For many fans, the quintessential KISS line-up remains the original dream team of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley. A major part of the glory years in the ’70s, Frehley departed the band for the first time in 1982 before returning in 1996, then leaving again in the early 2000s. Expectedly, there’s a lot of complicated history here.
During a 2024 interview with Chaoszine, Frehley was asked about KISS’ farewell tour and how he, Criss, and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick weren’t a part of the final show at Madison Square Garden in any capacity. Frehley explained how confusing the entire situation was, since he had heard how positively Simmons and Stanley had spoken about Criss, Kulick, and him. “They were saying, ‘We called Ace, we called Peter, and they’re going to be on stage with us and play a few final songs,’ you know, ‘brotherhood’ and all that bulls***,” Frehley said. “And then, the last month, once the show was sold out and they didn’t need our help to sell out any more tickets, Paul Stanley went on ‘The Howard Stern Show’ and said, ‘Well, if Ace and Peter got up on stage with us, you might as well call the band Piss.'”
Stanley’s comments annoyed Frehley, who declared he wouldn’t have appeared at the final show even if he had been invited. He also expressed how he believed himself to be a much better musician than Stanley on all fronts, though adding that he was cool with Simmons.
