Chris Griffy | Music Examiner

Jo Hale/Getty Images

The list of 2012 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced.  They include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, Donovan, Laura Nyro, The Beastie Boys, and Freddie King.  As always, the list has generated much more talk about who was not included than who was.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a host of bands who aren’t inductees who so obviously should be that most people don’t even know they aren’t already in.

Here is a list of who we see as the biggest snubs in Rock Hall history:

Kiss

Kiss is one of the world’s most polarizing bands.  People either love them or hate them and there is very little middle ground.  Yes, they’re extremely derivative and we were opposed to their inclusion until the two bands they cribbed their gimmick from, Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper, were in.  But both now are and it’s time for Kiss to be as well.  We consider a proper Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act to be one that combines longevity, sales, and influence.  Kiss has them all in spades.  They’ve been in continuous existence in some form since 1973.  Their worldwide album sales top 100 million.  And original or not, there’s hardly a Heavy Metal artist around since the 1980’s who won’t admit to air guitaring to Ace Frehley on Alive as a kid. It’s long past time to make this happen while all four original members are still alive.

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Nathan Raban | A.V. Club

By the late ’70s, the warriors of Kiss had everything. The band didn’t just play cities; it conquered them. It didn’t entertain crowds; it slaughtered them. Kiss was bigger than rock. Kiss had its own army. It was an industry onto itself. There seemed to be no limit to how far these meatheads in ridiculous face paint could go. Kiss’ label, Casablanca Records, was giddy with the kind of superhuman confidence that comes from runaway success—the label had launched both Kiss and The Village People into the stratosphere and had come to dominate disco—and rampant, widespread, more or less company-mandated cocaine abuse.

Yes, Kiss had everything. But Kiss was an American rock ’n’ roll band, so everything was not enough. The group flirted with the idea of touring with a traveling amusement park called Kiss World before ultimately nixing the idea as prohibitively expensive. In a mark of hubris remarkable even for the era, Casablanca shipped 5 million total copies of the four solo albums the members of Kiss released on the same day. The idea was to launch four solo superstars simultaneously; instead the records were returned to Casablanca en masse. The world, it seems, had not been hankering to find out what Ace Frehley was capable of without the three other dudes holding him back.

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Like The Wizard of Oz, How the Grinch Stole Christmas or Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer…. once a year we KISS Fans must all gather ’round to watch the greatest piece of KISS footage of all time, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder – Merry Christmas!

Vegas Inc

Erik Kabik

The holes are being drilled, the artificial turf laid, and the props — most notably a giant, starred boot and oversized Gene Simmons head with gaping mouth — placed.

KISS by Monster Mini Golf, an indoor putt-putt course themed after the iconic glam-rock band, will open March 15 at The Shoppes at Harmon Square, owners announced this week.

The miniature golf course was supposed to debut at the end of this year and then in January, but the project’s Facebook page said the opening was postponed by a series of unspecified construction hitches. The new grand opening date coincides with the anniversary of the band’s “Destroyer” album, released March 15, 1976.

Monster Mini Golf, which runs 25 mini-golf courses nationally, signed a 10-year, $3 million lease with the strip mall at Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road. The indoor course will feature 18 holes with custom glow-in-the-dark KISS props, a video game arcade, a KISS gallery, the “Hotter Than Hell” Wedding Chapel, a private VIP room, the “Rock ’n’ Roll All Nite” Cafe and what’s billed as the largest KISS gift shop in the world. A live DJ will play KISS music and staff will lead customers in KISS trivia contests with prizes.

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theKISSkruise.com
Following up on the success of the KISS Kruise last October, KISSonline has just announced the second KISS Kruise slated for four nights starting October 31, 2012! Just as before, KISS themselves will be present with all kinds of activities and events which will climax with an on-board full-blown KISS Concert. All info is available at theKISSkruise.com.

KISSasylum.com wants to wish the Catman a very, very Happy Birthday!

Here’s an interview with Peter from last summer with Tim Sullivan, producer for the Movie Detroit Rock City. Peter and Tim go over their mutual love of horror films and magazines – surprising it being more of Peter’s than Gene’s bag.

Paul Stanley’s appearance on VH1’s Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp is now available online in it’s entirety. Paul mentors, interacts and then plays on stage with the Rock and Roll campers. Quite a fun piece of video. If you missed this, it is worth checking out.

Gene Simmons joins the late Christopher Hitchens for a lively debate about the Vietnam and Cold wars in this classic two-part clip from May 2001 on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.

Ken Hess | ZDNet

Gene Simmons and Ken Hess get together to discuss the Ortsbo communications software program.

Listen to the Gene Simmons podcast interview here.

A few days ago, I had the rare pleasure of interviewing Gene Simmons: Father, husband, entrepreneur, musician, businessman extraordinaire and Ortsbo partner along with Ortsbo President, David Lucatch. Ortsbo is an exciting new service that translates, in real time, your tweets, Facebook updates, chats, texts and more into whatever language you need to communicate with. You may remember my previous post, “Ortsbo: Return to Shinar,” where I described the Ortsbo service and what it can do for you.

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Revolver

Gene Simmons named among the top 100 greatest living rock stars of today. Not sure where the other three rank on this list, but you’ll have to buy the issue to find out as it is not published online.

York Dispatch

LOS ANGELES—A Connecticut man affiliated with the Anonymous hacking group was arrested Tuesday on federal charges for an attack on a website belonging to Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, authorities said.

Kevin Poe, of Manchester, Conn., made his initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in Hartford, Conn., and was released on $10,000 bond. An email message left for deputy federal public defender Deirdre Murray was not immediately returned.

Poe was indicted in Los Angeles on two counts: conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. If convicted of both, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Poe and others linked to Anonymous conducted a “denial of service” attack over a five-day period last October against Simmons’ computer systems, sending tens of thousands of electronic requests designed to overload the server and render www.GeneSimmons.com useless.

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Peter Criss
Peter Criss has made a set of 25 autographed photo’s available for sale to help people in need this holiday season. 100% of the proceeds will be going to a family who lost their home and everything they owned due to a house fire. Peter thanks you, the Kiss Army and KISSasylum.com for your help in helping this family.

Click the link below for more info on how you can purchase these photos and in doing so donate to a good cause.

Peter Criss autographs at KISSmuseum.com

KISSmuseum.comDo you want long, sad faces on Christmas or do you want your online KISS Christmas shopping delivered as fast as humanly possible? KISSmuseum.com guarantees delivery before Christmas for all U.S. orders placed before December 20, (we will also offer overnight shipping after that date for last-minute shoppers). All orders go out in less than 24 hours – we are working 7 days a week all this month!

Visit KISSmuseum.com for all your KISSmas shopping!

The 1987 Classic song Crazy Crazy Nights has been re-vamped by vocalist Sun for Moon for the current 2011 Smirnoff ad playing on TV, online and in theaters. A very different take on the original, but very well done…