Aerosmith Call Kiss a 'Comic Book Rock Band'
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry rip into former tourmates in interview

By
Rolling Stone
October 12, 2012 2:15 PM ET

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry 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."

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Waits for Gene and Paul to chime in

Eh, whatever you think of Kiss it is hard to deny that Aerosmith have made an awful lot of crappy records over the last thirty years or so. Pump was great but otherwise there is too much mediocrity in their catalogue. Rather than slagging Kiss maybe Steven and Joe ought to concentrate on making better music?

Well....KISS did put out a series of KISS comic books..so Steven's not too far off.

But he also said in that interview that over the years he's gotten to know Gene and Paul and he said they're both "beautiful people".

I know Steven Tyler did not want to do the 2003 co-headline tour w/ KISS back then. He had a set of strict rules that KISS had to follow as their opening act. When the tour became successful &

the other Aero members and KISS wanted to continue the tour in Europe, he quickly said no.

Steven might be a little bitter because when KISS ended their set people started leaving (in packs) before Aerosmith went on.

BTW, Aerosmith had a couple of comic books back in the early 90's..I guess Steven forgot to mention that.

lol they probably go back and forth between dissing and praising. Technically Kiss did comic books though.

Well I exactly hinted to this not to long ago... Kiss has always striked me as a not so serious band.

mjscarousal said:

Well I exactly hinted to this not to long ago... Kiss has always striked me as a not so serious band.

well thats it exactly, KISS reverts to theatrics in all their shows, with the exception of the early days in little clubs before they blew up. Shit Elton John had that phase where his costumes and nonsense on stage (example playing in a donald duck costume) took away from his musical chops. So really KISS with the makeup and all that cant be compared to Aerosmith, despite good songs bad songs etc..thats all subjective shit, but as a band the "theatrics" take away from everything else.

So i get that whole thing that its hard to take them serious, shit people dont take Alice Cooper serious do they? to me thats the same thing, not saying they dont have good songs, or can play, but 2 different types of artists

lastdecember said:

well thats it exactly, KISS reverts to theatrics in all their shows

What's the difference between KISS and the Rolling Stones/Pink Floyd with giant pigs and women props or Genesis with Peter Gabriel wearing fox masks and dresses? There was also the Rat Pack telling jokes and drinking/smoking onstage. The many acts using pyro and/or dance routines is no less theatrical, so why I don't see why KISS is singled out as being not serious.

Well it's true...

Kiss is a guility pleasure.. but as i get older & older i take them less seriously. But as said Aerosmith have made some dump records to......

They need to focus on doing them & not worrying about Kiss

Timmy84 said:

"they went the theatrical way and used rock and roll kind of as their soundtrack"

100% true

Gunsnhalen said:

Well it's true...

Kiss is a guility pleasure.. but as i get older & older i take them less seriously. But as said Aerosmith have made some dump records to......

They need to focus on doing them & not worrying about Kiss

True. Kiss never really took themselves seriously anyway.

Timmy84 said:

Gunsnhalen said:

Well it's true...

Kiss is a guility pleasure.. but as i get older & older i take them less seriously. But as said Aerosmith have made some dump records to......

They need to focus on doing them & not worrying about Kiss

True. Kiss never really took themselves seriously anyway.

Well.. Gene did.

But he think's everything to seriously

Besides the fact he think's he invented the ''horn salute'' Dio told a story of how Gene also once claimed he came up with the acronym for O.J

Gunsnhalen said:

Timmy84 said:

True. Kiss never really took themselves seriously anyway.

Well.. Gene did.

But he think's everything to seriously

Besides the fact he think's he invented the ''horn salute'' Dio told a story of how Gene also once claimed he came up with the acronym for O.J

Though I do feel on him when he talks about Israel, I just shake my head at about almost everything else he says lol

rialb said:

Eh, whatever you think of Kiss it is hard to deny that Aerosmith have made an awful lot of crappy records over the last thirty years or so. Pump was great but otherwise there is too much mediocrity in their catalogue. Rather than slagging Kiss maybe Steven and Joe ought to concentrate on making better music?

^^yeah, that

it sounds like the words of two old bitches, too bitter about everything at this point of their career/life

and, as rialb said, perhaps they should focus on their first good album SINCE 1989 (about damn time)

KISS are the godfathers of party-rock AND big-budget tours, period, nothing wrong about that, we all want/like/NEED good times, pyrotechnics and flashy lights (didn't know that Perry/Tyler were fans of shoegaze, lol)

Aerosmith, at their best, are good clones of the Rolling Stones (yep, I said it)

and I can't see why "Rock and Roll All Nite" and/or "Black Diamond" should be considered worse than "Walk This Way" or "Dream On", when they're just as good

and Kiss is a more versatile band than Aerosmith (or any other american rock band), they CAN play dirty blues/rock, catchy arena-rock, country/bluesy ballads, disco-rock, pop, prog, METAL, etc, Aerosmith, when they wanna try something new, hire Diane Warren

ah, fuck this, in the end, I'm a fan of both bands (at least of their 70s work)

[Edited 10/13/12 13:58pm]

Then I guess those guys have no use for Insane Clown Posse!

I dont think anyone is taking anything away from them as players or writers or whatever, the theatrics they use has been throughout their career from the beginning of when it took off, it stopped when the make up came off and they were seriously just thought about for the music. To me both are good bands, i think head to head Aerosmith is a stronger rock band, im more interested in Steven Tyler than Paul Stanley, i dont feel connected with paul as a lead singer of a band, i feel its SHOW, and sure they have at times both had explosions and shit, and yes bands like Genesis did that when Peter Gabriel was in it, but what was the reason for his exit or their trying to get away from him....Genesis wasnt being taken seriously, it was all about whats Peter Gonna do.

As for album vs album its two different bands, Kiss could never make a record like PUMP, but then again Aerosmith couldnt make DESTROYER, both had phases when it sucked, for Kiss well basically the period where Gene had the perm going on, and for Aerosmith, it was the heaviest Drug times 1980-84. And though YES Aerosmith at a point did some ballads, and that Diane Warren Song, but KISS had the dreaded track "Forever" and "Everytime i look at you" which was Desmond Child, who is Diane Warren with a dick basically.

But this debate of KISS "seriousness" makes me think of BON JOVI and how they arent taken sereiously because the era they came from, the fact they are straightfoward, the fact that when they tried to go left people said "thats not right", but if you break down PLAYERS i really cant deny any of these bands because they PLAY, they struggled, they learned, they busted their asses, and were not handed careers like alot of todays artists are.

This reminds me of when Robert Plant became irritated at the mention of Sabbath during an interview: some unnecessasry shit said, but you can clearly see where they're coming from.

Truth is i've always found Kiss to be cartoonish myself. I've never been a fan

or liked what i've heard from them. I can't even name one song from them.

elmer said:

This reminds me of when Robert Plant became irritated at the mention of Sabbath during an interview: some unnecessasry shit said, but you can clearly see where they're coming from.

It's always funny because you never think rock groups would have beef or have unkind things to say about the other, but that goes to show you, jealousy don't care who it hits lol I'm guessing Robert's anti-Black Sabbath comments came when that group was up for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame themselves.

phunkdaddy said:

lastdecember said:

As for album vs album its two different bands, Kiss could never make a record like PUMP, but then again Aerosmith couldnt make DESTROYER, both had phases when it sucked, for Kiss well basically the period where Gene had the perm going on, and for Aerosmith, it was the heaviest Drug times 1980-84. And though YES Aerosmith at a point did some ballads, and that Diane Warren Song, but KISS had the dreaded track "Forever" and "Everytime i look at you" which was Desmond Child, who is Diane Warren with a dick basically.

Paul actually co-wrote some songs with Diane Warren ("Turn On the Night" from Crazy Nights and "(You Make Me) Rock Hard" from Smashes, Thrashes and Hits). In 1999 (after "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" was a massive hit) Kiss also recorded a Diane Warren ballad but it was a flop:

thebanishedone said:

phunkdaddy said:

Truth is i've always found Kiss to be cartoonish myself. I've never been a fan

or liked what i've heard from them. I can't even name one song from them.

pfunk check their song sure know something,i bet you will like it

Here it is:

[img:$uid]http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19700000/Just-Steven-steven-tyler-19707031-600-857.jpg[/img:$uid]

"Nothing Can Keep Me (From Throwing Up On) You" was the lowest of the low.

I think KISS (for a little while) wanted that same radio/MTV success that Bon Jovi and Aerosmith had in the late 80's and early 90's. So KISS ran to those outside writers.

I love both bands, but I think the last recent KISS records ("Revenge"/"Sonic Boom/"Monster") blow away anything that Aerosmith has done in the last 16-17 years.

Aerosmith's songwriting has gotten so commercial it seems that they went from being a bluesy hard rock band to a safe, calcualted, power ballad pop band.

At this point I would rather have them go back to the drugs and alcohol and kick ass one more time.

SPYZFAN1 said:

"Nothing Can Keep Me (From Throwing Up On) You" was the lowest of the low.

I think KISS (for a little while) wanted that same radio/MTV success that Bon Jovi and Aerosmith had in the late 80's and early 90's. So KISS ran to those outside writers.

I love both bands, but I think the last recent KISS records ("Revenge"/"Sonic Boom/"Monster") blow away anything that Aerosmith has done in the last 16-17 years.

Aerosmith's songwriting has gotten so commercial it seems that they went from being a bluesy hard rock band to a safe, calcualted, power ballad pop band.

At this point I would rather have them go back to the drugs and alcohol and kick ass one more time.

"Nothing Can Keep Me From You" is a terrible song, or at least a terrible song for Kiss, but I can understand why they recorded it. "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" was a massive hit and I'm sure that after that when it was suggested that Kiss should record a Diane Warren ballad that Gene and Paul saw dollar signs and jumped at the chance. Heck, even The Cult recorded one of those terrible ballads ("Painted On My Heart")!

Timmy84 said:

elmer said:

This reminds me of when Robert Plant became irritated at the mention of Sabbath during an interview: some unnecessasry shit said, but you can clearly see where they're coming from.

It's always funny because you never think rock groups would have beef or have unkind things to say about the other, but that goes to show you, jealousy don't care who it hits lol I'm guessing Robert's anti-Black Sabbath comments came when that group was up for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame themselves.

Maybe it's their ultra-competitive streak showing, the same one that's kept them working hard into their twilight years. I mean, take Keith Richard's book, that fella hasn't let go of too much baggage through the years.

luv4u said:

Waits for Gene and Paul to chime in

Oh you know it's coming! Gene's ego is too damn big to allow Steven & Joe to have the last word.

elmer said:

Timmy84 said:

It's always funny because you never think rock groups would have beef or have unkind things to say about the other, but that goes to show you, jealousy don't care who it hits lol I'm guessing Robert's anti-Black Sabbath comments came when that group was up for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame themselves.

Maybe it's their ultra-competitive streak showing, the same one that's kept them working hard into their twilight years. I mean, take Keith Richard's book, that fella hasn't let go of too much baggage through the years.

Good point.