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Kiss' 1981 concept album Music From 'The Elder' is polarizing both for fans and the band itself. During a recent interview Gene Simmons took "full responsibility" for its creation.
"I have to take full responsibility," the bassist/singer admitted. "I was in L.A. at the Beverly Hills Hotel and at the time, I was acting in movies and stuff like that. I thought had an idea for a movie called The Elder. On hotel stationary, I started writing out a story [about] when the earth was young, they were already ancient and so on. And in every age and every time, a hero was born. That kind of mythic fantasy quality."
"Bob Ezrin came by because he was going to produce that record," Simmons explained. "There was a change in the band. Peter Criss was no longer in the band and Eric Carr came in," he continues. "Ace [Frehley], you know, he was sometimes there and sometimes not. We just started talking generally about songs and what kind of record should we do and all of that. Ezrin happened to see my notes for The Elder and he said, 'Oh, I like this. How about we do a concept record where the songs mirror that?' He contacted Christopher Makepeace, an actor who was coming off a movie called My Bodyguard, about a kid in school getting beaten up and he befriends this big guy who protects him. We also had an English actor, Ian McKellen."
The album "took shape in drips and drabs" as Simmons recalled Frehley being resistant to travel to record it. "He refused to go to Canada, right outside of Toronto [where portions of the album were being recorded]," he said. "He wanted to stay home and record because he had a studio. We were making copies of 24-track masters and sending them to Ace. It was a very disjointed kind of record."
Because of how it was conceived, Simmons doesn't feel like Music From 'The Elder' is as genuine as Kiss' other work. "What I can say about [Music From 'The Elder'] is it was not an honest record, because we were trying to do something different," he confessed. "And by the way, Carnival of Souls had the same thing [happening]. Before you start writing those songs, let's try for this. It's not what we do naturally. And some people like it and some people don't. But it was not an honest record in terms of it being a deviation on purpose before the fact."
Nevertheless, Simmons does like some of the songs from the record, namely "I."
"I like 'I,' which is an anti-drug song," he noted. "I don't need to get wasted, it only holds me down, because I've got a will. I've got a will of my own and the balls to stand alone, because I believe in me. [So I like that one] and one or two other songs, but generally, it was a different kind of record."
Kiss played what was thought to be their final show in December 2023; however, they're coming out of retirement for a special gig in November. In the meantime, Simmons is hitting the road with his solo band next month.