KISS Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech

“The original Fantastic Four”

I was a little surprised when I heard booing at Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer’s names.  Not all fans are classy fans I guess, even if they had enough money to buy a ticket last night.

What I heard were four great speeches from four guys who absolutely, unarguably deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and as a lifelong Kiss fan I’m proud of my boys.

KISS HOF

48 comments

  1. Considering all the behind-the-scenes nonsense that’s been the story for the last month or so, those speeches were much better than I expected them to be. Even more impressive, of course, is that they appeared together at all & remained cordial. As someone who hasn’t had a bad hair day in many many many years, maybe I shouldn’t comment, but that was possibly the worst display of hair I’ve ever seen. Between the styles and the black dye they all looked a bit ridiculous.

    Of course, this is KISS…the first band I ever loved, in 1975, as a 9-year-old…and it’s nice to see their music somewhat vindicated, even if it has to be by that sham of an organization.

    Thanks for sharing this clip, Mike.

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        1. It was, simultaneously, a humorous story told only in “blahs” and a huge “fuck you” to the Hall. I loved it. But if you follow the blahs, you can actually follow the story! The moment the phone rings and they tell him Rush have been nominated…it’s all there.

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    1. You know what man? I defy anyone who boos Singer and Thayer to answer me this question.

      Gene Simmons walks up to you and says, “Hey, do you want to join Kiss? You will get millions of dollars, fame, girls, and all you have to do is agree to wear Peter or Ace’s makeup. Yes or no?”

      Who turn that down on ethical reasons? Certainly none of the boo’ers could.

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      1. Plus… Thayer and Singer are good. Its not as if they’re talentless homeless people hastily thrust into the limelight… they are talented, hardworking and connected with long history.

        Their songs on the new albums are good too.

        I could understand booing if they weren’t good. But they are.

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        1. Yeah, there’s that too. I have been a fan of Eric Singer for over two decades. Tommy Thayer not so much, but I did listen to a bit of Black B’ Blue back then, just they were hard to find in stores.

          But both guys have been involved with Kiss for that long! Thayer with Gene and Black N’ Blue and writing songs on Hot In The Shade. Eric with Paul and joining on Revenge. Eric Singer was a critical member of the band at that time. As much as Eric Carr deserves credit for helping redeem Kiss in the 80’s, Eric Singer deserves credit for helping keep it alive in 90’s.

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        2. U said it, king. Those booers are f**king assholes. What did Thayer and Singer ever do wrong to dereve that. Those douchebags should be taught some manners. Did it ever strike them that even though these guys are rockstars, such actions might hurt.
          For all I care, Thayer and Singer has saved the band while Frehley and Criss keeps jumoping in and out of the band, drinking and drugging and whining about shit. And as you said, they are good. They are damn good.
          That said, it was really nice seeing the four of them sharing a stage again. It felt really emotional and real, everything they said.

          A big word to your replies as well, Mike. I have dug Black N Blue since their debut back in 1984 and Tommy was always my favourite member of that band. Still think they’re awsome. Actually, I think I wrote a review of Black N Blue’s come back album Hell Yeah! See I can dig it up.

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        3. Righto, I may have read it already but I’d like to read it again!

          There was absolutely nothing wrong with Black N’ Blue, they had all the ingredients to make it big. In fact the first time I saw the video for “Hold On To 18,” I said, “Why are these guys not bigger?” They seemed a lot better than some of the bands who were bigger…Poison for example.

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  4. I understand how some fans don’t like other people wearing Ace and Peter’s makeup but, even then I wouldn’t blame Tommy and Eric for that decision. They’ve done great stuff for KISS and booing them at the ceremony is just flat out pathetic.

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    2. Yeah, well Ace and Peter sold ther rights to their make up back to Paul and Gene and now they’re whining about somebody else using them. Well, just don’t sell stuff like that.

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        1. I get it too. I don’t agree, but if I had my way, I’d have them wearing new makeup designs. But fans don’t always get their way. So I’ll settle for Tommy and Eric in the old makeup.

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        2. I don’t like it… but it doesn’t bother me or anger me if that makes any sense? I just don’t feel any affinity for their image now.

          I think the band’s image now is fairly lame but the I like the music and that’s all that matters. If I see a picture of Ace in the makeup I think “Woo there’s fucking ACE FREHLEY!” not “there’s the trademarked image of the Spaceman” or whatever he’s supposed to be called. I like Tommy in KISS but the image of him in that get up will never excite me or mean anything to me. But I do like the albums and have no ill will towards anyone involved. Booing is not on the agenda!

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        3. When Kiss play unplugged without makeup like they did recently, I’m actually much more enthused about Tommy and Eric. It seems like, “Ahh, this is Kiss!”

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        5. mikeladano :
          I get it too. I don’t agree, but if I had my way, I’d have them wearing new makeup designs. But fans don’t always get their way. So I’ll settle for Tommy and Eric in the old
          makeup.

          I agree with that. Kiss looked cool with the Fox and the Ankha. Kiss looked cool with the Cat and the Spaceman. Thayer and Singer should’ve been allowed to have their own looks too. I know money doesn’t allow that, but it’d have been cool.

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        6. The Ankh, I don;t know about that, I never liked it. We could never figure out what the hell Vinnie was supposed to be.

          Eric Carr’s temporary “Hawk” makeup was interesting but to me it proved that there’s only a limited amount of makeup ideas out there that would work. I liked Paul’s “Lone Ranger” makeup that they briefly used as well. But without repeating ideas how do you make new makeup designs as cool as the originals? The Fox was great but I think after that they ran out of good ideas.

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        8. Yeah, I get that too. I didn’t like it either in the beginning. Made them look like a tribute act. But since they started to release new music and got new costumes, I have changed my mind. I prefer them using Ace’s and Peter’s make up to them get new personas in the band. I mean, what’s next? The rabbit? The gnu? The bull? Or maybe the plumber… ;-D

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        9. I’m sure every kid tried to draw their own Kiss makeup designs. I know I did. None of them ever turned out good, they were all shite. Most of them just looked like a professional wrestler.

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        10. Well given that Tommy painted Paul Stanley’s place he could be the decorator! I don’t think I’d like new personas either, I’d have rather they just dropped the makeup but I know that wouldn’t make any financial sense at all.

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  5. Blabbermouth was like TMZ reporting on all this over 60 yrs of age dude drama!
    Glad in a way it’s over and glad they were cool with each other……
    Booing was like everyone sez stupid..those ain’t fans anyways just drunk idiots!
    Call a spade a spade no way can Criss And Frehley(to a point) keep up at that level anymore.
    Saw Kiss in 2003 on the co headline with Aerosmith and Criss’s gas tank was running empty!
    He made it thru the songs but man he was done and I guess so were Stanley/Simmons with him as well.
    Hell the Monster album was in my top 5 from 2012 and Thayer had as we all know a huge role on that album.
    So Move On..as Paul would say!

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    1. Yep Deke I agree completely with all this stuff. Kiss today is what it is because of the people who are in it today. It does make you wonder though what Psycho Circus would have turned out like if it had been written and recorded with all four originals. One of those “might have been’s…”

      But after that fiasco I believe Kiss absolutely had to make an album soleyly written produced and performed by the four members of Kiss, and they have done that twice now.

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    2. Yes. Thayer’s Outta This World is best song on the album, in my opinion. Same on Sonic Boom. When Lightning Strikes was the best one on that album.

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  9. mikeladano :
    I’m sure every kid tried to draw their own Kiss makeup designs. I know I did. None of them ever turned out good, they were all shite. Most of them just looked like a professional wrestler.

    Ha ha, what sort of stuff? then Leperachaun?

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    1. No, I tried to just draw cool designs and then come up with what to call the character later. Like “the wizard” or “the reaper” or whatever. But any design I drew ended up just looking like a variation of Alice Cooper, or a wrestler like The Ultimate Warrior.

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