As part of the 2012 hennemusic Rock News Awards – recognizing the biggest rock news stories and artists of the year - hennemusic is counting down the Top 10 Rock News Artists of the year.
Finalists for the 3rd annual hennemusic Rock News Awards are chosen by readers: winners are determined by the combined total page views of the top 50 hennemusic rock news stories of the past twelve months.
The 2012 hennemusic Rock News Awards winners will be announced on Friday, December 21 at hennemusic.com.
Rock News Artist Of The Year - TOP 10
#04 - RUSH
#05 - LED ZEPPELIN
#06 - JIMMY FALLON
#07 – MOTLEY CRUE
#08 - AEROSMITH
#09 – SLASH
#10 – QUEEN
Rock News Artist of The Year - #3 – KISS
KISS began 2012 by completing the recording sessions for their new album, “Monster,” which wouldn’t be released until the fall.
The spring saw a summer tour announcement by the band, featuring a full schedule of North American shows with Motley Crue that would kick off in July.
While promoting the upcoming tour, Gene Simmons revealed that he was upset that KISS were not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, despite years of dismissing the institution while insisting that the amount of records they’ve sold is far more important to their legacy.
"It's become a joke," said Gene. "We've been thinking about it and the answer is simply, 'We'll just buy it and fire everybody.'"
KISS performed on back-to-back episodes of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars during its “rock week” in April.
Gene signed on for a short South American tour as part of The Rock ‘N’ Roll All Stars, an 11-piece supergroup made up of Simmons, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Sebastian Bach, three former members of Guns N’ Roses, and players from The Cult, Alice In Chains, Collective Soul and Black Country Communion.
Just prior to the July start of the summer tour, KISS released “Hell Or Hallelujah” as the first single from the forthcoming new album.
In August, KISS marked the 35th Anniversary of their 1976 classic, “Destroyer,” with a 2CD Deluxe Edition called “Destroyer: Resurrected,” featuring remixes of the original LP by producer Bob Ezrin, outtakes from the original sessions, and the record’s original cover art.
KISS launched “Monster” in October with a special, 50th webcast concert of “Live On Letterman,” from the world famous Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
The same month, Simmons told a UK tabloid that he was given £200million ($320 million) to tempt Led Zeppelin to reform for more shows following their 2007 reunion.
“In 2009/10, I was given a few hundred million dollars in an account by a large concert promoter,” Gene told The Sun, “and given the task of reaching out to Jimmy [Page] and Robert [Plant] and trying to convince them to get back together. Of course, it didn’t work. Robert Plant just doesn’t want to do it.”
Late in the year, KISS once again revisited the rearview mirror with the release of “The Casablanca Singles Collection,” a box set consisting of 29 singles (26 of which are picture-sleeve singles), with the group members’ solo singles in colored vinyl (red, green, red, blue) and featuring a mask of each member.
KISS will celebrate their 40th Anniversary in 2013.
So far, the band has an Australian tour with the Crue set to begin in February, and European dates of their own to start in June. KISS Kruise III has already been announced to return in time for Halloween.
KISS 