KISS RECORDING NEW ALBUM

Rolling Stone reports that KISS -- that's Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley plus Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer -- is hitting the studio for a new album. Gene has often said that he doesn't see the point of a new KISS album: he doesn't see where it fits into the current market, plus with fans stealing music (his term for illegally downloading) he doesn't see the point. Plus, when KISS tours, fans mainly want to hear old material.

I agree with some of his points: KISS is all about being the biggest band in the land, and it is hard to imagine the album making much of a splash no matter how good it is. I thought there were at least two really good songs on their last album, Psycho Circus: the title track and "Into The Void" (which was one of Ace Frehley's songs).

Paul is going to produce the album, and I bet he talked Gene into it. I bet it's mostly going to be Paul, Tommy and Eric, with Gene not contributing many songs or lead vocals (and I bet Paul will probably play bass on lots of the songs). Gene has just got so much other stuff going on, it's hard to imagine him spending too much time in the studio if he doesn't believe that the album will make him money. I'm not even criticizing him, I'm just saying.

Gene is always getting slammed for admitting to being a businessman. Which is weird, many of the same rock "journalist" types who slam him, fall all over themselves trying to praise, say, Jay-Z, who took over KISS' label (Mercury Records, which was absorbed by Island Def Jam) and who rapped, "I'm not a buisnessman, I'm a buisness, man!"