Paul Stanley

(Q)- Why do you feel KISS has become so successful?
Paul Stanley- That’s a tough one to answer.

(Q)-It’s a broad question.
Paul Stanley-Sometimes when people look for the deep meaning of something, they don’t realize that the most profound answer, is the simplest. And when we first came on the scene, critics dismissed our music and were pointing to groups like Emerson Lake & Palmer. Now if you put on their first album and our (ELP) first album, you tell me which on sounds current?
Country recording artist, Garth Brooks, is very successful.
Paul Stanley-YES. He is very successful. His children and his children’s children are taken care of

(Q)- Garth Brooks has stated he is a KISS fan. Are you aware of this?

Paul Stanley- Nobody ever should ever think that, because Garth is a, ?Good Ole Boy?, that he doesn’t know exactly what’s going on. I went to see Garth’s show years ago when I heard that he was a big (KISS) fan.

(Q)-What was your reaction?
Paul Stanley-I smiled through most of the show, because to me, it was a KISS show. It was a KISS show, with a guy with a cowboy hat on. When he was dividing the audience in half and having them see who could cheer louder or he was swinging on a rope, it was me. After the show I went backstage to see him and he said to me, ?Anything that you saw out there that you liked, you were responsible for” And, it was a very heartfelt and a very much appreciated. It is very easy when you become very successful, to forget your influences or deny them. The, “real goods” and the, ?real deal”, are people like Garth Brooks.

(Q)-Back to the success of KISS. What are your feelings in regards to your success and the way many critics, especially in the middle of the Seventies, passed KISS off as a novelty act, then applauded other rock acts whom simply disappeared from the scene altogether?

Paul Stanley- You know, it has always been baffling and mystifying to me, that anybody had to put up with bands, who sold millions of copies of records and then went on to tell you how miserable they were and that success was a burden. It?s such a slap in the face and disrespect for the people who gave you the gift of success and the gift of fame. It’s also baffling that people would work so hard for something that they don’t want. I’ve always believed that as soon as you hear an entertainer tell you that they are unhappy, if nothing but the goodness and the charity in your soul, should stop you from buying their albums, so be it. Then put them back in the kitchens were they were washing dishes before, because obviously they were happier there. It?s like being given this ultimate present and then telling someone you don’t want it.

(Q)-So many people who do find success in the rock music business, all too often fall victim to the excessive lifestyle that many rock stars are known to supposedly live. You have always remained clearly in focus and did not fall victim to the excesses of the success you have earned and enjoyed. Why?

Paul Stanley-Oh. Too many individuals have bought into that whole caricature and then, that in turn is fed by audiences and critics, who enjoy vicariously watching somebody risk and often lose their lives, by living on the edge. With critics, there’s some sort of validation, in the self destructive nature or the deep flaws in some of the characters who quote, unquote, become, ?rock stars?. It’s almost analogous to somebody on the ledge of a roof and people down on the street hoping he jumps. It’s always been mystifying to me that there are people who would rather commend the person who abuses themselves and then perhaps stops and then give them some sort of credibility, then commend the person who had the fortitude and self preservation to never start abusing themselves.

(Q)-KISS has always been a band that continues working throughout the years no matter what the current trend or fashion statement of the era is. Why?

Paul Stanley-It just goes on, the road goes on forever. This is the crusade that never ends. We may have won the battle, but maybe the crusade now is just simply to celebrate the victory.