Gene Simmons: Ace & Peter Were "Idiots"

01/18/02 5:00pm

by Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

"I'm the guy who fucked your mommy last night and I'll do your sister tonight if I get the chance."

Gene Simmons thrives on the shock of being blunt.

Best known for his time as the God of Thunder in rock clown band KISS, his latest opus is as author of Kiss And Make-Up (Crown Publishing), a scathing tell-all book in which Simmons reveals the true story behind many KISS rumours. Using the book as a launching pad for a variety of Gene Simmons-themed projects including "Gene Simmons' Tongue Magazine," an MTV-related program described by Simmons as "The Wonder Years meets That '70s Show" (whew! Can you say "classic?") and a Nelvana produced cartoon entitled "My Dad The Rock Star," the "autobiography the KISS Army has been waiting for" is Simmons' first foray into writing.

Unfortunately, with a take-no-shit attitude, this means breaking many of those soldiers' hearts. Still, Simmons couldn't care less.

"Those people who need Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were idiots," he says. "They made my life miserable for 30 years and the truth has to be told. It's time for those people to grow up and realize that the family wasn't a family at all."

And how does this relate to porking KISS Army moms?

"They're living in a dream world if they think that everything is pretty," he deadpans. "These are the disturbing facts that you have to accept: your mommy was my toy and Ace and Peter were idiots."

Idiots?

"Yes, idiots. Ace was so deluded with drugs that he forgets full decades of his own life, and I had to put up with that. Both of them had some form of substance abuse that prevented KISS from being as successful as I think we could have been.

"I spoke with Ace, sent him the book and said 'I'm gonna show everything.' One good thing about Ace is that he's matter-of-fact about the whole thing. He said 'Everybody knows I'm a fuck up. Oh well, good luck with the book.' If there's Lazyman as a superhero, he's Super Lazyman. He doesn't care enough to fight that or defend [himself]. 'Ya, that's me.' He looks at Keith Richards and says 'he used all his life and that's cool.' They're both morons. As for Peter, he had self-esteem issues and he's straightened himself out... somewhat."

In his book, Simmons relates that his pride and self-confidence are misconstrued as him being, well, an asshole. Questioned as to whether or not he feels that his personal affirmation is the product of upbringing or success, Simmons is characteristically blunt.

"The one person I could always count on was myself. I always give myself my best, but with other people I have different agendas," Simmons says. "It helps that I'm completely selfish, 'cause I deserve it. All true champions, when you think about it, do that. Being completely selfish for your own reasons is the only way to become champion. Look: you can either be a leader or a follower. You can either be in KISS, or ask people if they want fries with that."