Original subtitles

Advertise your product or brand here contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today

- Well, we talk about history.

This is kisstory.

[reflective music]

♪ ♪

When I first started designing the ps10 for ibanez,

I had seen a band called "slade."

Noddy holder, the lead singer,

Had a top hat with mirrors all around it.

And when the spotlight hit it,

The lights all just shot out of his head.

So I went and told them,

"let's do a fractured mirror guitar."

And this is the original.

It's all these individual pieces.

And what you find is, even when you file them down,

There's always gonna be some sharp pieces.

And you'll learn where the sharp pieces are

By cutting your fingers.

See, there's blood underneath some of these cracks.

You could probably clone a new starchild.

[monitor feedback]

[rock guitar music]

♪ ♪

This guitar has shook the world since the mid-'70s.

[kiss' "rock and roll all nite]

- Kiss, the world-renowned rock group

That exploded out of nowhere.

Kiss has been the gallup poll's number one rock band

For the last three years.

- The number one rock 'n' roll band in the world.

- ♪ you show us everything you've got ♪

♪ you keep on dancin' and the room gets hot ♪

♪ you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy ♪

♪ ♪

- The thing that was obvious from the very beginning

About kiss, it was a band that was about chemistry.

It was about these kind of four equal parts

That made up this superhero group.

Paul stanley was the ringleader.

Gene simmons was scaring the [bleep]

Out of suburban moms back in the day.

All: ♪ and party every day ♪

- Peter criss had his jungle rhythms,

His jazz fills, his cat-like vibe.

And ace frehley, you were just hoping

He was gonna stand up through the show.

♪ ♪

There was a time when that was clearly the most dangerous

And feared band in america.

- Obviously, yeah, we go for the throat.

- Why the masks?

- We're not wearing masks at all.

You're the guy that's wearing a masks.

- Well, there are wild rock groups; we know that.

- During the 70s we got bigger and bigger.

- We were a universal phenomenon.

- But then, trouble in paradise.

- I'd like to toast all my fans in holland.

- [inaudible]

[laughter]

- The alcohol and the drug use and the dysfunctional stuff

Started to hit the band heavy.

- Okay, time to rock 'n' roll.

- We wanted to become rich and famous,

And we're rich and famous. So...

- You want it, you got it. - We got it.

We had always spoken about "all for one and one for all,"

This idea that kiss was the four of us

And would always be the four of us.

But that got tested.

- And all of a sudden we became multimillionaires.

It was, like, too much too soon.

- Ace and I love to party. That's no secret.

- It was clear we couldn't depend on ace and peter.

It's like going down a long highway with two tires

That could blow at any time.

We were going forward with our foot pressed on the gas.

- If you don't read the signs...

♪ ♪

You can't be surprised when you go off to cliff.

All: We want kiss!

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- By about '79 the band's differences

Started to come up to the surface.

Peter just wasn't the same peter.

- Peter made it very hard to love him.

He became belligerent at times,

And his use of drugs

Was getting pretty out of hand.

- Peter was becoming self-destructive.

And his drumming had gone way down,

So much so that by the time we recorded "unmasked,"

Peter criss didn't appear on the album at all.

♪ ♪

- And I know "unmasked," I could say it.

I didn't play on "unmasked."

At the time I was really fighting with the band.

I didn't want to be around them.

They didn't want me around them.

And I was burnt out, man.

I was tired of being on the road so long

And putting out so many albums so fast.

[cheers and applause]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- We were in louisiana.

- How about it?

Peter criss on the drums.

- We were on stage.

And peter was probably on a drug binge.

I may have said, "pick up the tempo,"

Or something, and he just decided

To take the song up to a ridiculous speed

And then drop it to a slow speed

And was just doing this in front of 11,000 people.

♪ ♪

And it was such a betrayal.

♪ ♪

My jaw dropped.

♪ ♪

When we first started out

I really saw us being together forever.

I thought if it wasn't the four of us,

It wouldn't be a band anymore.

But the philosophy of "all for one and one for all"

Is only good as long as everybody's all for one.

All: Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

- The line began forming for the kiss concert before dawn,

Hundreds of young people claiming their place

Despite the cold, the wind, and the snow.

- Our philosophy was always whatever

Is going on in the band,

You leave it at the bottom of the stairs.

When you go up on stage, you're kiss.

When you sabotage a show, you're betraying our fans.

- How long have you been waiting in line?

- For about 13 hours now.

- I've been in line since about 8:00.

♪ ♪

- That crosses a line.

It was clear to all three of us.

- Even ace. You know, we took a vote.

- I said, "well, you know,

If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen."

- We had to let peter go.

♪ ♪

- There'll be no more roar of the grease paint

For peter criss.

The former drummer of kiss

Has taken off his famous makeup to go it alone.

- ♪ I just can't pretend no more ♪

♪ I keep runnin' out of lies ♪

- To lose a member was scary, scary for us.

I always believed that if somebody is drowning,

I'll do my best to save 'em.

- Now here is ex-kiss drummer peter criss.

Peter, welcome back. - Thank you.

- But when you start drowning me,

I'm gonna cut you loose.

All: ♪ shandi ♪

♪ tonight must last us forever ♪

- I never imagined anybody else

Would play drums in the band.

It's like the beatles.

- The last time the guys were here, I said,

"these guys are really wacky."

- But you just can't save him if he's not willing

To save himself.

- Then afterwards, the makeup comes off.

And here are four fairly respectable, sober,

Intelligent human beings.

- Well, not all of us are sober.

- ♪ good night ♪

♪ when we should say goodbye ♪

All: ♪ say goodbye ♪

- So peter, he was gone.

And that was a huge turning point for us,

Where we really had to see that kiss was bigger

Than any of the members.

The band is an attitude and a way of life and a philosophy.

And that's really the most important thing,

Not who's in the band.

So we went about looking for a drummer.

♪ ♪

- There was a huge amount of pressure on the band.

Kiss fans were militant, and they love their boys.

So a newcomer was not necessarily

Going to be popular right off the bat.

- And we found ourselves eric carr,

Who was a stove repairman.

- When I went in to audition, you know,

I just said to myself, "look, eric, you're gonna do

"the best you can you know, you're gonna play.

You know you're good. You know the songs."

The worst that can happen is that, you know,

You don't make the band, but you can fix the stoves.

- He literally went from ovens and stoves with cockroaches

Running out to being the new drummer in kiss.

- And we were very cognizant of the fact

That the world was watching.

And if this doesn't work, we're in deep trouble.

- Eric, it's suggested you're a more powerful drummer

Than peter and you blended into the band better.

- The band has never sounded tighter.

I think I fit in really well with the guys.

And, you know, if you come to the show, you'll hear it.

[kiss' "black diamond"]

- He played like thunder.

- ♪ darkness will fall on the city ♪

- And he sang great.

- ♪ it seems to follow you too ♪

- We were just awed by him.

- ♪ I know you don't ask for pity ♪

♪ but there ain't nothin' you can do ♪

All: ♪ whoo-ooh, black diamond ♪

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- But it was a transition, and it was different.

We were not the band we had been...

♪ ♪

This new makeup, this new character.

The audiences didn't buy it.

Because we'd spent years building the band

With those four iconic characters.

And to forsake that was a misstep.

And that played out as the audiences started to wane.

The band was losing ground.

♪ ♪

And doing "the elder" didn't help.

♪ ♪

- Around 1981, we decided to bring bob ezrin

Back into the fold to produce our next record.

♪ ♪

- When I was out in la we were talking about

Maybe it would be a film or something.

- But while I was staying at the beverly hills hotel,

I started doodling about a life form

Called the elder that were always here.

And in every age and every time,

They pick a hero, and he said, "okay, your next album

Is going to be a concept album based on gene's idea."

- And thus was born the saga of "the elder."

- It's not a bad idea

But not necessarily a good idea for kids.

- ♪ for I am just a boy ♪

♪ too young to be sailing ♪

- It was a difficult project on many, many levels.

I mean, it's not inaccurate to say that many times

The captain was not on the bridge.

I was still doing coke like during the "destroyer" days,

But in this case, it did happen again.

And ace didn't like the idea from the get-go.

- I kept telling bob, paul, and gene, I go,

"this is the wrong album for the time."

I think the fans want to hear a heavy hard rock album.

And they just kept, you know,

They just had a deaf ear to me.

- Paul and I were totally awed by the idea.

"oh, we're doing something important."

- We really--we drank the kool aid.

We thought we had this incredible masterpiece.

♪ ♪

- This is us being very artsy.

This is a beautiful videotape of a wonderful song.

- And you're gonna watch it out here.

- Notice at the end, gene cried.

And nobody has cried on anything of this sort

Since that indian when the kids throw the garbage

And the guy sitting--

- Oh, you haven't been in the audience.

[laughter]

- And honestly, like, musically,

There are moments on that that are sheer genius.

Lou reed came and wrote some lyrics with us.

Ace was amazing on the record even though he didn't like it.

But when you're in a band that is so particularly defined,

Stepping out can be a very dangerous thing to do.

- We don't want to make any excuses for what we do,

And we don't owe people explanations.

We still look like kiss,

And we'll play whatever we want to play.

- ♪ where you don't know what you're after ♪

♪ or if something's after you ♪

- I remember being on eighth street in greenwich village

Walking down the street

And seeing the promotional poster for the album.

- ♪ world without dreams ♪

And I had a panic attack.

[bleep].

There's my hand and a door knocker.

That's a kiss album?

What the hell have we done?

- I would have bet a million dollars

That that album was gonna fail.

And, of course, the album bombed.

- We thought, you know the who can have "tommy."

We can have "the elder." no, actually, we can't.

[kiss' "I"]

♪ ♪

- We hoped for these great accolades.

♪ ♪

What we learned is,

In pursuing people who don't like you,

You forsake the people who are with you.

And the other people could care less.

So you lose everything.

[door slams]

- Okay, are you ready?

Okay, I'm gonna shoot another.

Good.

- The tour is gonna last in the states

At least five months in at least 100 cities.

So what comes after that would probably

Be the rest of the world.

- Or the hospital. - Yeah, or the nuthouse.

- "creatures of the night" was when ace was clearly unhappy.

- Oh, you know, I'm just a wild and crazy kid

From the bronx, you know, that saw a spaceship one day

And went haywire.

♪ ♪

I was abusing chemicals,

And alcohol

I was going through a lot of personal problems

And you know

I really felt that if I dis not leave the group,

I was going to kill myself.

♪ ♪

Being in a band

There are moments where it's difficult, you know.

It will consume your life.

Every single person in the audience, 20,000 people,

You're responsible for them tonight.

And you have whiplash from headbanging

Too hard the night before.

And you've got a hangover from drinking too much.

You've got--you broke your leg.

You fell off the [bleep] stage and whatever.

You have to relieve yourself from any of that [bleep]

And be like, "no, no, no, I'm here

Because of that kid who worked at shakey's pizza all weekend

To get enough money to [bleep] come to the show.

And he's in those places.

And you can kind of get lost in that.

♪ ♪

You want to run; you want to hide.

A lot of people cover that [bleep] up with drugs.

A lot of people cover it up with booze.

And it's hard.

You have to be able to retain

A piece of yourself in all of it.

♪ ♪

- When I left kiss,

I really wasn't thinking about money, you know.

I was just thinking about being happy and survival.

I knew if I stayed in the band I would have self-destructed.

Because I was self-destructing.

♪ ♪

- When ace said he was quitting the band,

I went up to connecticut and spent a day with him

And pleaded with him not to go,

Which is kind of like being in an abusive relationship

But not wanting it to end.

Because what do you have in its place?

But he did ultimately leave, and he believed

That it would save his life.

And maybe it did.

Maybe it did save his life.

♪ ♪

- We didn't kick ace and peter out of the band.

Drugs and alcohol changed them,

Robbed their souls and tore 'em out of the band.

- And they weren't alone.

Our manager, bill aucoin, had disappeared.

He was literally locked in his apartment freebasing.

So gene and I flew to new york to see him.

♪ ♪

- Bill aucoin,

There's no question he was a visionary.

He was more than a manager certainly at the beginning.

- He really was our mentor.

- But drugs took their toll.

We had to separate.

- We sat down and said to him,

"it's time for us to go."

♪ ♪

I don't know if we had really recovered fully

From the idea of one member being gone.

Two members and bill being gone

Was ground-shaking for me.

It was scary, and it was different.

And the band would never be the same.

- Initially, every guy in the band

Was equally as important.

- Once gene and I were the only consistent members,

We realized it's our band now.

And okay, it's time for us to fly the plane.

But first you have to learn how to pilot it.

- Let's move the camera to get a close up of that famous...

- Appendage. - Tongue.

- You want slow motion side, side motion? Side?

What do you got?

[laughter] - oh, [bleep].

- So what you went through with eric now,

You had to go through it again with the auditions.

- I think it was much worse. We--we were literally flying

In people every day from all around the country.

I actually went down there with a mustache, okay.

The amp, that was very popular back then for me was a boogie.

It couldn't even compete with their marshalls

At the rehearsal; it was pathetic.

I could barely hear myself. I was so embarrassed in a way.

But I just remember-- and it meant a lot to me--

Gene just said, "great vibrato."

And I was, of course, flattered by that.

I didn't get the gig.

They just stuck with vinnie vincent.

- I think vinnie vincent made it into kiss pretty much

Because he played some guitar on "creatures of the night"

And they thought, "oh, you know what?

This guy will do."

- Vinnie joined the band basically by default.

We had a tour booked.

We had to go, and he was the closest person.

- Meantime, the fans didn't if know we were coming or going.

♪ ♪

There's a new guy. Is he gonna wear ace's makeup?

No, he's gonna be wearing the ankh, which paul came up with.

And we knew that the fans would be very upset.

♪ ♪

- It was like the avengers lost iron man and thor.

And it was, like, kind of like,

"I'm not sure I like these new guys

That you brought in from dc or whatever."

- Every time a member is lost,

It does change the dynamics of it.

- ♪ hello ♪ - ♪ hello ♪

- ♪ hello ♪ - ♪ hello ♪

All: Hi. We're kiss.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- At first, we were keeping the fantasy together.

- We went to south america

And played the largest concerts of our history.

There might have been 200,000 people.

♪ ♪

Enormous.

♪ ♪

On the other hand, in america...

All: Hi. We're kiss. Join us on "good morning."

- It was a complete mess.

- Their concerts have only been selling

At 75% capacity.

Their latest album is the poorest-selling album

Of their career.

- What we had done leading up to "creatures"

I think was seen as a betrayal by the audience.

- All these new members and everything

Infuriated the fans.

Who's coming? Who's going?

Who's in the band? What's in it?

- If you cheat on your husband or you cheat on your wife,

You don't get to say, "I'm sorry"

And things go back to normal.

"creatures" was that wake-up call

That no, everybody's not going to say, "all is forgiven."

♪ you tell me that you're leaving ♪

- Kiss was supposed to play providence this weekend.

But not enough tickets sold, and the concert was canceled.

- ♪ but now I see as the smoke clears away ♪

♪ the battle has been lost ♪

- The "creatures of the night" tour

Was perhaps the most thinly attended since we began.

- It was a nightmare.

- Did it ever occurred to the band to call kiss quits?

Like "[bleep], this is the last night

I'm gonna put this makeup on.

I don't need this anymore."

- As our career and our success was waning,

Gene and I had to decide how much it meant to us.

Do we say it's over,

Or does this mean enough to us to continue it?

- I'm like a shark.

A shark shouldn't stand still,

Because they will literally drown.

Forward momentum forces the water through your lungs

And your gills, and that's how you get oxygen.

It's the forward momentum that invigorates me,

And that's why I'm so gorgeous at 70 years old, bitch.

- You try to think that when success leaves you

That you'll have a warning.

All of a sudden, the bottom started to drop out.

And the "creatures of the night" tour

Was a horror show, at least for me.

I just remember going on stage,

And the curtain would drop.

And there was nobody out there. And I'd be like this

And pointing and there's empty seats.

- We can laugh about it now, but it was not a fun time.

- I was so depressed that I would fall asleep

In the dressing room, and they couldn't wake me up.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[radio chatter]

- After "creatures of the night,"

Paul called me and said,

"I gotta go get an operation in upstate new york

In the middle of nowhere."

I didn't quite understand what it was.

♪ ♪

But I remember hopping on a puddle jumper

And flying to see him in the hospital.

It was horrible.

- You were scared of flying at that point...

- To death.

- But got on a puddle jumper and came up to see me.

- You know, like, you know, they're going between mountains

And you're jumping up and down. This is the end of my life.

And when we landed there,

Paul comes up in a hospital gown,

And he explains.

- I was born without a right ear,

A condition called a microtia,

And there was a doctor up there

Who had come up with a way to reconstruct an ear.

After the first surgery

And I was in the hospital there,

The only people who were up there were my family and you.

- And I remember paul saying to me,

"now I know who my friends are."

- I might have been on drugs at that point

When I said it, but it's true.

It was a really lovely, wonderful thing he did.

♪ ♪

It really was a moment for me of realizing

That there's nothing to hide.

You can take off the mask.

- Kiss, the band that's not getting older;

It's--it's getting weirder.

- The band at that time

Just didn't have that magical quality.

- Music industry experts are wondering

If the kiss way may be passé.

However, the group says they'll keep their makeup.

- We were in the midst of an identity crisis.

- And I started thinking, "we have no choice.

- And I started thinking, "we have no choice.

There's only one way out."

- And so paul comes up and says...

[dramatic music]

I think we should take the

Make up off.

The

Make up off.

♪ ♪

- By 1983 I had a feeling that we had lost our way

And probably couldn't find our way back.

[loud explosion]

- Paul turns around to me and says,

"I don't think we can continue with the makeup,

Because we got new guys, and the makeup is changing,

The fox and the wizard."

- I really had reached a point where I believed

That our audience was listening with their eyes

And had grown tired of what we looked like

And maybe what we represented.

- He goes, "well, what will happen if we just went out

As the guys and stuff?

And I was completely uncomfortable.

[loud explosion]

I didn't know what I was supposed to be

Without the makeup.

♪ ♪

- Who he was so much was based on this persona,

This larger-than-life demon.

- When I have the makeup on, and for me being on stage,

Even to this day, I'm aware I'm stronger.

Adrenaline kicks in; the chest cavity gets bigger.

My voice gets huskier and all that.

It just happens naturally.

It's like a boxer who's kidding around

Watching cartoons backstage.

When you get in that ring, you're a killer.

♪ ♪

- And to give that up, it was going to be very,

Very frightening. I got it. I understood.

But I really felt that if we can't be a great band

Without makeup, then maybe we should call it quits.

- The thing that made sense is, what do we got to lose?

We're down in america. Let's just try something else.

Okay, let's take some photos and see what it feels like.

Because the first image is gonna be the fans looking at,

"here's kiss. Here's what it looks like."

♪ ♪

- And when we looked at the photos,

I became convinced that something about it

Was making a statement, like, "oh, yeah?

"even without the makeup, we're still kiss

Outside and inside."

- And this was the litmus test.

Gene was on board.

Let's take the makeup off.

♪ ♪

- After ten years together, exclusively here on mtv

This evening we are going to see kiss

Without their makeup for the very first time.

- Well, I was tuned in to mtv

The day that kiss took off the makeup.

The world had no idea what those guys looked like.

You know, that and the kennedy assassination

Were the two mysteries of our times, you know.

And here it was all gonna be revealed today on mtv.

- Vinnie vincent, lead guitarist and co-writer

Of many of the songs on the current kiss album.

Eric carr, drummer, has been with the band since 1979.

Paul stanley, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist.

Gene simmons, the fire-breathing,

Blood-spitting monster of kiss.

Welcome, you guys. This is amazing.

- Hi, j.J.

- They must have been scared. I can't even imagine.

It's like dropping your pants

And letting your junk hang out in the wind.

- How does it feel now without makeup

Appearing for the very first time?

- It feels very, very comfortable.

I mean, I hope it seems that way.

I feel fine about it. [gasps]

No, I'm fine.

- ♪ don't want to wait till you know me better ♪

- Paul, do you think this new look

Will be easy for you to succeed?

- It felt like it was time to take the makeup off.

And it doesn't change who we are.

It doesn't change what we believe in.

It doesn't change the stage show.

- We don't, you know,

We don't think about anything besides the music.

All: ♪ lick it up, lick it up ♪

♪ oh oh oh ♪

- ♪ it's only right now ♪

- The first show we performed without makeup was in lisbon.

[cheers and applause]

- And it was a mistake.

All: ♪ lick it up ♪

The show was sold with a poster of us in makeup.

♪ ♪

- It was a close-up of my face in makeup.

And the fans I'm sure were all mixed up.

All: We want kiss!

- They announce us on stage. - You wanted the best.

You got the best, kiss!

- And come running out, spinning around

And singing kiss songs.

But we kind of looked like we did when we were at soundcheck.

It was weird for me to look across and see gene,

Not the demon, but to see, "oh, yeah, there's the guy,

You know, I had breakfast with."

♪ ♪

I think the audience too was kind of like,

"what the hell's going on here?"

- I remember feeling naked.

It's like a knight in shining armor

Who knows full well that he could be all he is

Because he's protected.

Take off the armor, and all of a sudden you're vulnerable.

So you're much more self-conscious and afraid.

It probably took until we were in the middle of the concert

Where I just gave into it and just went with the flow.

- But we broke that wall down.

It reaffirmed to me

That people were ready to see us differently.

And that was the beginning of a crawl back.

♪ ♪

[upbeat percussive music]

- In 1984 a couple friends and I went to see kiss

Down at the long beach arena.

And that's when I first met gene and paul.

They wouldn't remember it, because it was just

In a meet-and-greet, but gene,

As inquisitive as he is, he asked me,

"so what do you do? Are you in a band?

And, you know, I looked like I was in a band.

And I said, "yeah, I'm in a new band

Called black and blue. We have a record coming out."

And he looked at me and he goes,

"oh, that's a great band.

I like you guys."

And I thought, "that's pretty cool.

Gene simmons just acknowledged something about me."

I--that kind of blew me away and stuck with me.

That was a good moment.

And the show was great.

- It was a big sold-out arena.

But in the middle of that show,

Vinnie vincent is doing a guitar solo.

♪ ♪

But he was playing too long.

And paul rightfully ran out and grabbed the mic and goes,

"all right, everybody, vinnie vincent,"

And stuff like that.

- Vinnie vincent on lead guitar!

- And after the concert,

Vincent walks up to paul and says,

"don't you ever do that to me again."

And I thought paul was gonna take his lights out.

♪ ♪

- Gene and paul, they always recognized his talent.

I do too. I know he's a gifted songwriter.

But whatever leverage vinnie vincent thought

He had over gene and paul

Because of writing a lot of great songs,

It's foolish.

And you didn't create that fan base.

- Within an album or so he was gone.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Girls and guys, especially girls,

Mark st. John, our new lead guitar player.

- Yay. - Hey. There he is.

♪ ♪

- So the new guitar player, mark st. John,

Not a melody guy but really fast.

- But then again, mark st. John out of nowhere

Comes down with a rare arthritic condition,

Had his hands blowing up like sausages.

He was gone before he really could make a mark.

- We were losing guitar players left and right.

♪ ♪

- When opportunity knocks, you better be ready.

I played with meatloaf for the "bat out of hell" tour.

I toured the world, okay? And I was ready.

♪ ♪

- And bruce kulick was in.

- Bruce kulick on lead guitar.

♪ ♪

Come on!

- But it was clear by the animalize tour

It wasn't the kiss of old.

When the makeup came off

We were between a rock and a hard place.

We may not have been followers, but we were no longer leaders.

♪ ♪

The hair bands were here.

♪ ♪

[rock music]

- Come on, paul, can we see a kiss video?

- Can we see a video, please?

- Do you promise to be good?

- Swear. - Promise.

- This one's "tears are falling."

- Great.

- ♪ I read your mind like an open book ♪

♪ you lost the fire in your eyes ♪

♪ ♪

- In the '70s kiss were a band

That was definitely leading trends

And blazing brand new paths in rock 'n' roll.

In the '80s they seemed like they were maybe

Following other band's past.

- A lot of stuff really changed.

In the '80s, you know, things just got so shiny.

- ♪ oh no tears are falling ♪

- When the hair bands came along, bon jovi,

Motley crue, it was about what you looked like.

It was the cutesy time.

The guys are looking cuter than their girlfriends.

It's androgynous.

- Now everyone's, like, lookin' good.

- And we thought, "okay, well,

"let's just prove to them we could go

Toe-to-toe with any of these bands."

- The hair started looking like the other bands' hair.

The outfits were sequined and whatnot.

- Paul had the, you know,

Sort of semi-androgynous thing.

He could look good. But I was lost.

I'm 6'2" and at the time 200 pounds.

It's like a football player in a tutu.

Probably not a good idea.

- You looked very handsome-- - as a what?

- You looked very handsome as a woman.

- She says I looked very handsome as a woman.

Then she went like this.

[silently]

- Oh no tears are falling ♪

- For me and the rest of the guys those were

I will say the most embarrassing years,

What we looked like and often what we sounded like.

It wasn't satisfying,

Which is why I wandered.

I want to do something to--ah,

Why can't I finish that sentence?

Time is slithering by, and I'm accomplishing nothing, nothing.

I was given an offer to act in movies.

- Do you see yourself now as more a movie star?

Have you gone hollywood do you think?

- I gotta get out of this picture for this one.

Wait. - Ahem.

People were asking me to be in films and,

"do you want to do a tv series?"

And all this, "oh, you're so great."

And, of course, that's my achilles' heel,

That ego, that insatiable-- that is my crack.

- Gene simmons.

[cheers and applause]

- It's like, "wow, I'm not just a one-trick pony.

I'm not just that guy who sticks his tongue out.

Maybe I could do other stuff."

You believe that crap?

- We were recording some demos for our third

"black and blue record.

We thought maybe gene simmons would be a good producer

For the record.

So we sat down, and we played these songs

That we had been writing and demo'ing.

And gene goes, "you know what? I'll do it."

- Gene was off producing bands,

Showing up in the studio having not slept.

It became a joke, but it wasn't a joke to me.

- There's no question that I was losing focus on the band.

And all of it I'm sure had to do with not

Getting my rocks off with kiss.

I mean, you can have a relationship

That makes total sense.

But if your schmekel doesn't get crazy,

You go elsewhere, and I went knowingly.

I was too involved with my own selfish self.

♪ ♪

- By the time we got to "crazy nights,"

It had really reached a point where I felt

Offended, deserted.

You can fill in the blanks.

I produced the-- the new kiss album.

And I loved doing it.

And I would have wanted to do it in any case.

But this--I mean, you can't be in two places at once.

I finally sat him down.

And I said to him, "you know what?

"you're [bleep] with me.

"this has reached a point where it's unacceptable.

It can't go on."

♪ ♪

- And he was right, of course.

- And it felt good. It felt good to say, "no more."

- The one thing we've always had, honesty with each other.

We've never been shy about telling each other,

"hey, you know what? Your breath stinks.

"I don't mean that as a criticism.

"I mean, just to point that out

"so you'll be able to be more effective.

Take a mint; more people will like you."

- We've been through a lot.

And even when things might have been a little tense between us,

Whenever the chips have been down--and I hope it goes

Both ways--I've always known that gene was there.

- And I remember saying, "you know what?

You're right.

I'll step back slowly."

♪ ♪

- One, two, one.

- This is a tom. Well, no, this isn't a tom.

This is a microphone. This is a tom.

- Eric was a terrific drummer. Funny.

- No, this is a dick. Wait a minute.

- He cared deeply about the band.

But I was in my house, and--and eric

Called me and said, "I went to the doctor."

♪ ♪

- Eric had started spitting up blood.

♪ ♪

- "there's a finger-like tumor going in and out of my heart."

- And the diagnosis came back.

He's got cancer.

♪ ♪

- Well, here I am, folks.

This is rock drummer eric carr

Talking to you three days after open-heart surgery.

- Eric carr felt just miserable that he was letting us down,

That he couldn't show up for rehearsals,

That we might get another drummer.

- I'll be back to kick your asses again soon as I can.

And I can't wait to get back and play drums, man.

Because this sucks.

♪ ♪

- We wanted to keep moving with the idea

That eric was gonna get better

Because I couldn't imagine him dying.

I had never dealt with anything like that.

And what I said to him was,

"the most important thing now is your health.

"you need to think of yourself and not about the band.

"the band will be there.

Even if we work, the band's still there."

♪ ♪

- The hindsight is that the one thing we've always done is know

How to press the button that says,

"just keep going forward."

Because when you stop, you achieve nothing.

- I think eric carr did feel like,

"I can't go away and rest and recover,

"because then somebody else is gonna come in

And take my spot."

- And then there was this call to do a kiss version

Of the rock standard

"god gave rock and roll to you."

- It was for the movie "bill and ted's bogus journey."

And we cut the track with bob ezrin.

Eric singer played on the song,

But eric carr insisted on singing on the recording.

He sang during the quiet interlude.

- ♪ god gave rock and roll to you ♪

- To everyone he gave the song to be sung ♪

- ♪ gave rock and roll to everyone ♪

- And then it was time to do the video.

We got a phone call from eric,

And he begged us to do the video

Even though he was terminal.

Both: ♪ saved rock and roll ♪

- And we did.

♪ ♪

It was eric carr in deep cancer

And playing his heart out for the last time

♪ ♪

Both: ♪ god gave rock and roll to you ♪

- He did a stellar job.

Learned the parts; he played them great

And did take after take for the video.

Both: ♪ god gave rock and roll to you ♪

- Shortly after that, he passed away.

- Anyway, that's it.

So I'll see ya.

Bye-bye.

- ♪ I gotta tell ya ♪

Both: ♪ god gave rock and roll to you ♪

- And it was the saddest thing.

'cause, you know, only the good die young.

Both: ♪ gave rock and roll to everyone ♪

[gentle guitar music]

- Eric singer did become the drummer in kiss.

- Well, part of me is, like, all excited by, you know,

"wow, I'm gonna be the drummer of kiss.

But then I'm thinking like, "wow,

Under the [bleep] circumstances ever."

And I knew it was gonna be a rough road.

I was gonna take a lot of heat.

♪ ♪

- ♪ I was there through the ages ♪

♪ chained slaves to their cages ♪

♪ I have seen you eat your own ♪

- "revenge" was another turning point for us.

[loud explosion]

- We survive a tragic loss of a beloved drummer,

Find a new guy, eric singer, super talented.

Eric did a fantastic job

Walking into a terrible situation.

We survived bob ezrin's ruthless,

"it's gotta be great. It's gotta be great."

And it was great.

- ♪ that's why you're feeling so ♪

All: ♪ unholy ♪

- Album's leading up to that meandered a bit,

But "revenge" really felt like we nailed it.

♪ ♪

- But "revenge" didn't sell quite what we hoped.

Times were changing. Music was changing.

♪ ♪

- I was playing with alice cooper.

We went to do a summer tour playing all the outdoor venues.

It was like a bloodbath.

Everywhere we went, the crowds were, like, non-existent.

That's when I could see, "wow, it's over."

♪ ♪

[funky bass guitar music]

- The '90s is a death knell for all the hair-metal bands,

All a sequin bands.

All of a sudden, bands like tool,

Nine inch nails, rage against the machine,

Nirvana are playing uncompromising kick-ass music.

And those hair-metal bands didn't have a home anymore.

♪ ♪

And it was at that time where kiss fans globally demanded,

"we want the kiss we want.

Remind us of the greatness and the uniqueness of this band."

- That kind of fed into the convention tour.

♪ ♪

- Jessica, do you like kiss?

- Uh-huh.

- I got the whole set of dolls.

I got some posters and a couple of pins.

- And our latest purchase, the axe bass

Complete with blood and all.

♪ ♪

- Much like comic-con or for star trek conventions,

There was this groundswell.

Collectors got together and started kiss conventions.

So gene thought,

"why don't we have an official kiss convention?"

- The worldwide kiss convention '95-'96.

- We would have all the cool things

That we had in the warehouse, costumes, vintage guitars,

Plus we would have kiss tribute bands,

Which were popping up everywhere.

- Some friends and I decided,

"we're gonna do a kiss tribute band."

Paul, you've got to come see our band sometime.

I think you'll like it.

We were called cold gin, and it was just a lot of fun.

- The whole thing would be a traveling kiss museum.

- And they said, "tommy, we need you to go

"to all these cities and find the hotels,

Book them, set all this stuff up."

And I ended up running the kiss conventions.

- The lines were around the block.

- People wanted to be a part of this

And make it special, and they did.

- We had a ball.

- During the convention tour, a part of it was,

Kiss would come out and do an unplugged set.

It was just this kind of loose thing,

But it was a lot of fun, and it sounded cool.

[kiss' "cold gin"]

- The friends really got us much more connected

To the legacy of kiss.

♪ ♪

Wait.

Shh, I'll get it.

♪ ♪

It's one thing to play those songs on electric guitars.

Acoustic guitars are very, very unforgiving.

♪ ♪

That's the hard part, this...

♪ ♪

Because the strings are so tight.

♪ ♪

We had to polish up on our chops,

But we had a ball.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- And right then, peter criss reached out to me.

♪ ♪

He was living in los angeles,

And I hadn't spoken to him in a while.

And he said, "you know, hey,

"you know, my daughter never got a chance

"to see all this memorabilia.

Can I bring her down to the kiss convention?"

- My daughter never saw kiss.

She just never knew what her father really was about.

And I thought the first la

Kiss convention, what a perfect time.

- I said, "peter, of course."

♪ ♪

- Gene called me up and said, "eric,

"peter criss wants to come to the show.

"I just want to make sure that you're--you're okay with that.

I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

- Eric singer turned around and said,

"what are you talking about? I'm a peter criss fan too."

- I said "no. Why would it be uncomfortable?

That's cool. You should have him come up and play."

- Well, we thought it might be something special.

We thought peter could come out

And sing a couple of song with us.

All: Peter! Peter! Peter!

- Everybody went berserk.

[cheers and applause]

- And here's the original kiss member, peter criss,

Coming back and playing with gene and paul.

And, you know, nobody'd seen that in a long time.

- ♪ if never I met you ♪

♪ if never I held you tight ♪

♪ if not for our first hello ♪

♪ we'd never have to say good-bye ♪

- It was cool. It was magical.

The audience was electric.

- ♪ rags ♪

♪ I really love you ♪

♪ I can't forget about you ♪

♪ you'll be a hard luck woman ♪

♪ baby till you find your man ♪

♪ ♪

- Peter criss!

- And I remember he was glowing.

It was--it was cool.

- I don't know, man.

I got a feeling of, like, going back home.

Kind of, like, being safe again

With the guys again; it was good.

- Everybody was having such a great time.

Mtv is saying, "you guys wanna do 'unplugged'"?

Because eric singer opened the door to peter,

Mtv went nuts and said,

"would ace join you on stage too?"

- I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about the future.

You know, if you read the trades and you believe rumors,

You guys gonna get together maybe next year?

- Anything's possible.

- Come on, ace, lay it out.

What's going on?

- We've discussed it.

All we've done is discussed it.

- I mean, you-- you're open to it?

- I'm open to it, and paul and gene are open to it.

[cheers and applause]

- We've got some members of the family here tonight.

We're talking about peter criss and ace frehley.

♪ ♪

- Whatever quality peter and ace had, charisma,

Whatever, it was undeniable that it belonged on stage.

- I don't think anybody expected this, did they?

- ♪ you got nothin' to lose ♪

All: ♪ you got, got nothing to lose ♪

- ♪ oh nothing ♪

All: ♪ you got, got nothing to lose ♪

- There's a certain feeling when the four of us play

Together that I can't explain.

I can't put my finger on it.

But there's just this chemistry.

- The magic was still there.

I felt when I was sitting next to the guys.

The crowd knew it was still there.

- All of the original guys being together.

All: ♪ you got, you got, you got nothing to lose ♪

- By the end of the night we were home.

- ♪ yeah ♪

- Thanks so much. Good night.

- You'd have to be dead

To not be caught up in what we were feeling.

It was those rumblings before the volcano explodes.

- Maybe one day there will be a reunion

If paul and gene, you know, get smart and cash in on it.

- If the four of us can sit in a room

Without the managers and the lawyers

And all the [bleep] and really say,

"lookit, man, whatever went on went on,

And let's just drop this [bleep].

And we owe it to our fans."

You know. I'm good. I would do a reunion. Sure.

- And both ace and peter fly out to los angeles.

And we negotiate without lawyers, no anything,

Say, "okay, you guys want to come back

"and do a reunion tour?

"here's the way it's gonna work.

"you decide nothing.

"you're gonna show up on time and do it.

"we'll guarantee you'll be multimillionaires.

"but you're not gonna get as much as paul and I,

"because we've been here carrying the flag for 15,

"20 years or whatever.

And without us kiss would be dead."

And both said, "great. Let's go do it."

♪ ♪

- Telling eric singer and bruce kulick

That we were going to do a reunion tour

Without them was a--tough--a tough one.

I was over the moon about what we were about to embark on.

But I was also aware of the feelings of two people

Who had put their heart and soul into the band.

- You know, we literally had just finished recording

"carnival of souls."

I think we only had a couple more songs to mix.

And then gene and paul said they wanted

To have a meeting with us, and I thought they were gonna

Just talk about preparing for the record.

- And we're told that there's big offers for a reunion tour.

♪ ♪

- Bruce had been in the band, I think, about ten years

And really gave it his all.

And bruce is somebody who's pretty selfless.

He's somebody who is a real team player.

- When I was told, I remember going like, "I knew it."

But, you know, fascinating times, let me tell you.

- Bruce took it more philosophically or stoically.

But surprisingly, it was eric who was hurt the most.

- I couldn't have been more shocked.

Eric made a career initially of being the go-to drummer

For a lot of bands.

And he would say to me, "oh, I know this is just a gig."

But when it came down to this,

I know--I know his feelings were hurt.

- You know, kiss is gene and paul's band.

They're gonna do what's always in their best interest,

Not what's in the best interest of gene and paul and eric.

You know, like people say, "it's not called music friends.

It's called music business."

♪ ♪

- See what I mean? [inaudible].

You are slimmer than you were before.

- Yeah.

Wow.

- Yeah?

- What do you think, gene? - I think it looks terrific.

♪ ♪

- What a man. What a man.

- [laughs]

- [grunts] - [laughs]

- To be in a room at gene's house

With all four original guys putting on the outfits again,

Putting on makeup again... - Hey peter.

- For the first time in 17 years,

It was amazing.

- It's coming back.

- It was like putting on the makeup that first time...

♪ ♪

Before the money, before the chicks,

Before the fame, before any of that.

And it was all four of us back together again.

- Gene started going through his metamorphosis.

I could see it happening.

It was like going back in time.

- It was amazing. Because I put the makeup on.

And it was almost as if, you know,

20 years had just flown by.

I felt very comfortable in it.

- Wow! The hair looks great. Wow.

- The whole thing was--was--

It was intoxicating, empowering.

It was...Wow.

- Wow! - We're kiss.

We're that kiss.

- What do you think?

[laughter]

Come on over here.

Come over here, moron.

- There was a real sense of joy.

- Paul and I looked at each other and said,

"wow, isn't this amazing?"

- Pshu!

- But then it was like, "uh-oh, we caught a big one."

We can't do all this and manage the band.

- For a long time after bill, we basically managed ourselves.

This was gonna be a juggernaut beyond our capability.

- At the time we were manager-less.

So we got a list of them, put that together.

- I believe there was only one name on that list.

And that name was doc mcghee.

- This is a license to print money.

This is gonna be monstrous.

This will take you to the next level.

- Doc mcghee is a legendary rock manager

And he had two of the biggest bands in the world,

Motley crue and bon jovi,

What was bigger than motley crue and bon jovi in the 1980s?

- He and nathan knew what this could be and what was possible.

- If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.

And that's kiss.

- Doc mcghee is very peculiar. He's got his voice

That sounds like he's been sucking on helium.

I've never seen him take notes.

And yet somehow, he gets the stuff done.

- He's a visionary. He really is.

We were originally thinking, "well, we'll get our feet wet

And maybe do some small shows or do some theaters."

Doc was like, "no, no, no, no."

And we thought he was completely out of his mind.

♪ ♪

- Gentleman got into my car,

Said he was going to the "intrepid."

And I thought I heard something on the radio today

About something goin' on over there.

He told--tells me that the rock band kiss

Is doing a press conference.

- It's all about timing.

Okay, people needed to have fun.

And it just blew up.

- Last week when they asked me to introduce kiss,

I had just two questions.

What time and what aircraft carrier?

All right, ladies and gentlemen,

Here they are, peter, paul, gene, kiss.

- Kiss saying there are ready to rock and roll again

[inaudible]

To announce their upcoming world tour.

Gene simmons says they want to give something back

To their loyal fans.

- This tour and the whole event really is a culmination

Of more than a decade of fans

Being on top of our asses saying that we have to do it.

- I've always wanted to time travel, you know.

And it feels like I've gone back 15 years in time,

And here I am again, and it's a fantastic feeling.

And I really appreciate everybody being here.

[cheers and applause]

All: Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace!

Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace!

- They hadn't sold a stadium out in a long time.

We'd talked to agents and everything else.

And they'd say, "first do ten theaters.

"and we'd look at each and go,

"ten theaters?

We don't want to play in theaters.

"what's the alternative?

If we don't make it, we don't make it."

If you're gonna swing the bat, swing the bat.

So we put up tiger stadium.

- It was sold out in 40 minutes.

♪ ♪

- Once we put up tiger stadium and it sold out,

Gene and I both realized

That if we were going to do a reunion,

We couldn't let anybody down. We couldn't disappoint people.

And what we had to give them in terms of a show

Was the show that they thought they remembered...

♪ ♪

Not the show that we actually did.

So we had to create the show that by today's standards

Was what they remembered back then.

And equally, we had to make sure that the band

Sounded enough like the band did in the beginning.

- Everybody came to la in the spring of 1996.

And rehearsals started with the band.

I remember ace saying to me, "why are we rehearsing?

I know those songs like the back of my hand."

Obviously, he didn't know the back of his hand.

- ♪ get up ♪

♪ everybody's gonna move their feet ♪

- Well, you figure we've done 25 albums.

They average ten songs an album.

That's ten solos an album, so you figure 250 solos.

So, you know, there's no way

I could remember 250 guitar solos.

- For all the time that kiss has been together

We've constantly toured.

Gene and I had spent another 15 years or more playing.

And it was pretty obvious that they hadn't.

- I don't believe this.

- No, I believe it. - Sorry. T's impossible.

- It was very clear it wasn't up to par

And it wasn't what it needed to be to pull this off.

After the rehearsal, paul and gene called me, and they said,

"tommy, we need you to help them get back up to speed

With what they need to do."

And I said, "okay." so I started with peter,

Him on the drums, me with a guitar and an amp

Teaching him how to re-learn certain things

That he needed to do.

After we did that for a week or two,

I did the same thing with ace.

♪ ♪

We got together, the two of us sitting on chairs in a room,

A couple guitars, a couple amps.

And, you know, believe it or not,

We actually kind of had a good time

Just jamming back and forth.

You know, he caught on and got back to the original parts

And the way they're supposed to be, and it worked out.

♪ ♪

- By the time we got together again,

It started sounding better.

♪ ♪

- The lead up to tiger stadium was with some nerves

And some trepidation.

- We had built kiss back, so we couldn't endanger

What we had done by bringing back

The two original members and having it suck.

- I didn't feel completely confident about it,

And I know that everybody else felt the same way.

We did--we didn't know what was gonna happen.

[cheers and applause]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- Backstage,

Everybody was pretty uptight.

- Our asses were on the line.

- The fans had been waiting for this for years.

[cheers and applause]

- You could hear the roar.

And it got bigger and bigger and bigger.

- It was like they were all congregating

And marching in line going to mecca.

- Taking the stage, all I could think was,

"keep your composure.

Be what these people are expecting."

- All right, detroit.

- Be kiss.

- You wanted the best.

You've got the best.

The hottest band in the world, kiss!

[kiss' "deuce"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ get up and get your grandma outta here ♪

- The energy coming from this audience

Was like a tidal wave.

You have to contain that.

So the four of us had to contain that energy.

I would look at peter and make sure he was playing in time.

We all were very dependent on each other

To be everything they expected.

- ♪ you know your man is working hard ♪

Both: ♪ he's worth a deuce ♪

♪ ♪

- And we were.

- I was so happy to be back.

It was such a great thing to get a second chance

Like that in life.

Because that's what it was to me,

A great second chance to maybe fix what was broken

When we first dispersed.

♪ ♪

- Yeah!

[loud explosions]

[cheers and applause]

- The messiahs had returned.

Whoo!

Y'all ready to rock?

- Those shows were magical to me.

I loved those shows.

- New york, let me hear ya.

- The number of fans that had waited 15 years

To see the original lineup

Play together with makeup was mind-blowing.

- All right. Let's go, baby.

- Do you feel all right?

- I saw kiss at the tacoma dome when I was living in seattle.

- Do you feel all right?

- I was sitting next to the drummer of soundgarden,

And the two of us were like...

"god of thunder."

Like, we were in it.

♪ ♪

- Ace frehley is up there,

Ace frehley on stage playing the solo on the record.

Like, it gave me-- it gave me chills.

♪ ♪

That's my man! You know what I mean?

And I'm here for that journey.

♪ ♪

- ♪ I'm sorry to have taken so long ♪

- Just seemed like we build momentum.

- Okay. That show is sold out.

Let's add a second show.

[all speaking japanese]

That's sold out.

Okay, let's move to the next city.

♪ ♪

- It was good, but in a way it was bad.

- You know, I would look at our itinerary,

And all of these days

That were off just started disappearing.

- The reunion tour became the number one tour in the world.

Number two is u2.

- The most successful tour in '96-'97.

Kiss was a big deal again.

- I don't know how many bands have done that,

Have gone from the white house to the outhouse

And now back to the white house.

♪ ♪

- We compete with a past that is so huge

That it took the reunion tour

To really eclipse what we had done initially.

We wound up on the cover of "forbes."

If I had to pick a magazine I would never be

On the cover of, it would surely be "forbes."

But there we were.

♪ ♪

- We as--as a band hung tight. And I think we got through it

And we'll get through anything else.

Paul and I were going, "wow.

"it's like being in the 'titanic.'

"let's not hit the iceberg again, okay?

Let's go around it."

♪ ♪

- Yeah!

But the problem was not the iceberg out there.

The problem was within.

- [indistinct].

- At one point these guys were all equal members.

Now they're coming back together.

But they're gonna be under the rule of gene and paul.

♪ ♪

- Okay, now turn around.

And this wasn't gonna be kumbaya.

♪ ♪

- I do remember at the end of the reunion tour

Peter and ace saying,

"we were really good and cooperative.

Now we want to have equal say."

♪ ♪

- I was really excited. I was like, "wow, we're gonna

Finally do a studio album together as a band."

All of a sudden, they're like,

"you're gonna do what we tell you to do.

"you know, we're gonna put our songs on it.

"we'll pay you for the record.

"and we'll say you played on it.

"but we don't want you to tell the world

You didn't play on it."

I couldn't live with that.

- You have to remember, I never left the band.

So are you gonna come back and be an equal?

Absolutely not.

- I won't have--I won't be slapped around

I won't be treated that way. I took enough of it.

- It's the same personalities,

Ace and peter from the early days.

When they were great, they were fantastic.

And then it's jekyll and hyde when the other stuff comes in.

♪ ♪

- Peter started acting the way he once swore

He would never go back to, and it was really tough.

- Catman. - Somebody stop me.

- And this is hard to say,

Because fans hear this and they say,

"how could you say that about our beloved catman?"

You're right.

♪ ♪

You're right.

But that was the beginning of torture.

- One, two...Tongue, please, gene.

- Three. - I thought I was...

- Shut up.

Shut the [bleep] up, [bleep] bastard.

- One, two, three.

- A lot of energy coming from people

Was just really negative.

- Get out of here, thayer.

- At that point, tommy was functioning

As our road manager,

Which was incredibly demanding.

Because we had to give hotels

A sheet of the do's and don'ts for peter.

"windows have to be covered with foil.

"you can vacuum the floor,

But you can't touch the kitchen."

You know, just all kinds of crazy stuff.

- I was really spending a lot of time

Trying to help these guys with their daily routine

And trying to make it work for them.

But I think ace and peter started resenting me a bit,

Because they felt that I was part of

The gene and paul team.

- Imbecile with the camera again.

- Oh, you love it.

You know, it started getting weird.

- Ready, ace? - Tommy, why don't you go check

The [bleep] out, huh?

- Peter's biggest thing was respect.

He wanted to be respected by gene and paul.

♪ ♪

Unfortunately, you can't put that in a contract.

You can't buy respect.

You have to earn respect.

- Play good. Really pay attention tonight

So you don't have to fix everything. Okay?

- [indistinct]. Don't leave me alone.

- Yeah, play with him a little bit more.

You know, pay attention.

- The only one that comes-- - pay attention.

- He'll go there, but he'll--in 30 years

He ain't never coming over and playing with me.

- And that was peter's hang-up

♪ ♪

- Ace's problem...

- Get ace down here.

- Was different. - Ace. Ace.

- As the train got faster and the money got bigger

And the power got bigger, ace got crazier.

- Ace became undependable,

Probably partially because he was unhappy

And partially because that's ace.

- [indistinct] want to,

And next thing you know, it's, like,

They saw the money rolling in.

It was the biggest grossing tour.

And all they saw was dollar signs.

And then there was the second tour.

And then there was an album, and there was the third tour.

- We had contractual limits on, "you have to behave,

"you have to show up on time.

You can't use drugs. You can't do things."

It was all in contract.

You know the phrase, "so [bleep] what"?

♪ ♪

- Ace could hardly stand up by himself.

And that's the truth.

♪ ♪

And he would put drugs in his wristband on stage.

And he gets so high he'd fall down.

And here you've got gene and paul

Who don't do anything like that.

And it's just-- it's gonna wear on people.

♪ ♪

- The drug use was out of control.

There were nights where ace passed out

Putting on his makeup,

So honestly, ace and peter,

A lot of issues were still there.

♪ ♪

So although we were blessed to get back together,

It was a sand timer that had been turned over.

And there was just a matter of time.

The sand would run out.

- We're playing a big show in southern california.

- I was leaving from the east coast.

And the remainder of the band

Was leaving from the west coast.

And, of course, when I'm on my own,

Sometimes I'm not as efficient as we are as a group.

- Whenever ace misses a flight or doesn't show up

Or the dog ate my homework,

Or, you know, there's always an excuse.

- My limousine driver got there late,

And I was probably late packing.

And by the time I got to the airport,

I think my flight had taken off.

But it really wasn't my fault.

And if you believe that, you know,

I could sell you the brooklyn bridge.

- So I called doc on the phone.

I said, doc, "I don't think he's gonna be here on time."

And doc says "tommy," he goes,

"go down to irvine;" he goes, "get suited up."

♪ ♪

- We had a spare costume that was made for tommy

Just in case something like this happened.

- And I got ready.

And I'm thinking, "wow, this is really it now.

I'm gonna be on stage with kiss in a couple hours."

And I'm not even sure how I feel about that.

It's, you know, I'm feeling a lot of pressure, obviously.

And things are happening fast.

And all sudden, ace walks in.

Somehow that flight had made it out in new york,

And they had a helicopter pick him up.

Just kind of looks at me real casually, and he goes,

"hey, tommy, how you doin'?"

- As soon as anyone is late for flights and,

You know, just carrying on like a fool,

It goes beyond drama, and it becomes, like, madness.

You know what I mean?

Because you know if you were the executive at coca-cola,

You'd be fired. You'd be sent home.

But how do you fire an original guy?

It's got to be really serious.

- What band wouldn't ideally like to just stay together

And--and have it last like how they started?

Because they know

That what they created they created together.

And, you know, it was lightning in a bottle.

- So I think that gene and paul wanted to hold on to this,

Because they knew how special this was.

And they thought that they could recreate

Or get that lightning in the bottle again.

And it just wasn't gonna happen.

♪ ♪

- We were once again faced with,

"this is miserable. This is really not fun."

♪ ♪

"I guess we call it quits."

♪ ♪

- We decided to do a farewell tour with ace and peter,

Because we couldn't depend on each other.

♪ ♪

It became drudgery and ugly.

♪ ♪

- So it was really bad.

They sounded horrible.

As good as it was in the beginning

Was as bad as it was at the end.

- The fact that peter didn't make it

To the end of the farewell tour

Is symptomatic of what was going on.

- One of the biggest hurts was the betrayal with ace.

I trusted ace, because he did pull back, and he did say,

"we got to do this together."

But when I was told to go up his room one night,

And he told me he was making so much more money

Than I was making on this whole get-together,

I thought I was gonna take a heart attack.

I called up peter, and I said, "we have a few weeks' work

That we can do in australia and japan

And you can make a million dollars.

And he said to me, "I don't want

A million dollars. I want what you're getting."

I said, "peter, eric's just waiting to come back."

And peter said, "oh, the audience

Will never--the fans won't accept it."

And I was like, "wow, all these years and nothing's changed.

Nothing's been learned."

And I said, "well, then that's it.

I guess we're off to australia and japan without you."

♪ ♪

[kiss' "shout it out loud"]

♪ ♪

- I remember asking this question,

"so what makeup are they gonna have me wear?"

Sure enough, cat makeup.

- Someone might say, "well, it's disingenuous

"to have somebody wear the cat makeup,

Because he didn't originate it."

But what was disingenuous was creating new characters.

- The fox and the ankh, you know, different personas

Just didn't seem as authentic.

Having somebody don the outfit of his predecessor

Really isn't that calculated

In the same sense that how many batman have there been?

And for somebody to say, "well, you're musicians;

You're not superheroes." guess what.

We're as much as superheroes as those guys are.

All: ♪ shout it, shout it out loud ♪

[indistinct].

Having eric back was a godsend.

I can't imagine anybody else I would rather play with.

♪ ♪

- Eric singer is such a solid drummer.

I mean, it was just a pleasure playing with eric,

Because, you know, on and off the stage he's a solid guy.

I mean, his timing is impeccable.

- ♪ yeah ♪

- I think gene and paul and doc mcghee could see like,

"oh, okay, maybe this wasn't a bad idea.

Maybe this was a good move. We've changed the dynamic."

Ace is being very positive and engaging.

♪ ♪

- The vibe was great until the last show in australia.

Ace had a rough time that night.

But he wasn't the same after.

He disappeared.

When we finally got in touch with him,

He was as skinny a guy as I've ever seen.

It was just shocking.

I think as time passed, ace just had enough.

- I swore I wouldn't tour anymore with them.

And they said, "we'll do the farewell tour.

And I swear to you, ace. That will be it."

Gene swore to me on his mother.

And he [bleep] calls me up, and he says,

"we're gonna do another tour."

I go, "you may be doing a tour.

You can put tommy thayer I makeup.

I don't give a [bleep].

[kiss' "detroit rock city]

♪ ♪

- My first show was the kiss symphony show in melbourne,

Australia, in the telstra dome.

When paul shouted out-- "tommy thayer,

Lead guitar" out, you know, it kind of stunned me.

It took me back. It was like, wow.

I am up here." and I looked at my pick,

And it said "tommy thayer" on it.

And on the other side it said "kiss."

And that was-- it was a big deal.

- Tommy hit it out of the park.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Every once in a while I think all this time has gone by.

And there's that piece that's missing, which is that

Ace and peter can't share the success of the band

That they helped start. You know what I mean?

- Yeah, but I really believe that we couldn't have gotten

Where we did without ace and peter.

And we couldn't continue to be

Where we are with ace and peter.

We are blessed that we have tommy and eric, particularly.

- Oh, there's no question about that.

- As far as the chemistry, as far as the joy,

As far as the quality,

This is how I always hoped kiss would be.

And on top of this, we like each other.

We have a great time.

♪ ♪

- Let's see, what was I doing 48 years ago?

- You were in your mommy's belly.

- You were a 12-year-old in diapers.

[laughter]

- To go out on tour is to kind of wrap things up,

Celebrate the legacy,

Something that started with nothing more than a belief,

A belief in ourselves.

I just see it as pride in what we built

And going out there to wave the flag one more time

And to put those fists up and say, "we did it,

And we did it with the fans from the very beginning."

♪ ♪

- People tend to be influenced more

By what you do than what you say.

In the case of kiss, we've done both.

What we've done is timeless,

Because it is backed up by who we are.

The fact of the matter is, here we are 50 years later.

And the truths that we've always sung about,

Self-empowerment,

Believing in yourself against all odds, remain true.

But to glorify that and celebrate it

In a way that makes a spectacle

Makes it all that much more a celebration.

- At the end of the day, that's all kiss

Has ever been about.

We don't know what the secret of youth is

Or the secret of life.

And we're not prophets, and we're not leaders.

We have nothing. We're the party masters.

We like to put on the best parties

And invite everybody in.

And I don't have any problem with that.

I'm having too much of a great time

Enjoying myself like you can't imagine.

♪ ♪

- Clearly there's been a drive in gene and paul

Throughout their decades-long career to be great

And to be successful and to figure it out.

And that's noteworthy.

♪ ♪

I've sometimes wondered,

You know, as they're getting on in age,

Like, to every day-- to put the armor on

And to put the gear on, you know,

When they don't need to do it for financial reasons.

But that's who they are as people is,

They are the starchild and the bat lizard demon guy.

And that's their job is to go out there and entertain you.

♪ ♪

- Taking those boots off for the last time,

I think it's gonna be a very bittersweet kind of thing

For them, you know?

What a journey.

What an adventure of life

That those guys have had.

- Yeah, there have been a lot of sadness and heartbreak.

It hasn't been easy. But here we are.

- This tour is probably the end as we know it.

So it's emotional.

Sobering.

You'd never want to say goodbye.

♪ ♪

- I think when we're done, I won't be longing

To be back up there as much

As I'll love thinking about what it was like.

You don't want to be back there.

But you want to be able to look back there and say,

"I made a difference.

I affected other people. I did something."

I think over the years what we accomplished

Is something we probably never even knew existed.

What we share together,

This friendship, this bond built over 50 years now

Is beyond friendship.

It's--it's family.

- All right. - Good afternoon.

- Hi. - First show of the last shows.

- We got to go put our makeup on.

- Because kiss and makeup, right?

- There you go.

- People think we actually don't do our own makeup,

But we do.

People think there are stencils, but they aren't.

We do it freehand.

God help us.

And nobody taught us.

It's a sort of trial and error.

- That's not true. You taught me.

Paul showed me, actually. Well, they all did.

Gotta remember, I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

So somebody had to teach me. Like anything.

- You're still kind of slow.

- Yeah, I'm working on you.

Yeah, everyone has to--you have to learn along the way.

- Actually, I put makeup on when I was a kid.

Like Halloween or something.

Just because I was a huge kiss fan back in the old--

You know, when I was, like, 13, 14 years old.

So I went down and bought the makeup

At the beauty supply place and tried it.

So this is not a new thing for me.

Even though I'm the new guy.

- This is about us letting ourselves out.

So the idea of sitting in a chair and then, you know,

Opening your eyes and you've been transformed.

No, we have to do it. But it's funny.

Sometimes I kind of, like, anticipate the show

Differently depending upon how well the star comes out.

You know, it's like "oh, this is gonna be a good night.

The point is really good."

So I think tonight's gonna be a good night.

[indistinct chatter]

- Whoo!

- Ohh!

♪ ♪

- I didn't start thinking very much about the end

On the very last show until recently.

And I've been thinking about it more and more.

♪ ♪

- I think gene will miss it

In a way that may hurt.

♪ ♪

- I'm not an emotional guy too much.

But I'm pretty clear that when I see that last audience,

I'll probably be tearing up like a 12-year-old girl.

But the kind of emotion I think

I'm gonna have is this just eternal gratitude

To the fans for even allowing me to be on stage,

Much less to be in-- in my opinion,

The best band that's ever been around.

Without the fans, kiss is nothing...

♪ ♪

Which is why we introduced ourselves

From the very first show and I hope the very last show

With words that still ring true for us.

"you wanted the best; you got the best,

The hottest..."

I'm starting to get choked up.

- You wanted the best, and you got the best,

The hottest band in the world, kiss.

[kiss' "rock and roll all nite"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ you show us everything you've got ♪

♪ you keep on dancin' and the room gets hot ♪

♪ and drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy ♪

♪ and you say you wanna go for a spin ♪

♪ the party's just begun, we'll let you in ♪

♪ and you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy ♪

♪ ♪

♪ you keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin' ♪

- Come on.

All: ♪ I wanna rock and roll all night ♪

♪ and party every day ♪

♪ I wanna rock and roll all night ♪

♪ and party every day ♪

♪ ♪

♪ and you show us everything you've got ♪

♪ baby, baby that's quite a lot ♪

♪ and you drive us wild ♪

♪ we'll drive you crazy ♪

♪ ♪

♪ and you say you wanna go for a spin ♪

♪ the party's just begun, we'll let you in ♪

♪ and you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy ♪

♪ ♪

♪ you keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin' ♪

- I can't hear you.

All: ♪ I wanna rock and roll all night ♪

♪ and party every day ♪

♪ I wanna rock and roll all night ♪

♪ and party every day ♪

♪ ♪

Please rate this subtitle at www.osdb.link/89y34 Help other users to choose the best subtitles