Peter Criss on the Nightmare of KISS Recording Psycho Circus 

Ya it was awesome

Well when you have two of them namely Gene Simmons wanting to lord over everyone what else do you expect to happen. The fact remains that the two MOST talented members ok Kiss quit because they weren't treated properly. Their make us was ripped off by two wannabes, and in the Paul Stanley was having to lip sync because his voice was shot!

If you're going on talent, the most talented member of kiss was Eric carr

@@viking_2112 which songs did he write?

That first reunion show I saw in summer '96 was definitely surreal...magical. The Circus tour was cool too, definitely better than Farewell though Farewell had better pyro.

show i though id never see and i took my 4 year old . peter had a smile a mile wide, a year later he was not so happy and barely hitting just going thru motions . obvious they screwed him yet again

Same. It became a mockery after that tour.

You nailed it!!!

Paul also hates the fact that the most radio-friendly KISS, "Beth" & "Hard Luck Woman", feature Peter Criss, not Paul, on lead vocal.

@@ericmalone3213 Exactly. Paul was the last member to get a top 20 song in 79 with IWMFLY. Not something to brag about I guess lol, but whoever put out the KISS Meets the Phantom cover chose only Gene and Peter. I'm sure Peter was very hard to work with but we've seen/heard how Paul and Gene are too.

@@pattyskiss2me1 Ah, yes, when KISS went disco. I always thought Paul Stanley should have saved his Desmond Child IWMFLY collaboration for a solo album, it certainly wasn't proper KISS material. KISS should have stayed with the black and silver simpler costumes & not worried about trying to blend in with the zeitgeist of the time and make their music sound like the hits of the period. One aspect to consider, as to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley being control freaks, is that when the success and big money came their way, their manager, Bill Aucoin, and his boyfriend Sean Delaney, who played a huge part in the KISS aesthetic (he never gets enough credit), got heavy into cocaine. Bill Aucion took to freebasing. And Ace & Peter also got into the devil's dandruff. Bob Ezrin was big into coke while producing Destroyer. With Gene and Paul being the only two guys not snaffling the Columbian marching powder, there were, obviously, a lot of psychological disadvantages, problems, and resentments. When your management and half your band are heavy into coke, the so-called "team effort" is drastically compromised, hence, the control freak disposition arising from the two KISS members who weren't whacked-out on coke every day and night.

It wasn’t demeaning - they hadn’t been in the band for more than a decade AND they ended up making millions. They were no longer full partners. Boo hoo. Peter took advantage of Kiss in 1980 when he still got paid as a full member when he wasn’t even in the band anymore. Cry me a river…..

Tommy was great on that album !!

Tommy Who.?😅

@@raymorrow170 You know the sober guy who was burning it up onstage with KISS while Ace was drunk and lying in some gutter somewhere....

I have all their albums up to and including Hot In The Shade. I think you should give Silver Spoon and King of Hearts from that album another chance. 🙂

@@JacksonAxe Albums and songs are different things. Example: I am a MASSIVE Maiden fan. Possibly the one true POS they've ever done was Virtual XI. Blaze's singing was substandard, the sings were "who cares"... Hqving said that, "The Clansman" is truly inspired, and is the only saving grace from that album. Unfortunately, polishing a turd doesn't make it anything other than a turd. Now, do the same with Hot.....

@tachyon. Those two songs you just named are THE BEST TWO on that album.!! I'm with you on that.! PAUL STARCHILD STANLEY FAN 4 LIFE.,!!

I haven’t even listened all the way through that album that Tommy Farren Eric singer did with them that had modern day delight on it. Sonic boom I guess it was called. I have it but don’t listen to it. I have psycho Circus but don’t listen to that either. When peters and Gene’s solo albums came out in ‘78 I listened to the once and threw them away, on vinyl. I didn’t like a single song on peters solo album and the only song I like on Gene’s was radioactive. But between Ace and Paul’s original solo LPs sometimes I think one is better than the other but they were both at least equal in my honest opinion…

1000% agree

Yep!!

That was just a rehash for cash. The band broke up in 1979. Everything after that was either bs or a substitute.

Lol

Not the end of Kiss,50 yrs later they accomplished what they were after,and that was glory!! Without the other 2 losers!!!

But it was Ok when you were fooled when Ace didn’t play on most of the studio side of Alive II or Creatures even though his photo was on the cover. Criss didn’t play on all but one song on Dynasty and nothing on Unmasked but his photo was on the albums

It was never ok but this is how Gene and Paul wanted it and how they wanted the world to be fooled by it all.

@@flyingburritobro68 there was *no* photo used for the Unmasked cover! Although it was Producer Vini Poncia who decided that he couldn't use Peters Drumming parts. On both Dynasty and Unmasked. That Time the Brand hoped Peter Criss will get well soon after a car accident but it went wrong and that Time the Brand had to fullfill it's Contract, so Anton Fig was Drummer with a Phantom Position. Well, you're Right about Ace and Alive II's Studiobonustracks excerpt *Rocket ride* (done by Ace & Anton only) 😊 The *CotN* - Situation was different. Ace wanted to leave the Brand and doesn't play on but it was McGee's Decision to Use a Covershot with Ace because of Contracts. 🤔 But To say *This is a Reunion* and then to record with other studiocracks and than lieing to anybody "Thhis is *KISS* pure!", thAt is foolin' the Fans!

You got *Into the Void* and the B-Side *In your Face* done by *KISS* but you Release an Album *Psycho Circus* and not only a Single, an Album full of Fakes because it isn't *KISS* that's the wrong Part of all the fault decisions which Stanley & Simmons made that Time... 😮 The Truth hurts and that is why it took 11 years to do *Sonic Boom* and three more for *Monster* and for a real *KISS - Fan* like me *KISS* Story ends with *Carnival of Souls (the final Sessions)* (1997)...

He’ll drop whatever he’s doing to talk to a fan. He was awesome to me and my family when we met him.

peter criss and ace are the spirit of kiss..paul and gene are the money men.

He definitely seems to conduct himself with the most class.1

Truth

No, it wasn't.

He doesn’t always tell the truth.

You read his book right? It was a blame everyone else book.

@@dwightrenfield2241 Misremembering isn't the same as lying...even if what you're saying were true, he's still 1000 times more honest than Eisen & Witz have ever been and will ever be.

It sounds like a reject from "Music from The Elder", lol.

Paul wrote that

@@ocgabei was gonna say the same thing lmao

No. It's worse than The Elder.! Like that album.! Golden Girls fits better.!😅

Depends on whose story you believe.

How come Gene and Paul never performed as a duet then? They needed other band members but didn't want to pay them.

Wow I’ve never heard that one before!

Shoulda been him instead of Eric Carr

We've all known you were on team Peter for a long time....

Me too ✋️

Its not imo

I disagree. Dreamin’, Within, and Psycho Circus are way better songs.

My favorite was when all four sang, you wanted the best

@@jerrybartlett273 It's cool that they sung together but the song itself is pretty lousy except for the guitar solo part.

@@MetalSalvation they should have let Ace come back for there final shows. Ace wanted to.

Totally...

Peter and Ace were not up to par. Anyone who says that reunion or farewell tour were great are fooling themselves. Ace and Peter were the WORST part of those tours

@@slasherdope8065 I saw them in 2000 , you must have been high , great show

​@slasherdope8065 Ha, my ass!!! Peter and Ace were the only ones who carried the other two delusional greedy assholes, and by the way the ones who carried them and made them famous in the original days!!!

Don’t bother.

It’s pretty bad. Even Ace’s song is mediocre, but maybe the best on the album. A huge drop off from Revenge (which I don’t think aged very well either).

That wasn’t Peter’s doing

You must be deaf if you missed the part about paul and gene controlling everything....

Yeah, but Pete talks a big game about being honest and “all in for the fans” when he’s really just another hypocrite.

He was great and in shape.

To be honest, they all could've played better...haha, but the shows were great nonetheless.

Best player? Give me a break.

High ego ..

@@Sulee.0 egomaniac

If he can't control what other band members do or say he fires them

No he should be open to other people s ideas an that

This is probably why Paul chose to do the guitar solo on the Animalize tour, because Vinnie upstaged him on the previous tour.

That was Paul’s choice. The band was essentially non existent at the time of the reunion. As usual Paul saw dollar signs and wanted to get back to being relevant. Paul is forever the victim.

Yeah, and those shoulders didn't have to carry much. I was (key word) an avid Kiss fan at a time in the 80's when that was about as "un cool" as you could get. Those shows had if you were lucky had 3 to 5 thousand people. A far far cry of what the mid 70's and later reunion shows would look like. When the band got back together was when Kiss started seeing real attendance and $$$. So one could also argue if Kiss just would have stopped after Ace and Peter left instead of limping along the Re-union would have been even bigger.

Yes, Peter definitely played on Destroyer!!!

Actually, the original album was the best, but didn't get the credit and sell well, till everyone realized how great they were live!!!

Paul and Gene were thinking about MONEY. After the wildly successful Reunion tour, they expected a Reunion album to be HUGE - and they didn't want Ace nor Peter to make any money off of it.

Well, both Peter and Ace couldn’t play. Don’t kid yourself. 😊

You’re an idiot. Paul was KISS. While Ace and Peter drank themselves into the void and snorted half of Bolivia up their noses, Paul Stanley carried the band through the ‘80s-‘90s. And btw, I love “Psycho Circus”!

I personally don't Ace and Peter. They were part of a band and it everyone should have a say. Gene and Paul wanted everyone to go along with them that is why Kiss wound up being two original members and two wannabes?

​@@margaretayers9430if you're trying to say Ace can't play anymore then you need to check out his new CD.

​@@xRepoUKxThere's been some controversy surrounding Ace actually playing on the record. Actually seeing and hearing him play myself, he can't play to save his life.

yeah, to pay him a fare share would be heartbreaking for G&P

@@ThoArtOne - Let's get this straight: they paid him a fair share!!! He got greedy and wanted the same amount that G&P were making! The frickin audacity! *Who in their right mind would pay an employee (who has been away from the company for 17 years) the same amount as the CEOs?*

It has a few decent songs, but yes something always felt off about it.

And I fully blame Paul stanley.

Peter did sell his 1/4 share of KISS to Paul and Gene in 1987 - when the makeup era was long gone and the current KISS wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. But that has very little to do with Paul and Gene not using him or Ace on the so-called "Reunion" studio album.

@@Tricky2002 It has everything and more to do with it. You cannot say it has VERY LITTLE, that's farcical.

@@K31T4 Alright. So Peter sold his rights away in 1987. (And Ace sold his in 1996, as part of his Reunion deal.) That means Paul and Gene are the sole owners of KISS and make all the final decisions. KISS (That's Paul and Gene) decide to make a new studio album to follow up on the success of the massively successful Reunion tour - that was only possible because of Ace and Peter. They tout this as "the first studio album from the original members of KISS since Love Gun." Except, it is not. They use session players and pay Ace and Peter a flat rate for the little work they did do so that they wouldn't have to pay royalties. (Paul and Gene expected this album to be HUGE, and didn't want Ace or Peter to get any of it.) Peter nor Ace couldn't do anything about it because there isn't an album in their employment contracts. In the end, the FANS get cheated out of a true Reunion album from the original members of KISS. THAT is what Peter is referring to, and THAT is what started the downfall of the original KISS the second time.

​@@Tricky2002Was Ace forced to sell his rights away in 1996?

@@E.C.2 Pretty much. If he didn't sell his makeup rights, he would not have been able to participate in the Reunion tour.

Funny you should say that. I listened to Ace's gig few weeks ago, he played one song from his new album, one Frehley's Comet song and the rest of the set was Kiss songs (Maybe there was one from the '78 album, can't remember). Kiss plays full set of Kiss songs, and you call THEM a cover band?

He saw it in the window, and had to have it. 😅😅

It's certainly not KISS without him, that's for sure.

yeah me too; i had been riding a huge KISS high too after being able to see them twice as the original 4…major letdown and i never liked them as much after this record.

I was the told the 00 reunion tour was awesome.

Funny you say that because Peter's first post-Kiss solo album was called Out Of Control.

@@candancelinzay2552 yup.

But Peter was NOT "out of control" at this point in KISStory. Unlike Ace, Peter was always on time, clean and sober. He was even voted MVP of the band for his hard work and dedication for making the Reunion tour the major success is became.

Or so the machine tells you so.

@@donniedarko979 yours.

They sold the rights to Sonic Boom and Monster.