlandishly spectacular, the makeup equally so, the characters they played were appropriately from another universe and the band just looked as if all of its members were 18 feet tall!! While Gene Simmons frightened me terribly, I reasoned to myself that if Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley could play music with him then he could not have been all bad.
And then, there was the music. Or better yet the performances, which re-defined what a spectacle could actually be. Screaming guitars, soaring vocals, and pounding drums augmented with all manner of flashing lights, glitter and sparkle and astounding pyrotechnics. KISS somehow combined rock and roll with horror films, the circus, comic books, science fiction and a massive theatricality that was impossible to resist and transformed the group into an organism that transcended existing as "just" a rock band. To me, as to millions upon millions of others, the members of KISS were real life superheroes.
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Because of those feelings, I had a KISS lunchbox, KISS action figures as well as all four KISS solo albums which were all released on the same date of September 18, 1978. I watched their now infamous television movie "KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park" (1978) and of course, I possessed the famous KISS comic book from Marvel comics--the very one that was printed with their own blood and one that my Father heroically drove me around Chicago to locate at local comic book shops as it was sold out nearly everywhere! (THANK YOU, Dad!!!)
I loved, also like the superhero teams of The Avengers or The Justice League, how each band member possessed their own individual personality traits (and in the comic book version and television movie, their own brand of super powers), making it quite easy to gravitate towards certain members while loving them as a complete entity. As previously stated, Simmons was much too horrifying foe me, thus leaving the other three members, out of which I found myself gravitating to Ace Frehley for his interstellar aloofness and to Peter Criss because he really made me want to bash the skins just like he did.
And I think that this may sit at the core of why I am just so upset at the behavior of Simmons and Stanley towards Frehley and Criss at this time that should otherwise be completely celebratory. Everything just feels like what is occurring between them is so far beyond "artistic differences" or even four men who have long reached the end of their respective tethers with each other. It even feels like things have dissolved far past beyond even business transgressions because, let's face it, the business of KISS has always been a part of the package (and I am certain that some would argue that the business is what has solely fueled the band for most of its career). What is occurring right now feels like erasure propelled by emotions that are flat out mercenary.
The behavior of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley has truly been reprehensible as far as I am concerned. Yes, there has been the standard slagging off of the former bandmates' contributions as Frehley and Criss have long been criticized for supposedly not having any talent. Even in the current Rolling Stone issue, Paul Stanley proclaims, in regards to Ace Frehley's guitar hero status that "Just because you're voted number-one guitar player in Circus magazine over Jimmy Page doesn't mean you really are." As for his opinions on Peter Criss, well, those are even worse. In reference to KISS' signature ballad "Beth," which Peter Criss co-wrote and sang lead vocals in that endearing Rod Stewart-esque rasp, "Peter can't write a song because Peter can't play an instrument." Furthermore, Gene Simmons not only exclaims that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss "don't deserve to wear the paint," but that both former bandmates "never thought of anything anyway."
While Frehley and Criss certainly do not need any sense of protection from me, especially as they can give it as good as they get it (and do), with regards to the statements and sentiments expressed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, I call bullshit on that!
With Ace Frehley, no matter how heavily Simmons and Stanley try to protest or discredit him, there is no denying that Frehley's flamethrower lead guitar heroics inspired a generation of guitarists as members of Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam among others have all attested. As for never having thought of anything regarding the evolution of KISS, I again call bullshit on that as Ace Frehley was the one who designed the iconic KISS logo! And as for those four simultaneously released solo albums, Ace Frehley's, which incidentally featured the one hit single ("New York Groove") from the quartet of albums, was and remains the very best one by a landslide!!! It is an album that I fell for the hardest as a child and tit is the one I have listened to consistently ever since--next to Paul Stanley's, which was a close second (and as flawed as Peter Criss' solo album is, I have to say that Gene Simmons' was easily the worst).
With Peter Criss, I would argue that he inspired as many drummers as Frehley inspired guitarists. With his jazzy, Gene Krupa styled playing, Criss propelled the band's rhythms in unpredictable ways that always elevated the song and made me want to find a set of drums for myself to bash along with. If anything, just listen to a song like "Calling Dr. Love," penned by Simmons, but was catapulted into the stratosphere by Frehley's blazing guitar work and Criss' aggressive, swinging performance as much as Stanley's power chords and Simmons' enthusiastic vocals and bass playing. If you took one element away from the song, it would collapse as no one person created the ferociousness that KISS was. It was a group effort. It was teamwork.
But hey, I get it. They all hate each other now. Even the relationship between Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley feels strained and more out of financial necessity than genuine emotions. But even so, why are Simmons and Stanley trying to erase their own past, or at least the existence of the other two men who were there with them from the beginning? What I am referring to is the fact that KISS now has welcomed drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer into the fold. Now dear readers and listeners, I have no issue whatsoever with KISS continuing onwards without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. I have no issue whatsoever with KISS continuing onwards period. But what I do have a major issue with is that Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are each dressed up to look like Peter Criss and Ace Frehley respectively, thus creating the image of a band that doesn't even exist anymore. It reduces KISS to essentially becoming a cover band version of themselves, which is also quite a slap in the face of the KISS cover bands in the world because those bands clearly love the music and the legend and are more reverential than Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley happen to be.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, in their actions, are pretending that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were never even part of the equation while they simultaneously have these two other musicians, who really are being treated as hired hand or understudies, emulating the original members for live audiences. It is disingenuous. It is deceitful. And it angers me that these two men would actually have audiences believe that they are indeed witnessing people who are really not on the stage at all. Why not have Singer and Thayer create their own make-up and KISS personas. That would take too much work and creativity, I guess, especially when they can make a fortune pretending they are something they have long ceased to be. Simmons and Stanley just should have created robots, as these actions are so shamelessly soulless.
And this all leads us to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. I was stunned and surprised to see Peter Criss as a guest on he VHI Classic program "That Metal Show" one morning and I was truly taken by his take on the proceedings, which had yet to fully occur.
“I got a call from [KISS leaders] Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley], which I hadn’t got a call from them in many, many, many, many, many moons, including when I had my cancer...And so, all of a sudden, I get a call and I’m being congratulated. ‘We’re gonna have fun.’ And I’m thinking… And I know, as I wrote in my book, there’s a lot of bad blood, and I just don’t trust [those guys] anymore. And I took it with a grain of salt and said, ‘Maybe.’ But then again, I had to go back and read the book myself and go, ‘What, are you crazy? Nothing’s changing. It doesn’t matter what goes on. Something’s gonna happen.’ And I said to [my wife], ‘It sounds too good to be true.’...The fact that we’re not performing is heartbreaking. I wanted to. I thought we were going to. I was all up for it. I was crazy enough to think, even if I had to get back in the ‘Cat’ outfit, I would have been proud to do it. Because, whether in or out of makeup, I’ll always be the ‘Catman.’”
By this time, the gargantuan rock band KISS has achieved two most significant milestones. First, the band was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for the very first time, a most surprising feat, as I was certain that must have been featured on the cover during the 1970's. But even greater than that accomplishment, KISS has now been rightfully inducted into this year's class for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Now, all of that would be well and good but of course, there has been a certain amount of controversy regarding their induction. As with the Academy Awards, an event I celebrate and yet I am simultaneously irritated by due to the political structure of the event which sits at odds with the actual art of the movies, I do realize that being inducted the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame suffers from the same dubious issues.
While I am actually not terribly aware of the Hall Of Fame's rules and regulations, one that did indeed stand out this time around was brought to mass attention by KISS guitarist/singer/songwriter Paul Stanley forever known as "The Starchild," whether he wears the iconic make-up or not. He expressed his distaste when discovered that if KISS was going to be inducted, then only the four original members, which also include bassist/singer/songwriter Gene Simmons ("The Demon"), lead guitarist/songwriter/singer Ace Frehley ("Space Ace" or "The Spaceman") and drummer/singer/songwriter Peter Criss ("The Cat"), would officially be inducted and not any of the musicians who joined the band over the years after both Criss and Frehley departed. Yes, Stanley was indeed right to call out the Hall Of Fame for its inconsistencies, bringing up the Red Hot Chili Peppers' induction, which supposedly included every member who had ever taken part in that band.
But, this piece is not about the rules and regulations regarding induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Dear readers and listeners, this piece is simply about me expressing my dissatisfaction, or better yet my sadness, at the fact that Stanley, Simmons, Frehley and Criss could not get themselves together to perhaps perform together one more time just for the sake of the event, and most importantly, for the 40 years worth of fans whose devotion as members of the legendary "KISS Army" assisted greatly to bring the band to this monumental moment in time in the first place. And hey, even if the band did not perform, could they at least just stand shoulder to shoulder in musical and superheroic brotherhood instead of the deep animosity and acrimony that has remained entrenched between them?
With those sentiments, I am fully aware that I am dramatically speaking against feelings I have always harbored towards bands and musicians who once created music together but now do not for the waters under the bridge are just too terribly deep to cross. I am also more than aware that bands consist of real live human beings who sometimes have made great music and musical history despite the actual relationships that may or may not exist between the band members. In short, the people that comprise the members of a band are not always friends, and the very things one would have endured during one's late teens or twenties are not the things they would continue to endure in their forties, fifties or even sixties. People grow up. People move on and not always together and that fact of life is entirely understandable, especially under the intense and highly unusual circumstances of being professional musicians who have achieved a certain level of recognizable fame and fortune.
Sometimes, there is great harmony within and between band members, as in the band Rush, for instance, where the bonds of friendship and loyalty between bassist/keyboardist/songwriter/singer Geddy Lee, guitarist/songwriter Alex Lifeson and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart are seemingly carved into stone. But on the other hand, for a band like The Smashing Pumpkins, where the tensions between the original four band members have grown to be so paramount that it is extremely difficult to imagine them ever standing in the same room together let alone perform together, you realize that perhaps, and despite all of the great music they created together, those four people are probably individuals that possibly should have never joined forces together at all.
All of that being said, there is this part of me that wishes that KISS happened to be different than all of the others, which is an odd sentiment to have considering how I could see, understand and accept how even The Beatles disbanded and the emotional turbulence that followed immediately after the break-up. Yes, I know all about the tensions between the band members of KISS. Yes, I know of the variety of excesses that have fractured the original members' relationships with each other. Hell, they have each written tell-all books in which they have lacerated each other mercilessly. But even so, the rock and roll fantasy has remained in my heart for KISS and why not? For what else is KISS but a rock and roll fantasy world come to vibrant, explosive life?
And then, there was the music. Or better yet the performances, which re-defined what a spectacle could actually be. Screaming guitars, soaring vocals, and pounding drums augmented with all manner of flashing lights, glitter and sparkle and astounding pyrotechnics. KISS somehow combined rock and roll with horror films, the circus, comic books, science fiction and a massive theatricality that was impossible to resist and transformed the group into an organism that transcended existing as "just" a rock band. To me, as to millions upon millions of others, the members of KISS were real life superheroes.
I loved, also like the superhero teams of The Avengers or The Justice League, how each band member possessed their own individual personality traits (and in the comic book version and television movie, their own brand of super powers), making it quite easy to gravitate towards certain members while loving them as a complete entity. As previously stated, Simmons was much too horrifying foe me, thus leaving the other three members, out of which I found myself gravitating to Ace Frehley for his interstellar aloofness and to Peter Criss because he really made me want to bash the skins just like he did.
And I think that this may sit at the core of why I am just so upset at the behavior of Simmons and Stanley towards Frehley and Criss at this time that should otherwise be completely celebratory. Everything just feels like what is occurring between them is so far beyond "artistic differences" or even four men who have long reached the end of their respective tethers with each other. It even feels like things have dissolved far past beyond even business transgressions because, let's face it, the business of KISS has always been a part of the package (and I am certain that some would argue that the business is what has solely fueled the band for most of its career). What is occurring right now feels like erasure propelled by emotions that are flat out mercenary.
While Frehley and Criss certainly do not need any sense of protection from me, especially as they can give it as good as they get it (and do), with regards to the statements and sentiments expressed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, I call bullshit on that!
With Ace Frehley, no matter how heavily Simmons and Stanley try to protest or discredit him, there is no denying that Frehley's flamethrower lead guitar heroics inspired a generation of guitarists as members of Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam among others have all attested. As for never having thought of anything regarding the evolution of KISS, I again call bullshit on that as Ace Frehley was the one who designed the iconic KISS logo! And as for those four simultaneously released solo albums, Ace Frehley's, which incidentally featured the one hit single ("New York Groove") from the quartet of albums, was and remains the very best one by a landslide!!! It is an album that I fell for the hardest as a child and tit is the one I have listened to consistently ever since--next to Paul Stanley's, which was a close second (and as flawed as Peter Criss' solo album is, I have to say that Gene Simmons' was easily the worst).
With Peter Criss, I would argue that he inspired as many drummers as Frehley inspired guitarists. With his jazzy, Gene Krupa styled playing, Criss propelled the band's rhythms in unpredictable ways that always elevated the song and made me want to find a set of drums for myself to bash along with. If anything, just listen to a song like "Calling Dr. Love," penned by Simmons, but was catapulted into the stratosphere by Frehley's blazing guitar work and Criss' aggressive, swinging performance as much as Stanley's power chords and Simmons' enthusiastic vocals and bass playing. If you took one element away from the song, it would collapse as no one person created the ferociousness that KISS was. It was a group effort. It was teamwork.
But hey, I get it. They all hate each other now. Even the relationship between Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley feels strained and more out of financial necessity than genuine emotions. But even so, why are Simmons and Stanley trying to erase their own past, or at least the existence of the other two men who were there with them from the beginning? What I am referring to is the fact that KISS now has welcomed drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer into the fold. Now dear readers and listeners, I have no issue whatsoever with KISS continuing onwards without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. I have no issue whatsoever with KISS continuing onwards period. But what I do have a major issue with is that Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are each dressed up to look like Peter Criss and Ace Frehley respectively, thus creating the image of a band that doesn't even exist anymore. It reduces KISS to essentially becoming a cover band version of themselves, which is also quite a slap in the face of the KISS cover bands in the world because those bands clearly love the music and the legend and are more reverential than Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley happen to be.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, in their actions, are pretending that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were never even part of the equation while they simultaneously have these two other musicians, who really are being treated as hired hand or understudies, emulating the original members for live audiences. It is disingenuous. It is deceitful. And it angers me that these two men would actually have audiences believe that they are indeed witnessing people who are really not on the stage at all. Why not have Singer and Thayer create their own make-up and KISS personas. That would take too much work and creativity, I guess, especially when they can make a fortune pretending they are something they have long ceased to be. Simmons and Stanley just should have created robots, as these actions are so shamelessly soulless.
“I got a call from [KISS leaders] Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley], which I hadn’t got a call from them in many, many, many, many, many moons, including when I had my cancer...And so, all of a sudden, I get a call and I’m being congratulated. ‘We’re gonna have fun.’ And I’m thinking… And I know, as I wrote in my book, there’s a lot of bad blood, and I just don’t trust [those guys] anymore. And I took it with a grain of salt and said, ‘Maybe.’ But then again, I had to go back and read the book myself and go, ‘What, are you crazy? Nothing’s changing. It doesn’t matter what goes on. Something’s gonna happen.’ And I said to [my wife], ‘It sounds too good to be true.’...The fact that we’re not performing is heartbreaking. I wanted to. I thought we were going to. I was all up for it. I was crazy enough to think, even if I had to get back in the ‘Cat’ outfit, I would have been proud to do it. Because, whether in or out of makeup, I’ll always be the ‘Catman.’”
Yes!!! Peter Criss IS The Catman, and NOBODY else is.
Criss' interview continued with such earnestness that I had the feeling that he was being sincere and not out to gather please for sympathy. When he expressed to the audience that after leaving KISS, he purposefully never played with any other bands because he had already felt that he played in the best band in the world, I felt a sense of pride, accomplishment and therefore, an honesty that has long eluded the likes of Gene Simmons. But then again, perhaps Simmons' behavior is as honest as Criss' as he's in it for the cold hard cash and he certainly does not try to hide that fact. But wasn't KISS supposed to be more than that? I don't know but maybe I just wanted them to be.
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