Daily Archives: December 20, 2013

PAUL STANLEY: It’s ‘Way Too Early’ To Discuss Which Members Of KISS Will Perform At ROCK HALL Induction Ceremony

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Blabbermouth

paulstanleysolo2013_638KISS members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons will be recognizing their former bandmates at the upcoming Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony next April at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Among the other inductees in the 2014 class are Peter Gabriel, NIRVANA, Linda Ronstadt, Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Cat Stevens. Although Simmons has sworn off ever reuniting with KISS co-founders Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, he tweeted a heartfelt message to all past and present members of KISS congratulating them on the honor: “Congratulations to Ace–Peter–Eric Carr (RIP)- Vinny–Mark (RIP)- Bruce–Tommy–Eric Singer & my partner Paul. And mostly, to The KISS ARMY.”

Seeing as how Simmons thanked former members Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick, many fans are already bracing themselves for a possible performance of all living members of KISS at the Rock Hall. Drummer Eric Carr died in 1991 at age 41 of heart cancer and guitarist Mark St. John died in 2007 at age 51 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Gene Simmons told Rolling Stone: “KISS is Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. It’s like, if you introduced me to your wife and I go, ‘Wait, where are all the other wives?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, I was married to them and now I’m here.'”

He went on to say that he was open to performing with Criss and Frehley at the ceremony, stating: “They were equally important in the formation of the band. When you have kids with your first wife, you give kudos. The fact you got remarried doesn’t delete or minimize the important. Hey, ‘You have gave birth to this thing, KISS, with Ace, Peter, Paul and Gene.'”

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KISS Inducted Into Hall Of Fame—Is Jann Wenner In A Coma?

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Cacey Moffitt | Chicagoist

Peter Cade

Peter Cade

Can someone give Jann Wenner a well-being check because we’re not exactly sure how he let his guard down long enough to allow KISS to be inducted into his mausoleum to the spirit of Woodstock aka the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The announcement came from up high this week that KISS is part of the class of 2014 inductees—along with Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, Hall and Oates, Peter Gabriel, Beatles producer Brian Epstein, The E Street Band and Andrew Loog Oldham, the legendary producer and manager of the Rolling Stones’ early career. But for KISS to actually make it past the gate keepers at the Hall was kind of surprising, given Wenner’s apparent distaste for anything that sniffs of hard rock or heavy metal.

KISS has been eligible for induction since 1997 but for some reason this is the first year the band was even nominated. Whether you love them or hate them, when you look at the criteria for induction it’s hard to say that KISS doesn’t meet the requirements laid out by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.

How many bands have been influenced by KISS, either musically or in terms of putting together a killer live show? We’re not even going to try to count. The significance of KISS’s contributions to rock and roll certainly can be debated. Let’s face it, KISS is a cheap thrills act. However, people love cheap thrills and if cheap thrills have no place in popular music then maybe we should scrap it as a whole and try to start all over.

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