Kiss will not perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
Original guitarist Ace Frehley told New York’s Q104.3 “I don’t think KISS fans are gonna be too excited and happy about the news, ’cause at this juncture, Paul and Gene have decided to perform with Tommy and Eric and it looks like the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is going along with it.”
Kiss will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April but once again the Hall of Fame will break its own rules to make it happen.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a history of bending its own rules. When AC/DC were inducted in 2003, the Young brothers refused to accept the award with bass player Mark Evans who was in the band at the time of its first major success and stayed with the band for the duration of the iconic Bon Scott recordings through to ‘Let There Be Rock’.
Instead the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame broke its own rule and inducted Brian Johnson along with founding members Angus and Malcolm Young into the Hall of Fame even though their own rule states that you are not eligible for induction until you have spent 25 years recording under that name. Johnson had been with the band 23 years at that point and had less hit albums in that time with AC/DC than Evans in the initial days.
AC/DC bass player Cliff Williams, who replaced Evans, joined AC/DC in 1977 and did qualify.
The Hall of Fame rules clearly state “Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record”.
Current Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer has only been officially with Kiss since 2003. His 11-year tenure falls well short of the required 25-year Hall of Fame rule but it looks like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is once again prepared to turn a blind eye, just as it did with AC/DC.
Eric Singer also falls short of the 25-year rule. He joined Kiss in December 1991, just over 22 years ago but counting his years away from the bad Singer has only clocked up 15 years in total in Kiss.
Ace Frehley says he is over the antics of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. “I don’t know, and at this point, I really don’t give a shit. I really don’t care. It’s, like, enough already. You don’t wanna do something for the fans after 40 years of them supporting you?”, he said.
Paul Stanley made a point of Classic Rock recently when he admitted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame make the rules up as they go along. “The fact that there are 30 or 40 or 50 or some absurd number of Grateful Dead members all inducted, the fact that all of the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers, including people who played on early albums that never amounted to very much are inducted, the fact that John Rutsey, the drummer on the first Rush album is not inducted, the fact that Rob Trujillo, who’s a great guy but didn’t play on any of the classic Metallica albums, was inducted after being in the band six years makes me wonder exactly what are the rules? If the rules don’t apply to everybody then they’re not rules,” he said.
Kiss will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hal of Fame along with Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Nirvana, Linda Ronstadt and Cat Stevens, as well as Brian Epstein, Andrew Loog Oldham and The E Street Band at the Barclays Center, New York on April 10, 2014.