The Dee Snider/Paul Stanley Beef Is Heating Up
You’d think that after years of sharing a fanbase and playing the same festivals, Twisted Sister and Kiss wouldn’t have any enmity towards each other. They are, in many ways, the same band — a glammed-out hyper-masculine arena rock outfit ready to make a buck.
But no — there’s beef. Apparently on Eddie Trunk’s radio show, Snider went after Kiss for replacing Ace Frehley and Peter Criss without replacing their signature characters within the band:
“I don’t see how people could accept this. Tommy Thayer? I’m sorry. It’s insulting. Not only did he play in a tribute band of KISS, he’s imitating Ace in his entire act!
“When KISS replaced Ace and Peter, and they brought in guys [Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent] who had their own makeup and their own thing, that was acceptable. That was awesome. They were their own characters.”
Which is, you know, sound criticism. Kiss is currently sort of a Kiss tribute act that happens to feature original members. It’d be one thing if they were GWAR, and the characters were all that existed, but Peter and Ace had signature styles. Kiss just didn’t want to have to confront their fanbase with even more new painted faces.
Of course, being the Donal Trump of rock and roll, Kiss had to fire back with some irrelevant bullshit insults on Chris Jericho’s show. Take it away, Paul Stanley:
“Let me put it in the simplest terms. In this case, this guy is a wannabe, has always been a wannabe and desperately wants attention and to be taken seriously and that will never happen because he’s obviously clueless that he and his whole band are a bunch of buffoons.”
Terrific.
Now, Snider has released the following open letter:
“Dear Paul,
“First off, thanks for giving me the attention I — as you noted — so desperately wanted.
Now, I’ve always had nothing but respect for your band, and you as a performer, but it really comes as no surprise that the feeling isn’t mutual. For some reason, you are oddly threatened by me. This said, your recent comments about my band and I on Chris Jericho’s podcast was a typical diversionary tactic used in an attempt to change the subject, rather than answer the actual accusation or question. It’s the oldest interviewing trick in the book.“As far as my ‘whole band being a bunch of buffoons’ goes, that’s a pretty ironic statement coming from you. The argument could easily be made that Kiss is the ‘king of the buffoons,’ so in an odd way you’ve paid Twisted Sister quite a compliment. It takes one to know one.
“Lastly, on the subject of me being a ‘wannabe’? Do you really think so? Well then…any time, any stage. But let’s do this old school — no costumes, no pyro, no bullshit — let’s just get up there and rock. I will bury you, son.
“Sincerely, the attention getting, wannabe, lead buffoon of Twisted Sister, Dee Snider
“P.S.: Did I mention that I’m clean, sober, razor sharp and fully capable of defending myself from any kind of lame attack? Just ask Al Gore.”
HO DAMN.
So look, this is the silliest thing in the world on both sides. Snider is right, Stanley’s insults WERE just an attempt to steer the discussion away from his shitty band practices; he could’ve been the bigger man and just discussed why Kiss was all right with keeping Spacejerk and Catass on board. But Snider also comes off as a little petty and over the top with his letter–are they really going to take the stage and try to out-rock each other? And what does it matter that Snider is clean and sober?
Now, all that said, if it did come to a rock-off, I’d put my money on Sider any time. He’s always been more self-aware and eloquent than any member of Kiss, he comes off as a more honest musician than most, and (get ready, commenters) Twisted Sister consistently rocked harder than Kiss. “Under The Blade” stomps “God Of Thunder” any day of the week.
We’ll let you know if this cat fight escalates into hair-pulling and car-keying.
