Gang, we are going to try to make this the last article/editorial on KISS’s participation in the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A few days ago, Joel Peresman, the CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave some insight as to why Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer would not be inducted:
Thayer and 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.”
As expected, Paul Stanley had a rebuttal which was given on KISS’ official website:
“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame continues to restore its questionable credibility and glimpses behind the façade 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 Kilick who were both in the band through multi-platinum abums and worldwide tours and DIDN’T wear makeup.
There is no getting around the reality that the Hall of Fame’s favouritism 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.”
Polarizing sides isn’t it? The sad thing is both sides are one percent right…and one hundred percent wrong.
Peserman makes a valid point as Thayer and Singer have been performing in the last ten to fifteen years in the same get-up that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss created. KISS’s recording output over the last fifteen years had been sporadic and weak, and when in concert today, they plat 90 to 95 percent of 1970’s material; essentially the music popularized by the original foursome, thus rendering the creative contributions of Thayer and Singer to be minor at best and also rendering moot the point that Thayer and Singer appeared on Platinum selling albums, which again, they don’t play songs in during concert.
It should also be noted that legally, they are not even members of KISS; they are employees. By law, only Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are members, and this was the case as far back as the late 90’s reunion tour, where Ace and Peter were employees.
Now, in regards to Paul Stanley’s comments, his claims about the Grateful Dead are true, and there have been numerous questionable instances where the Hall of Fame omitted people who had a solid contribution to the inducted band (Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac for example), thus finding a discernable pattern is impossible; Basically the Hall does it wants, like Paul said.
Still, as we have written before, fans of the band are not exactly up in arms that Thayer and Singer were not included, and they more upset that a potential (and what could have been final) reunion of the four members on stage will not happen. That being said, when Rock and Roll Hall of Fame founder, Jann Wenner was on record as saying that KISS would not get into the Hall if “he had anything to say about it”, would you be accommodating in any way if you were Gene or Paul?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee is largely made up of critics; most of which detest the style of music that KISS performs. The band has been eligible for the Hall since 1999, and had the Hall induct a band who they may not have respected, but had to acknowledge on their Rock and Roll legacy of the 1970’s alone, they probably would have gotten away with inducting only those four, as the tenure of Thayer and Singer would not have been an issue.
Of course, the real tradition of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is the annual controversy that now comes with the ceremony itself, so why should this year be any different?
Now, we wonder how long we can go before bringing this topic up again!
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