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KISS of Death

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Gene Simmons going to see Van Halen perform at the Starwood club in West Hollywood, California on November 2nd, 1976 was both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing was that Simmons was so taken with the band that he offered to produce their demo and sign them to a management contract with then KISS manager Bill Aucoin.

Recounting the night, Simmons once told the Los Angeles Times, “I was thinking, ‘My God, listen to these guys.’ As soon as Eddie started playing, the thing that struck me right away was that the guy was amazingly fast and light on touch… Eddie was just swimming over that fretboard, and I couldn’t believe the control he had. Everybody’s head just turned around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist: what is that?”

Simmons did indeed produce their demo, which included future classics “Runnin’ With the Devil” and “Somebody Get Me a Doctor,” but when it came to a management deal, his bandmate Paul Stanley torpedoed that idea.

Screenshot 2021-09-15 at 13-16-45 ‘We rejected Van Halen in 1976 to protect Kiss’ admits Paul Stanley.png

In the forthcoming Eddie Van Halen biography titled Eruption in the U.K. and  Unchained in America, Stanley says, “We didn’t want to take Van Halen on because we were trying to hold Gene in check.

“Gene is often more concerned – and this is just part of his personality – with Gene, and it wasn’t going to be to our benefit for him to run off and get involved with something else. Were Van Halen undeniable? Absolutely. Were they fabulous? Yeah. Did they have what it took? Absolutely. But we had to take care of KISS, and the way to protect KISS at that time was to pull the reins in on Gene, it’s that simple.”

Simmons couldn’t believe what he was told and he tore up the contract.

“You guys are free,” is what he told Van Halen. “We’re going out on tour, and when I get back, if you don’t have a deal, I’ll come back and I’ll try to help you. But right now, I don’t feel ethical in shopping your tape because the rest of the guys don’t get it.”

Fate intervened and they were signed to Warner Brothers Records four months later.

REUTERS PHOTO

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