{"id":11703,"date":"2014-02-28T18:25:11","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T01:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=11703"},"modified":"2014-02-28T18:26:01","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T01:26:01","slug":"kiss-long-deserved-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-induction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2014\/02\/kiss-long-deserved-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-induction\/","title":{"rendered":"KISS \u2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KISS-4\"KISS<\/b><\/h1>\n

Long Deserved Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction<\/h3>\n

It was probably inevitable that Kiss\u2019 long deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be problematic\u2014and yes, I did say long deserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just been reported that in time-dishonored RockHall fashion, only originals Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were going to perform, with current non-inductee members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer rather than fellow inductee\/originals Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. So Kiss fans, who might be expected to fill the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn for April\u2019s open-to-the-public induction ceremony, wouldn\u2019t have been serenaded by the original four guys who started the band in make-up 40 years ago; then again, the current lineup has been together a long time, and what about the better-known interim members Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr?<\/span><\/p>\n

In an indication of a slow news day, <\/span>The New York Times<\/i> reported the bitter complaints by Frehley and Criss\u2014who had first fallen out with the other two back in the early 1980s\u2014that they were being intentionally shut out of performing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something the fans wanted, it\u2019s something the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame asked of all four of us,\u201d Frehley said. \u201c[Stanley and Simmons] shot it down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other guys countered, in an unsigned statement, on the Kiss website: \u201cOur intention was to celebrate the entire history of Kiss and give credit to all members including longtime present members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, and additionally Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr, all who have made this band what it is, regardless of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame\u2019s point of view. This is understandably an emotional situation where there is no way to please everyone. To bring this to a quick end, we have decided not to play in any lineup and we will focus our attention on celebrating our induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"KISS-3\"It\u2019s definitely not the first time conflict among band members has surfaced at the RockHall, going back at least to The Beatles\u2019 induction in 1988, when Paul McCartney declined to attend, due to what he called unresolved \u201cbusiness differences\u201d that would make him \u201ca complete hypocrite\u201d should he show up \u201cwaving and smiling\u201d with the other two survivors at \u201ca fake reunion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sex Pistols, of course, didn\u2019t want anything to do with the RockHall when they were inducted in absentia in 2006. As Steve Jones told NPR: \u201cOnce you want to be put into a museum, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll’s over. It\u2019s not voted by fans, it\u2019s voted by people who induct you, or others\u2014people who are already in it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He was right, of course. There\u2019s also a nominating committee, of which I was once a part, before I was kicked off, ostensibly because they wanted members who were more knowledgeable about<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201970s music\u2014which was particularly galling, as I\u2019d written the first book on The Ramones.<\/p>\n

\"KISS-1\"Speaking of The Ramones, I always thought that C.J. Ramone, who replaced Dee Dee on bass, should have been inducted, as he was in the band seven years, longer than original drummer Tommy, whose longtime replacement Marky was indeed inducted, just as both original Sex Pistols bassist and his far more famous replacement Sid Vicious were inducted.<\/span><\/p>\n

But going back to \u201cthe fans,\u201d at most they\u2019d see Kiss perform one song in the interminable program anyway. Whatever went down, I give it up to Paul and Gene for recognizing what a headache right off the RockHall\u2019s politics can be and backing out of them entirely with a classy explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

And speaking of class, I\u2019m reminded of an interview I did with Paul for a <\/span>Billboard <\/i>Kiss anniversary special many years ago, when I asked his thoughts about being overlooked by the RockHall even then.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we have our own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s in the record store bins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jim Bessman<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KISS Long Deserved Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction It was probably inevitable that Kiss\u2019 long deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be problematic\u2014and yes, I did say long deserved. It\u2019s just been reported that in time-dishonored RockHall fashion, only originals Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4976,1058],"tags":[4260,7327],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11703"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11709,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11703\/revisions\/11709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}