are.

That, you know, have different philosophical—I don't want to live there.

I like it here, where you get paid for your talent, not for sitting back and wanting the same amount of money as your next-door neighbor for doing nothing.

So the simple idea is, for a hundred years, back through Bing Crosby's era, I'm dreaming of a white—written by a Jewish gentleman, by the way, Irving Berlin— The most played, biggest song of all time.

All the times that song, and you ain't nothing but a hound, all that, and Kiss, and Garth Brooks, everybody that's been played on AM radio has received for 100 years a total of zero, a goose egg, for the music that's been played.

By the way, radio, specifically AM radio, and they're not villains.

We all need AM radio.

So, Gene, I love that about you.

What are some other Kiss myths that you've heard over the years?

The fans were convinced, you know, people who weren't big fans, and of course not everybody likes Jesus either, that no matter what I was saying, every once in a while somebody would say, have you ever gotten high or drunk or smoked cigarettes? I go, no.

Just simply, as a matter of factly, without you know, proselytizing.

There's another big word like gymnasium.

No, it was just my choice in life, but they didn't believe it.

Everybody gets high.

Everybody gets drunk.

there's another story.

Mick was always afraid to sing it, and bad things happened every time he sung it in public.

That's true.

Keith, can I ask you a question? Because we do the same thing.

We're both in rock bands, and I wonder, are you like me? When you get on stage and you see 20,000 hot, half-naked women out there, are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking? How many of these whores got in for free? Are you thinking that? [laughs]

Oh, wow.

You got a drug problem? Are you thinking about having a drug problem? Come to the Ace Frehley Drug and Alcohol Center.

For a limited time, you can come in and get help from a camp counselor like Peter Criss for an extra $20.

[laughs]

What propels you? Propel with Gatorade Electrolytes.

Nick, Nick Simmons and Evan Stanley, Paul's son, have an amazing band, Stanley Simmons.

And you can look it up on Google and Schmoogle and all the other places that torture me by pressing buttons.

But you can get the music for almost nothing.

And Sophie, Sophie Simmons, has written hundreds of songs.

You can go to Spotify and all that, and I've got an award right in front of me that celebrates a billion downloads or file shares.

I don't know what it's called.

How did you stay clean when there was so much temptation around you?

Are you and Paul going to write together again? I know you write separately now, and you have for a while, but are you going to do stuff?

We tried writing something... with a world famous producer, I don't want to mention his name.

And it went okay.

But Paul on his own came up with a thing that we recorded, Kiss.

And that'll be coming out at some point.

But it's not romantic anymore to be recording new material because everybody downloads and file shares for free.

There is no mystery about it.

When your first child was born, were you terrified of it?

Was that the moment that made you who you are?

Yeah.

I remember, you know, my mother had to work night and day, six days a week and all that.

And I woke up in the middle of the night.

My mother was still not back.

I don't know what time it was.

It was just dark.

Mm-hmm

Yeah

... went as if nothing was going on over the other side of the wall.

So they brought in...

The commandant's wife wanted her makeup done and her hair done and everything, and my mother at a young age went to frisur, frisur beauty school to learn how to do hair, makeup, and all that.

So my mother at 14 and some other women who were starving to death were brought into the commandant's, uh, office and ""I can speak German, you know, well enough." And my mother was telling me in broken German, 'cause she learned how to speak some German, you had to, and Hungarian and Hebrew, 'cause I was born in Israel.

The story in this kind of trifecta of languages about how the luck of God or whatever, but luck of the draw, she was not sent to the death camps, and she survived.

What happened was that the commandant's wife said, "I like," you know, "that one and that one and that one." And then the husband stepped up and said, ""Can you speak a little German?"" to the women in line.

Does that alliance, allegiance, whatever word you wanna use, pertain to this day?

Yeah.

When you see Led Zeppelin on stage, the riffs are undeniable, and they look like rock gods, and that's the complete package.

American bands never had the complete package.

One, one last comment, although I hate to stop, 'cause I love the sound of my own voice, and that is, out of New York, there's no other band of any style of music that ever got as big as we had.

None ever played stadiums.

None got even close.

But people talk about the Ramones, Talking Heads, TV, and a lot of other ones.

[laughs]

Are you mimicking my voice? Is that some sort of racist thing?

Are you making fun of my voice? But you don't sound anything like this.

But I speak four and a half languages.

I can do anything I want.

I speak one language.

The superior language.

The language of love.

It sounded like I

Mm

... is not gonna let that happen.

No matter whether there are boots on the ground or not, or whether the Israelis are gonna finish the job or the Americans, this country will not go nuclear no matter what it takes.

Because you cannot, you cannot take the chance.

I mean, this little country in 1982, through their Mossad, found out that Mr. Saddam Hussein was gonna go nuclear, that he had nuclear reactors.

1982.

They warned him at the, on a Friday.

Mm.

Got it right.

By the way, you know what's 12 inches in Jewish? What? Nothing.

You know what a guy with a 10-inch cock has for breakfast? What? Well, this morning I had coffee and...

Can I put this thing down? Yeah, you can put it down.

All right.

Okay.

Yeah.

She said.

Yeah

... uh, as if nothing was going on over the other side of the wall.

So they brought in, the commandant's wife wanted her makeup done and her hair done and everything, and my mother at a young age went to Friseur, Friseur beauty school to learn how to do hair, makeup, and all that.

So my mother at 14 and some other women who were starving to death were brought into the commandant's, uh, office, and "... ich kann auch sprechen ein bisschen Deutsch." I, I can speak German, you know, well enough.

And my mother was telling me in broken German, 'cause she learned how to speak some German, you had to, and Hungarian and Hebrew 'cause I was born in Israel.

The story in this kind of trifecta of languages about how the luck of God or whatever, b- luck of the draw, she was not sent to the death camps, and she survived.

What happened was that the commandant's wife said, "I like," you know, "that one and that one and that one." And then the husband stepped up and said, "Kannst du sprechen ein bisschen Deutsch?" "Can you speak a little German?" to the women in line.

Yeah.

down.

Don't get excited.

Morning TV.

We first met at the behest of a guitar player I grew up with and all that stuff.

And I didn't know anybody else wrote songs.

He said, oh, this guy writes songs, too.

Oh, really? I thought I was the only one.

We were much greater as a duo than singularly.

W- what is it, some kind of tribute show?

Yes, a far-reaching tribute show to me.

All of rock and roll's greatest stars talking about how their lives and music have been impacted by me, and a lot of beautiful naked women.

I brought them in so they could hear your pitch.

Hear my pitch? Who am I, Sandy Koufax? I presented you with an opportunity to bring a Vegas-worthy show to your establishment, Steve Wynn.

This, this weird bird fetish show only appeals to a small perverted segment of society.

Fuck Don Henley.

Huh, first sensible thing you've said all day, Axl Rose.

[rock music] The hell are you doing here, Don Henley?

Well, I guess we'll find out.

I guess you will.

And you can't return a coffin.

[rock music] [door opening and closing]

Mom?

G- get away from me, Vinnie Vincent.

If you look at it that way, it'll actually benefit David in the long run.

It's Bono.

Go.

Out.

[screeching] Bogo, Bobo, Big Toe, whatever the hell your name is, go.

[door closing] The shit I put up with around here.

David Grohl is here.

David Grohl? Send him in.

It'll be refreshing to have a conversation with a legitimate rock star.

The rest of you wannabes, get the hell out of here.

[rock music]

We had just about the whole thing done, but we needed one more song.

It was a brilliant recording.

Kurt was so good, and of course David is an outstanding drummer, and, and the other guy was there.

And progressive rock? [laughs] Uh, do you even know what it is?

What, you've never heard Music from the Elder, the greatest prog rock album of all time? [upbeat music]

No way, Dolly flashed you?

She did this to me [exhales] on purpose.

It was a cold and calculated move.

Obviously trying to take down Rock Meadows from the top.

And I live to see the seven wonders.

Best get on with that, darling.

Stop.

Stop with the spinning.

Stevie.

Somebody get her.

Get her before she... [glass breaks] Damn it.

I swear I didn't mean anything.

And Gene, you know, getting into producing, and this is not your first go-round as a producer, Do you enjoy that part of

your job? I so much admire, here's a different way to answer that.

I so much admire anybody in the film industry, especially directors.

I mean, think about it.

The actors come and they do their job and then they leave.

The cinematographers, everybody does their job and then they're gone.

He's got to be there.

Mm.

Because if you believe ...

You know, we take a lot of things for granted because you get life insurance, and Social Security, and Medicare, you know, all these words.

That's not how life works.

It's like kids who are used to getting an allowance every week for doing nothing.

Our kids never got allowances.

So, you know, there's this idea that the people who really appreciate life came closest to death.

Little Lisa, in your own words, what does self-worth mean?

Thanks for making us part of it.

Well, it's my pleasure.

And people are shocked.

I'll try to encapsulate this.

what all this is for.

I know that's a big word like gymnasium.

Look, I don't care what kind of music you listen to, but the American music, let's just stop at that point.

AI is a worry for you or not?

What gave you the inspiration for the makeup and the characters of Starchild and the demon?

I have to tell you that if we tried to verbalize it, I don't think we could because it doesn't come close to the truth.

One day, like a fable, one day you couldn't find more unqualified, no resume, no experience knuckleheads from the streets of New York who were in a rat-infested loft that had no windows and huge cockroaches with mustaches.

They were badass.

What you looking at? You know, it was a bad place.

Just one door in, one door out.

And we were just blindly dedicated to this idea.

every show

I mean, that is, it, y- that's a, that's a clearly a gift above and beyond what-

There's no explanation for it.

It just is.

You know, it's like a, an idiot savant.

There was a wonderful movie called Rain Man, and I was at the studio, uh, liaising with some guys and developing my own stuff as Rain Man was being developed into a movie.

Basically about, I d- I don't wanna use the term, but an idiot who in life d- didn't know where he was going, bumbling.

He would cross the street and not pay attention to red light, green light and stuff.

There was another, there was something else you were-

How did you do that?

There is such a thing as a singularity, which scientists talk about things just happen.

And I'd like to take more credit.

And so were the rest of the guys in the band.

But there is such a thing as having the right thing accidentally at the right place and the right time.

Given the following circumstances of this thing becoming a $3, $4 billion brand, put this in the Renaissance, which is how you say that, or the 1800s, it just wouldn't work.

The same thing at a different time or during the doo-wop.

They have seats back there.