Paul Stanley of KISS has issued a response to comments made by Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation CEO Joel Peresman, who defended the Hall's plan to induct KISS' founding lineup exclusively, despite the group’s request to include other band members at next month’s ceremony in New York.
Peresman explained the decision process to Billboard, saying KISS "is a unique situation where you have artists who wear makeup as part of what the band's about," but the Rock Hall felt that the later members - including current guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, who are wearing [Ace] Frehley and [Peter] Criss' makeup, respectively - "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."
Read more of Peresman’s comments here.
Stanley wasted no time issuing a response, saying, “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame continues to attempt to restore its questionable credibility and glimpses behind the facade 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 Kulick who were both in the band through multi platinum albums and worldwide tours and DIDN'T wear makeup.”
“There is no getting around the reality that the Hall of Fame's favoritism 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,” added Stanley. “Let's just accept the truth as it is and move on.”
Stanley and Simmons’ refusal to reunite on stage with Frehley and Criss at the upcoming induction ultimately led the pair to shut down any KISS-related performances as they disagreed with the Rock Hall’s position.
On February 23, KISS released a statement explaining their decision (read it here) after Frehley broke the news on Eddie Trunk’s radio show (details here) and Criss released a statement of his own (here).
On April 10, the original lineup of 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.
See also:
Rock Hall defends decision to induct founding KISS lineup only
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