"Your honor, I'm just a caveman. This music confuses and frightens me...sometimes i have to plug my ears so I can concentrate on counting the green paper..." lol
Speaking as a guitar player, hate to break it to you Gene, but any kid including me that ever picked up a guitar was because Ace inspired us some way down the line, you didn't!!!!
Yeah I hate hypocrites. People who don't live by their own rules but they expect other people to live by them. And get mad and criticize them for not living by them.
Egg zactly! The most work Gene seems to put in is researching everything from hand gestures to orange juice to see if he can get a copyright on it. You're precisely correct, Gene: you can't bullshit a bullshitter.
GENE has the nerve to call Ace and Peter insecure?? LOLOL This from a guy who has had LOTS of plastic surgery on his face, and who has a bad hair dye job that looks like a black cat died on top of his head.
The thing is Gene and Paul wanted Ace to stay both times he quit lol the first time it cost kiss a lot of money and I think they still resent Ace for that but it’s like Ace said “what good is all that money if you’re dead?”
Tommy is way better as an actual guitarist though,he is substandard as a guitarist truly. Joe satria I is a guitarist. Ace is a blues box beginner. My Nephew plays better than him on a bad day and he's played for a year,, truth hurts.
@@wavularBS….in 1975 he was doing things that every decent heavy metal guitarist was trying to emulate a decade later. He was more than a Blues box beginner…he was doing heavy metal licks before the term heavy metal was even being used.
He was talented. His creativity and ability to play interesting music diminished greatly once the made it big in the mid 70s and the drugs and booze took over. I saw him on his ‘07 solo tour. He had no merch for sale to speak of. One t-shirt was about it. Lost opportunities abound with this guy.
It takes practice and an ear for music & what sounds good. That is something that not everybody has. If you have no ear for music you cannot be a good musician period.
When it comes to Kiss I agree with you. Be that as it may when you have someone like so, who Is unprofessional and cannot do his job/perform, doesn't contribute much nor a partner of the band he becomes replaceable. Not the first, not the last.
I have a friend who grew up in NY and hung out with ACE all the time, with his pocket book, he drank like a fish but that did not make him a bad person, he was a very nice guy when i met him over at the limelight, we have many memories, we used to go out during the late 80s with friends and hangovers as well, Ace never looked down at anyone and the only thing that seemed negative was when Ace cried at times, i started to realize that it was from drinking too much.
Gene would not deny that. He was just stating a fact. Maybe Gene is greedy but with perspective. Ace just greedy beyond the rational limits of a given situation.
I was the biggest Kiss fan you could find and even I can admit Gene will say whatever he has to to make him look like the good guy. Ace was the most talented musician in the band but he never liked the makeup and it only got worse as the band become more popular with kids.Ace wanted to be a rock star not a cartoon he just went about expressing his unhappiness in a very childish way.
Ace is a fucking whack job annnd if your such a fucking big kiss fan then you would know it was his idea some of he earlier interviews they all said that
You're right I should have worded that differently. In the beginning I think he was into it because it made Kiss different and unique but as time wore on it turned from a cool almost punk/we're different F you vibe to being a kids action figure.
I must say that the best anecdote about Ace came from guitar builder Steve Carr, who was hired by the band to make them some custom instruments for the Dynasty tour. Among others, he made Ace' Black Smoker's Les Paul, Ace' rocket shooting Les Paul and Ace' Light chaser guitar which Ace uses in the video for "I was made for loving you" and has been using for live performances of "New York Groove". He also made Paul's rhinestone covered star shaped guitar and Gene's first axe bass. Anyway, Carr recounted that he was flown over and went to the hotel the band was staying in during rehearsals for the upcoming tour and was brought by their crew to the racquet court where he had his first encounter with Gene who was "very articulate" and knew exactly what he wanted in a custom instrument. As Carr and Simmons went back to the hotel to discuss the business of the custom instruments, how long did it take for Carr to build them, when the tour was due to start and that Carr would be granted access to the main stage instruments of Ace, Paul and Gene to take measurements. Carr's attention was taken by maniacal laughter, he looked over and saw Ace trying to stuff firecrackers in between the marble slabs which made up the floor of the lobby and igniting them. Apparently Ace was told that since marble was stone, it simply couldn't be damaged and Ace decided to prove that theory wrong. Carr decided right there and then that since he and Ace had the same kind of humor, he had found his new best friend.
Ace was self conscious of his singing and writing. That's all. It's actually a very human trait. And by the way,....Ace's solo record was by far the best of the 4. Gene can't argue that. And as the other members had no hand in it whatsoever, Gene has to try to take credit as having suggested he record one in the dirst place. Ace's decision to part from the band may indeed have saved his life, ...and on more than one occasion.
Gene was always very jealous of Peter and Ace. He's a very so so bass player. Of the 70s bands Era his name NEVER comes up as being even a good player. Ace was considered a great guitarist. Peter and Ace wrote there best and most valuable songs. Gene hated this fact. Gene and Paul treated them like roadies or groupies instead of band mates. Now they talk shit about them. They acted surprised they rebeled. Funny they like to call them both drug addicts but never mention Gene sleeping with girls that... let's say , wasn't old enough to drink alcohol or drive a car. Ppl who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I know Frehley went off the rails and probably had to be fired. But still, Simmons is a very hard man to like. He and Stanley aren't really musicians, they're businessmen. Frehley is a real musician and a creator of art. And he seems like a pretty decent guy.
@Phoenix Girl Yup.Funny how they call him a piece of shit every time they talk about him but when he quit, both times, they begged him to stay. Not to mention first time he quit they promoted Creatures Of The Night with Ace's face on the album cover and credited him as Lead guitar despite him not being involved with that album at all. They even went to say that Vinnie was just a temporary replacement for Ace and assured everyone Ace was coming back. Same for Peter, when they went on tour with Aerosmith (After farewell tour) they knew the needed a highlight to sell better, since Ace was done with them, they went to Peter, and right after the tour they ditched him. Now Paul goes "The Aerosmith guys for SOME REASON wanted at least 3 original Kiss memebers" yeah right.
Just as a band needs a parent or two, it’s also good to have a couple of children to keep things loose and a little wild. But when the wild child wants to sue the grown ups, well… It seems to me Ace was doing the Keith Moon trip; but Moon learned pretty quick that he wasn’t smart enough to organize a trip to the bathroom, let alone negotiate like a diva or tell the band how to run things.
@Coogan the thing is, you don't have to be the best guitarist, you just have to be the right guitarist. Ace was the right guitarist for Kiss. There is a reason when you see bands cover Kiss songs it's never a post Ace/Peter product.
But he did it for good reason. Didn’t you hear the man? He’s a druggie and a crazy person. He did it for a good reason, the end of the road tour was so dangerous, if he collapsed or stumbled just a LITTLE bit, he would have died
@@randomcore2927 Yet Gene did not acknowledge that Ace did clean up and wrote a book about his experience. Ace acknowledged that he fucked up and that Gene saved his life a couple of times included that bathtub incident. As far as I can remember Gene never displays any humility.
@@randomcore2927 Half of Gene's book is just him lying through his teeth lmao. He and Paul change their story every single time they tell it. Ace was a dickhead, but he was also the musical lifeblood of KISS
@@TheGodYouWishYouKnew I’m not even a real fan of Kiss and recognize Ace was a good guitarist. The best??? No. Who is? Haha. He was ahead of his time. So much of what he was doing in 1975 is what every inspiring heavy metal guitarist was TRYING to do in 1985! How do I know? I was one of them….untile I grew out of the whole heavy metal thing by 1986…😅. But he was a good guitarist…and I’d say very innovative for the time. He set the bar for guitarists who wanted play that type of music. Obviously better ones came later. But as non-kiss fan he to me was the best Kiss ever had.
To someone like Ace, I guess Gene Simmons seams like an egomaniac. When you are sober 10% of your life, I guess everyone does. Ace Frehley has totaled more cars then I will ever have. He has been hospitalized more then someone with cancer. Yea, I believe Gene Simons. Greedy? yea, but who isn't?
Jupiter Botz to come up against Gene Simmons in a business way, you had better have your wits. Ace Frehley doesn't look like he can deal win Gene. Infact, he doesn't look like he deal with anyone. js.
The same thought I had. He never says 'I made a mistake' or 'I should have done X'...it;s always on someone else. His stories are about how someone else was a fuck up and never about himself being a fuck up. Gene has never made a mistake in his life according to the way he speaks. And it's always about money which just makes Gene look like such a jerk.
If you listen to the Paul Stanley version.. its almost exactly the same. Not just the same story. But using the exact same words and phrasing, like this is the ONE OFFICIAL VERSION of history that both of them agreed to both tell. I'm sure Ace and Peter were probably difficult with the drugs and alcohol. But it also seems like Paul and Gene took advantage of the situation to boot them and get total control of the band once they became established.
Ace, undoubtedly , the coolest member of Kiss. On the MTV unplugged, when Ace came on, it was remarkable how much better Ace is the Kulick, amazing difference in talent, soul
Ace has cleaned up and Gene Simmons hates it. Musicians such as Rob Zombie, Slash, Joe Perry, Bily Diffy from the Cult, Steven Adler to mention a few respect Ace. Gene Simmons has a big mouth and is NOT respected by anyone including paul Stanley.
In the late 70's, Kiss was my favourite band. I was in grade school when I first heard them. I had posters all over my bedroom walls. Ace is my favourite member. It is really too bad Gene and Paul have to disrespect Ace and Peter so much. What happened between them is unfortunate.
@@curtekstrom6600 Seriously, man. I lost it over how many times Peter threatened to quit KISS. We ALL have known someone like that hahaha So sad yet so accurate!!
@@curtekstrom6600 That would be all of them. Ace's drugs wouldn't have been a problem if Gene and Paul weren't weirdly straight edge (at least for Rock back then). Gene and Paul's high-strung nature wouldn't have been an issue if Ace wasn't out of his mind stoned all the time. They're just four dudes who make no sense together and caught lightning in a bottle. It's literally a mediocre guitarist with a high pitched voice, an israeli immigrant who sings about women despite being physically revolting, a drug addict guitarist with perhaps the most limited vocal range in music, and a bang average drummer who was playing jazz drums on hard-rock tracks. KISS is such a mess now I'm entirely certain that their success was complete chance. They wrote some good songs, but let's be real, most KISS fans hate 95% of the music post 1982 and the two faces of the band (Paul and Gene) are almost universally despised by the band's hardcore following. It's like nothing else in pop culture lmao.
Brothers, you know better than this... Ace added a dynamic you had to have, Realize it takes odd stuff to bring out good music. Ace will always be an inspiration to all of us.
Yeah, it's like the Doors without Jim, or any of the members missing from the band for that matter. Wouldn't have been the same thing. A more stable Jim wouldn't have drawn the attention and fan base that the unpredictable Jim did.
Nope. It is empirically fact that most of what you think was Ace on those albums was a session musician. I have no problem with Simmons being greedy. He admits that. He carried Ace for decades and Ace could not see it. It is what it is for Ace. He was not a good guitarist and not a great talent in any sense. His drug abuse changed him from barely adequate to useless and that is entirely on him.
Peter and Ace were by far the most important and talented in the band, period!!! They have admitted constantly to their drug and alcohol abuse, and literally regret it, I don't understand how they still beat a dead horse when these two legends have been sober for years literally!!! Disgusting
I'm not a Kiss fan at all but I am fascinated by personality dynamics in bands. If 4 or 5 guys have played for long enough they'll have a mountain of resentments toward each other. I think the truth may lie somewhere in between here. Probably Ace was a space cadet but egos like Gene & Paul would have been hard to live with. Similar to George Harrison in a band with John & Paul.
Ace was a sleazy drug addict who everyone likes and is a nice guy by all accounts. Paul and Gene were straight edge and "stand up" but everyone hates them because they're politicking assholes. Just how it goes.
I think Gene and Paul felt very threatened by Ace from the start. Ace may have had his faults but at the end of day he is a musician , a star. I think Ace and Peter rebelled against Paul and Gene because their crappy personalities.
Ace's playing was a big part of the classic Kiss sound, Alive! is full of Ace's great sounding riffs and licks but Kiss moved toward Paul's pop stuff like I Was Made For Lovin' You towards the end.
I just think it’s funny that Gene is calling someone else greedy. He is all the time calling Ace names about how he isn’t “trustworthy” because of his drinking problems. But Ace has been over 12 YEARS sober. Ace is the real musician of the band (besides Peter Criss and Eric Carr) because he actually played an instrument. I play myself and to be that good is a God given talent. The newest members of the band are only as good as they are right now is because their thrones were already made for for them by Ace, Peter, and Eric and no one can deny that. But Gene tends to run his mouth sometimes and to sabotage someone like that who was your FRIEND is just despicable. You think Gene would be a good man knowing what background he came from but some people never learn. Ace might have had drinking problems in his past but at least he wasn’t a womanizer like Gene. But Gene talks about how Ace stabbed him in the back, but Gene never bothers to mention how he groped Ace’s wife behind HIS back.
Ace inspired more guitar players then anyone! He is acknowledged as a Rock God! That must really sting Simmons and Stanley! They are known more for their greed and wigs!
If you looked up the definition of greedy in the dictionary you would find a picture of Gene and Paul. From the age of 10 I worshipped KISS. Getting Kiss Alive and Destroyer for Christmas changed my life. I was too young to see the band with the original members the first time around. I saw them on Animalize, Revenge, Physco Circus and the concert of all concerts. I was 10 rows from the stage at Tigers Stadium for the opening show for their reunion tour. Im just trying to explain what a huge fan I was. Later in life I unfortunately discovered the truth about 2 of my childhood heroes. Gene and Paul did Ace and Peter dirty and always thought they were the band and nobody else counted. Gene is a narcissist and a greedy one that destroyed friends and friendships. Then the disgusting way Paul and Gene treated Eric Carr made me sick. He was paid shit, wasn't allowed to play a single song with another musician, wasn't allowed to ride in the same limo with Gene and Paul, and then when hes dying from cancer just shit on him and act like he doesn't exist. I would never see kiss ever again and wouldn't give Gene or Paul another dime. Oh shit, how could i have forgotten the ultimate sin. Having other people wear Ace and Peters makeup. That is sacrilegious. Everyone always had their own persona. It makes me sick. I also heard that when Gene and Paul hang it up they want to find replacements for themselves and continue to tour while they take half the money. Gene is talking all this shit about Ace both past and present. Gene had been playing some gigs with his own band and Ace was there and played with them. This was arranged by Gene. So is Gene lying, just greedy, or both?
A couple years ago I read Genes, Paul’s, Aces and Peters books. It was amazing. If you didn’t know any better you’d think these 4 were all in different bands. Lol. But, I love KISS and will always be Kiss Army.
This sounds like he's reading from a book that someone else wrote, and not very well either. It's like hearing a story being told by an old Jewish robot. Quite strange. He should have Craig Gass read this as Gene Simmons, at least there would be some inflection.
There are many tracks Gene didn't play bass, so who's he to complain that Ace didn't always show up in studio? In the 80s he was hardly interested in KISS.
