The One Time I Met Gene Simmons

I was a huge KISS fanatic in my youth. From the ages of 10 to 25 or so, they were like gods to me.

I went to Cleveland in ‘95 or thereabouts for a KISS convention in a hotel. They only had like a thousand available tickets, maybe not even that many. It was a very intimate setting. 

They signed autographs, played some stuff unplugged… very cool. When I went to get Gene’s autograph he asked me where I got my hat. It was a Steelers ball cap. I didn’t know what to say so I just told him I bought it in Pittsburgh. Then I asked him if he liked it and he looked right at me and replied, “No”. Then while still staring at me he scribbled on my photo that I gave him to sign and handed it back to me.

I don’t know the guy, but based on that one interaction, I don’t have the highest opinion of him. I was always broke and I spent what was to me a lot of money to be there. I went to concerts, bought albums and CD’s… I’d buy any magazine I saw with KISS on the cover. 

Dude was just rude for no good reason. Maybe he was having a bad day, but that’s no way to treat a fan, or anybody for that matter.

Gene Simmons is supposedly the biggest a$$h0le in Rock according to a lot of people.

And he is nasty with young girls. A Class A douchebag...

Saw Kiss in '74 or so just before first album came out.They were a fill-in for the Blue Oyster Cult. Crowd was like WTF are these guys all glittered up and stuff.Sunshine Inn Asbury Park NJ.Lot of us were pretty stoned and here is GS with the tongue and shit...guy breathed the fire right on top of us it seemed as part of their shitty act..F'nA...Couple weeks later I see the album and bought it but last Kiss album I ever bought. A band called Rennaissance opened and were really good..they had a hit with Mother Russia but that was it I think.To this day I think of Kiss as an act but not a true band. BOC forever!