Hall of Fame CEO Explains Why They Excluded Current Kiss Mem

[tater1977]

Hall of Fame CEO Explains Why They Excluded Current Kiss Members

by Nick DeRiso
March 18, 2014

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/hall-of- ... statement/


The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has explained why only four members of Kiss were chosen for induction into their organization, prompting a strong response from singer / guitarist Paul Stanley.

Remaining founders Gene Simmons and Stanley would like to see subsequent members of the group recognized, while the hall has limited the award to Kiss’s original lineup, which also included Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. When he was rebuffed, Stanley said Kiss wouldn’t appear.

“We have other artists, other inductees showing up and performing when they can,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation CEO Joel Peresman tells Billboard. “We’re very hopeful that Ace and Peter and Paul and Gene come and accept their award. We’re obviously honored to have them inducted.”

Stanley confirms that he will attend the ceremony, set for April 10 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But he likewise isn’t budging on his insistence that contributors like Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, who have performed together in the current Kiss lineup since 2002, should also be on stage.

“There are a lot of people who are great inspirations to me, and still are, who are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for that reason and the fact that fans want us in there, I graciously and vigorously will be there to accept the award,” Stanley says. “We should salute and enjoy an evening that celebrates what the four of us started. But just because I’m getting inducted doesn’t mean it’s turned into a love fest.”

Peresman also outlined the reasons behind the decision to limit the induction to Kiss’ initial founding members, saying Thayer and Eric Singer “are fine musicians who … basically have the same makeup and are the same characters that Ace and Peter started. It’s not like they created these other characters with different makeup and playing different songs. They took the persona of characters that were created by Ace and Peter.”

This statement prompted a fast and direct rebuttal from Stanley, posted on the band’s official website and included in full below:


The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame continues to attempt to restore its questionable credibility and glimpses behind the facade with nonsense and half truths.

The truth is Joel Peresman and the rest of the decision makers refused to consider the induction of ANY former KISS members and specifically the late Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick who were both in the band through multi-platinum albums and worldwide tours and DIDN’T* wear makeup.

There is no getting around the reality that the Hall of Fame’s favoritism and preferential treatment towards artists they like goes as far as ASKING the Grateful Dead how many members THEY wanted the hall to induct and following their directive while also including a songwriter who was never in the actual band.

Let’s just accept the truth as it is and move on.

- Paul Stanley

*Note: Carr wore his own unique, fox-themed makeup from the time he joined the group in 1980 until their public “unmasking” in 1983.

Kiss has moved on from the controversy, announcing a co-headlining tour this with Def Leppard and a massive vinyl reissue project. Stanley will also release an autobiography called ‘Face The Music: A Life Exposed’ just two days before their induction, on April 8.

[scarab]

Its pretty simple, perform or don't perform, accept the award as the four originals and give out a shout out to all the memmbers you want for helping keep KISS alive. I agree with the Hall, imagaine letting Arnel perform at the Journey ROR induction?
Luckily he wont ever get a chance.

[Memorex]

If Journey were inducted now, even if Arnel wasn't, he would perform with them. He's their singer. I don't think the decision is on who can perform, it's on who is inducted, right?

[verslibre]

If Journey were inducted now, even if Arnel wasn't, he would perform with them. He's their singer. I don't think the decision is on who can perform, it's on who is inducted, right?

Right, but Gene and (mainly) Paul don't want to perform with Ace and Peter because assholes don't come bigger than they do.

[AR]

KISS are my favorite band of all time. I don't want them to perform simply because Paul's voice now sounds like he gargles with razor blades.

[scarab]

If Journey were inducted now, even if Arnel wasn't, he would perform with them. He's their singer. I don't think the decision is on who can perform, it's on who is inducted, right?

wrong or right, the hall is all about "legacy". Who made the band be "worthy"
should receive the honor.

Kiss wont perform, that cool, in protest they should show and accept the honor,thank all members, original, current, and past.

[No Surprize]

If I were KISS I would have told them to take their token award and shove it up their ass's when they were supposedly "honored" with the induction in to the hall of shame. Kiss should have been inducted long before this. And let's get the facts straight. Kiss never said they wouldn't get up onstage and perform with Ace & Peter. What they also wanted were the other band members who came after them, played on many albums, toured the world many times, and were in the band a lot longer than the original two to be included in the induction, just like every other band thru the years has been able to. Fuck them gay ass cocksuckers who shun many great bands because they don't bow in their presence. I'm glad their not performing also and I hope Gene & Paul after accepting the award, thanks their fans, then smash's the award into a million pieces and tell's them "thanks, but no thanks".

[tater1977]

Ace Frehley Calls Current Kiss Lineup ‘Half a Cover Band’

by Jeff Giles March 19, 2014

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/ace-freh ... over-band/

Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley regards the current version of the group as “half a Kiss cover band,” but he insists he isn’t losing any sleep over the group’s refusal to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony next month.

Frehley shared his feelings during a recent chat with Revolver, reiterating that this latest Kiss controversy occurred because remaining founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley wanted to perform at the ceremony with current members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, while the Rock Hall was only interested in making room for the original foursome: Simmons, Stanley, Frehley, and drummer Peter Criss. “Last I heard, there’s going to be no performance,” Frehley shrugged. “There has been a lot of negotiating behind closed doors and I’m sworn to secrecy. But last I heard, there’s just going to be no performance.”

Reflecting on his recent on-stage reunion with Criss, Frehley mused, “I’ve been reading stuff on the Internet and Paul and Gene have been insinuating that maybe Peter and myself don’t have it anymore, which is a load of crap. We proved otherwise … but aside from that, it’s very misleading. I think somehow they wanted to validate the current lineup. I don’t have a problem with the current lineup. It is what it is — it’s half a Kiss cover band.”

Admitting that Stanley “brought out the inconsistencies” in the Rock Hall’s induction process when he pointed out that some bands have been allowed to induct replacement members and others haven’t, Frehley refused to “take potshots” at the Hall, saying, “It’s a cool organization. But it is what it is.” And that basically sums up his public attitude toward being denied an opportunity to perform at the induction ceremony, too — as he put it, “I don’t know what the reason is. And at this point, I don’t care because it was renting so much space in my head, it was affecting my creativity and finishing up my record.”

[AR]

What Kiss should have done when offered the Rock Hall nomination

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/binky-philips/kiss-blew-it_b_5007532.html

[No Surprize]

Great read Ed. Thanks for posting. Damn, I'm a sick motherfucker today.

[G.I.Jim]

Its pretty simple, perform or don't perform, accept the award as the four originals and give out a shout out to all the memmbers you want for helping keep KISS alive. I agree with the Hall, imagaine letting Arnel perform at the Journey ROR induction?
Luckily he wont ever get a chance.

Journey didn't have any big radio hits with Arnel. kiss has had numerous hits with Carr and Kullick. Big difference. My favorite era of Kiss was the 80'S an Ace and Peter had nothing to do with that. I totally get where Paul is coming from and I would do the same in his shoes. Fuck the hall of shame!

[AR]

Its pretty simple, perform or don't perform, accept the award as the four originals and give out a shout out to all the memmbers you want for helping keep KISS alive. I agree with the Hall, imagaine letting Arnel perform at the Journey ROR induction?
Luckily he wont ever get a chance.

Journey didn't have any big radio hits with Arnel. kiss has had numerous hits with Carr and Kullick. Big difference. My favorite era of Kiss was the 80'S an Ace and Peter had nothing to do with that. I totally get where Paul is coming from and I would do the same in his shoes. Fuck the hall of shame!

Kiss only had 1 top 40 hit with the Carr/Kulick lineup - "Forever"

[jestor92]

I can see if after 1979 KISS ceased to do anything musically, but they remained popular. They had a run of gold and platinum records from Lick It Up through Alive III. They had songs that good songs that still remain in the setlist to this day: Lick It Up, I Love It Loud, War Machine, Heaven's On Fire, Tears Are Falling, Crazy Crazy Nights, Forever, Unholy, and God Gave Rock and Roll To You. If the RnR HOF isn't willing to elect every member of KISS they should only be electing Gene and Paul to the HOF. I mean don't get me wrong. Ace and Peter were very key parts of the early days, but seriously after 1979 what have they done? Ace had mild success in the late 80's while Peter's claim to fame after KISS was a report that he was homeless around 1989.

[AR]

I can see if after 1979 KISS ceased to do anything musically, but they remained popular. They had a run of gold and platinum records from Lick It Up through Alive III. They had songs that good songs that still remain in the setlist to this day: Lick It Up, I Love It Loud, War Machine, Heaven's On Fire, Tears Are Falling, Crazy Crazy Nights, Forever, Unholy, and God Gave Rock and Roll To You. If the RnR HOF isn't willing to elect every member of KISS they should only be electing Gene and Paul to the HOF. I mean don't get me wrong. Ace and Peter were very key parts of the early days, but seriously after 1979 what have they done? Ace had mild success in the late 80's while Peter's claim to fame after KISS was a report that he was homeless around 1989.

Agree with most of this. However.......

Kiss's tour attendance became anemic until they brought Ace and Peter back in 1996. They were the cause for the band's resurgence. If they were so replaceable then there would be no need to dress Tommy and Eric up in the makeup that Ace and Peter designed.

I do see both sides of the story here. Ace and Peter made their own beds and have to have to lay in them. However Gene and Paul are talking out of there ass when they say "it's all about the fans". It isn't. It's all about the brand.

Point blank, Paul Stanley is the weak link out of anyone in the original 4. He fucking sounds like a dying cat on stage and I wouldn't pay a dime to see them in 2014. Sometimes you need to know when it is time to leave the party. Paul has been toast for about 5 years now.

[verslibre]

Kiss's tour attendance became anemic until they brought Ace and Peter back in 1996.

The only fans JISS, I mean KISS, had during the no-makeup years were hangers-on who held on to every waking breath that Ace & Peter would come back. As soon as A&P did, they sold out, was it Tiger Stadium, like instantaneously?

And for the most part, post-70s Kisstunes suck. "Lets! Put! The X in SEX!"

[tater1977]

SPRINGSTEEN, TOM MORELLO, EAGLES' GLENN FREY,

http://youtu.be/-wo2fAVjZX4

Today the Rock Hall announced that REM's Michael Stipe, Glenn Frey of The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay's Chris Martin were going to induct this year's class of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees, but see who will induct who, here!

[mrsromek]

Chris Martin should just go away. Who's next to induct someone, John Mayer? The RRHOF is a joke. I'm surprised Wilson Phillips didn't get in this year. Their debut came out 25 years ago, right, or will they be in the class of 2015?