Mom! Gene Simmons and Steven Tyler Are Fighting!

The group KISS... Without the aid of Joel Whitburn, Casey Kasum, Eddie on That Metal Show and every Late Night Classic Rock Radio Jock still pulling off a "Live" performance...how do you "Personally" describe who and what Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are? And I'm not settling on the typical, "A 70's band!" Making such a claim doesn't scratch the paint off the walls of their KISS-story! Simmons and Stanley on mid-80's MTV tore up just as many built in television speakers as Motley Crue' setting fire to She's Got Looks That Kill and Shout At The Devil. In the age of VHS tapes meets Beta recorders, I remember impatiently waiting for hours to capture I Love It Loud. Without a doubt I'd end up choking up a fur ball that resembled Cindi Lauper, Duran Duran, Eurythmics and Rick Springfield. Hey it was Music TV and that meant upping their popularity game to win ratings points which in return were sold in thought form to potential clients needing Teen dollars without common sense. Whether you bought into the KISS concept in 1975, Unmasked in 1995 or feel no need to waste energy on Tommy Thayer shooting flames from his guitar strings dressed like Frehley. Who and what is KISS in your book of Rock experiences? At anytime have you been convinced otherwise that Gene and Paul weren't Comic Book characters? When has Gene "not" said that he and Paul fed the fires of mid-70s Rock creativity with the very fuel Marvel Comics has crafting since 1939? Has it kept KISS from Cleveland's Rock n Roll Hall of Fame? In an interview post in my Rock Jock Blog last week; the Star Child came clean, "It would be nice for the fans if they were there but on a professional level such recognition isn't required." That being said...RollingStone Magazine has unveiled a new page in the KISS rage other people like to start. A War Of Words officially declared by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Both Hall of Famer's ripped into Kiss in a radio interview with Florida radio station the Bone, calling their former tourmates a "comic book rock band." After host Cowhead expressed his disappointment in Kiss' set during a coheadline show with Aerosmith "a couple years ago," Tyler began to ridicule the flashy rockers. "Kiss is a comic book rock band and they got a couple hits but they're more of a comic book. You see them in their spackled faces," remarked Tyler. "It's theater," interjected Perry. "We were always a band that had something to prove we always wanted to blow up whatever band it was and I remember when we went out with Kiss in '76 or something, one of our roadies got into a knife fight with their guys. So I hated them ever since," continued Tyler. "It is different: a Kiss lick, a Joe Perry lick – two different worlds, and sometimes depending on the time of day get offended. I hear that and I go, 'Yeah, that's alright. Do they really mean it? And what's this all about?' And that's why I think Aerosmith has been around forever, we really do take ourselves seriously." "It's two different animals, they went the theatrical way and used rock and roll kind of as their soundtrack and for Aerosmith, the music is our show," added Perry. "It's apples and oranges." Whatcha thinkin? Does it carry enough weight to waste hate? Should such verbal behavior be labeled Grumpy Old Men?