KISS frontman Paul Stanley says the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame only wanted the original KISS lineup to play at the band’s induction in New York next month, and that’s one of the reasons he and partner Gene Simmons turned down the offer to perform.
“They wanted the original four guys to play, in makeup,” Stanley reveals in a new interview with Billboard. “But, honestly, I don't want to roll the dice and possibly negatively impact on what I personally have been involved in building for 40 years. I have too much invested at this point. It really is a can of worms that I feel is better off left closed. So there's been a lot of issues, and perhaps the best way to deal with them is to celebrate the four original guys and go there and get our award and to look past the differences that will always be there.”
“It doesn't change the big picture,” he adds. “We have differences and we will continue to have differences. It doesn't change who I want to play with and who represents KISS. 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. We should salute and enjoy an evening that celebrates what the four of us started. But there's always a lot of cloak and dagger stuff and a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes.”
Stanley has always questioned the validity of the Rock Hall and that won’t change when he becomes an inductee on April 10.
“Oh, it starts decades ago. That it's 14 years on (of eligibility) and we're getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a clear indication that the people who hide behind that moniker don't like us, but it reached a point where it was so absurd and ludicrous (to exclude KISS) that they caved,” Stanley explains. “But they're only going to induct the original four (members), and bringing up the idea of inducting members other than the original four...was shut down as a non-starter. It's a very valid argument considering that there are people who played on multi-platinum albums and played for millions of people and were very important for the continuation of the band. And clearly when you've got a busload of Grateful Dead (members) who have been inducted and guys in the Chili Peppers who nobody knows who they are because they played on the very earliest albums are inducted, and when the original drummer of Rush, John Rutsey, who played on a classic album, isn't inducted. The list goes on and on of the inconsistencies. Now, I'm not pointing fingers at any of those people, but I'm certainly pointing a finger at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The only consistencies are inconsistencies and the rules clearly are there are no rules because the criteria for how and who gets in is purely based upon a personal like or dislike. And when I feel we're being treated unfairly, I have issues with that.”
Asked why he feels the Rock Hall are drawing such a hard line with KISS, Stanley says “Well, it's like them swallowing a teaspoon of medicine they don't want. It's a bitter pill for them to swallow, so they're making it as small as possible. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is kind of like a distortion of a bar mitzvah. Just 'cause I'm getting inducted doesn't mean this has turned into a love fest.”
On April 10, KISS will be inducted into the Rock Hall along with Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt; the ceremony will be held at New York’s Barclays Center and HBO will record the event for broadcast in May.
Two days before the induction, Stanley will publish his autobiography, “Face The Music: A Life Exposed.”
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