KISS’ Gene Simmons Discusses “The Worst Record” He’s Ever Made

In a recent interview with Classic Rock , legendary KISS bassist Gene Simmons was asked a variety of questions for the magazine’s “Soundtrack Of My Life” feature. One of the topics is “The worst record I’ve made,” and to no real surprise, Simmons cited KISS’ “Music From ‘The Elder,’” and he also mentioned the band’s ill-fated attempt at grunge, “Carnival Of Souls.”

“I take the blame for it because it was my idea,” Simmons said of “The Elder.” “I remember telling producer Bob Ezrin that I was writing a movie script, we were making a concept album based on that, and he said: ‘Let’s do our own ‘Tommy!’ “I said: ‘Yeah. If The Who can do it, why can’t we?’ Well, the straight answer is because we’re not The Who!”

Simmons continued: “There are some fans who love that record. To me, it was dishonest. But really, the most dishonest record we ever made was ‘Carnival Of Souls’, when we were trying to follow a trend instead of just being ourselves.”

Simmons also spoke on the topic “The best record I’ve made.” “In hindsight, Kiss never really spent enough time in the studio,” he said. “’Destroyer’ is okay, and I like ‘Revenge,’ but Kiss was always more about the live experience.”