"Kiss" and Makeup Book

Kiss and Make-Up is the autobiography of serpentine-tongued rock god Gene Simmons. As one would expect from the driving force behind those pan-stick monsters of metal KISS, it's a story of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Simmons himself trimmed the usual rock triptych to a diptych--he never took drugs, drank or smoked--but even Michael Douglas would balk at his appetite for sex. Born in Israel as Chaim Witz, he was raised in New York by his formidable Hungarian mother, a concentration-camp survivor. ("The big bad demon" has, as he readily admits, always been "a mama's boy".) Inspired by Marvel comics and The Beatles (and newly fuelled with testosterone), the teenage Simmons embraced music as an "entrée to the soft, milky thighs of girls". From here it was just a hop, a skip, a jettisoning of most of the original band and a stack-heeled jump to rock stardom. All the classic, and much parodied--á la Spinal Tap--moments are here: wild groupie sex; drug-addled guitarists; drunk drummers; ludicrous costumes and stage sets; disastrous concept albums; solo projects; line-up changes; acting careers; 3-D tours and money spinning comebacks. Simmons emerges as far more clued-up than many of his metal contemporaries; KISS were show business and for him the stress was always on the business. While his honesty is admirable and his success enviable but clearly deserved, there is something rather disappointing about this book. Reading a rock memoir that includes the line "I feel a real sense of accomplishment from our merchandising deals" and where an unreliable guitarist is described as "not a team a player" is a little dispiriting. It's a bit like finding that Warren Buffet, rather than George Martin, was the fifth Beatle. For its sheer excess Motley Crue's The Dirt is a more entertaining read but without KISS it's doubtful they would even have had a career. Gene was, and remains after all, the real genie of rock & roll. --Travis ElboroughRead More