As a founding member of Kiss, Ace Frehley is often regarded as one of the most significant figures in the history of hard rock and heavy metal. Alongside bandmates Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmonds, Frehley helped popularise the genre and mutate it in a way that made it more commercially accessible. Given their innovations, it’s no wonder they’re still regarded as one of the biggest names in their field.
Their theatricality and pantomime appearance were a significant part of them being perceived differently by many of their peers, and the style of music that they made that blended heavy riffs with melodic hooks and pop sensibilities was crucial to their rise in stature during the 1970s and ‘80s. There’s certainly plenty about Kiss that could be described as corny, but at their core, they were incredibly accomplished performers and songwriters, and that’s why they were able to establish themselves at such a high level for so long.
However, while their pop credentials came from a mutual love of ‘60s pop acts from the UK such as The Beatles and The Yardbirds and later glam rock acts such as Slade, their heavier aspects came from a desire to be shocking and subversive in a similar manner to Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper. However, as the band’s guitarist, Frehley has always had plenty of other inspirations who have been a constant throughout his career.
Much like many others looking to master the instrument, Frehley looked up to Jimi Hendrix as a true icon of the instrument, and has proclaimed in the past that he believes the greatest album of all time is the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 debut, Are You Experienced?
In a 2023 interview with Classic Rock, the guitarist hailed the album as a life-changing record that sent him on the path to becoming the musician that he is, claiming that it was “revolutionary” and that he would regularly carry his copy of the album around with him as a teenager.
In a 2014 interview with Guitar World, he would sing the praises of the album, stating: “My guitar style was modelled after a lot of musicians, and Hendrix was definitely one of them. But even more than the music, what really influenced me was his attitude. The way he dressed, the way he looked. He was so anti-establishment, and nobody wrote music like him.”
He also recalled an early experience he had meeting his idol and said that after sneaking backstage at a Hendrix concert in 1969 when he was just 18 years old, he was asked if he wanted to be a roadie for the evening. “If you looked like you belonged with the band, they let you go backstage,” Frehley recounted. I had hair down to my waist, lemon-yellow hot pants and a black T-shirt with a snakeskin star on it. So they let me in. They put me to work setting up Mitch Mitchell’s drums and working on the stage when Jimi was playing. It was bizarre.”