Gene Simmons. I can't stand him. Every decision he has made in the last 6 years or so has just turned KISS more and more into a joke and is tarnishing their unreal legacy. Up until about 1995 I would easily say Kiss were undoubtedly the best hard rock band of all time and I loved everything they did almost. But since the Reunion Tour they've just done all the things they said they DIDN'T wanna do on videos like Xtreme.
What happened to "We're proud of our past and we wanna live up to it, but we have no intentions of living off it." And of course "KISS is a rock & roll band and I don't think that goes hand in hand with family entertainment."
Well back in the early '90s when they said that stuff their heads were in the right spot. How come the last 7 years all they have done is lived off their past and been a nostalgia act that IS a family attraction?
And putting people in original members' makeup is ridiculous. I mean fuck, I'd rather see Eric Singer than Peter Criss anyday (and these days I'd rather see Tommy Thayer, being a Black N Blue fan, than Ace Frehley as well), but DON'T DRESS THEM UP AS ACE & PETER! I don't wanna see Eric pretend to be Peter, I wanna see Eric! And I don't wanna see Tommy playing Ace's style and doing Ace's moves. I wanna see Tommy playing his own style.
When Eric Carr, Eric Singer, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick etc all originally joined the band they were seen as a new member who brought something new of their own to the KISS sound. Why can't Tommy do that too? And why can't Eric Singer keep doing that? It's fucking stupid to just make them copy Ace & Peter because they aren't Ace & Peter. KISS isn't a tribute band and they should be moving FORWARD and not hiring people to pay tribute to ex-members.
And I blame 90% of all this on Gene Simmons as well because since the Reunion he has been the prime decision maker in the band and has been running their affairs. And also I know that Paul Stanley's heart is with rock & roll not money. Though he loves money alot as well, being famous and having money to him as he has said just means he can forget worrying about money and live his dream rock & roll lifestyle to the full. To Gene Simmons though he doesn't care about that, he just uses his money to make more money, he is a businessman.
During the non-makeup era when Gene was off making movies and running his record label and Paul was running the show with KISS, they were at their best I think. They were moving forward, they had a great sound, he was the focus of the band, the songs were better, the musicianship was better, the stageshows each year had something new and different and they were progressing and keeping fresh with the current hard rock styles while still being 100% rock & roll and 100% KISS. Now that Gene is the man making the decisions, it's all "let's try to recapture Destroyer & Love Gun for the rest of our career coz thats all the fans want". YEAH RIGHT.
But I do have to say, regardless of all that, I will still always go see KISS when they come out because unlike most bands their age, they will always guarantee a great show. I don't care that they wear wigs on stage - I mean if you go see a rock & roll show, would you rather see big black hair, makeup & leather put on a big show, or would you rather see balding grey haired guys with wrinkles "having a jam"? I'll take the first one. So good on 'em for still delivering a big show instead of putting on the kind of shows bands like Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, and even Van Halen when Gary was singing etc put on these days which are boring as hell!
