During a recent appearance on SiriusXM, the members of KISS talked about all the bands that opened for them over the years, with frontman Paul Stanley singing out the most exciting act in his opinion.
As you may or may not know, some of the bands that opened for KISS include:
- Rush (1975)
- Tom Petty (1976)
- Uriah Heep (1976)
- Bob Seger (1976)
- Blue Oyster Cult (1976)
- Scorpions (1976)
- AC/DC (1977)
- Ted Nugent (1977)
- Sammy Hagar (1977)
- Judas Priest (1979)
- Iron Maiden (1980)
- Motley Crue (1983)
- Bon Jovi (1984)
- Anthrax (1987)
- Guns N’ Roses (1987)
- Alice in Chains (1996)
- Rage Against the Machine (1996)
- Rammstein (1999), and more.
Bassist Gene Simmons said (via Blabbermouth):
“AC/DC on their first tour. A band that shares the same philosophy – no matter what any other band is doing, to thine own self be true.
“I’ve said it before, but it’s more true now than ever. A lot of people look the same and act the same and do the same thing – rap, country… there’s a lot of sameness going on. Every once in a while, you see a band like AC/DC – nobody’s like them.
“We like to think we’re unique in that way too. Unique – to have your own fingerprint, ’cause Mother Nature knows best. There’s no other fingerprint on earth like us, and bands should march to the beat of their own drummer.”
Drummer Eric Singer chimed in:
“I thought Rush was the best. I saw Rush open for KISS. I thought they were the coolest opening band.
“That was the ‘Fly By Night’ tour – early ’75. KISS had ‘Hotter Than Hell’ out and Rush had just gotten Neil Peart and they had ‘Fly By Night.'”
Stanley added:
“I think for us, Rush was most exciting. When we first had them playing with us in Canada and John Rutsey was still the drummer. The first album was so… It was Humble Pie, it was Zeppelin.
“They obviously found their footing in something they wanted to do later on. They were always great.
“AC/DC with Bon [Scott], when we had them on tour. Great! Priest – Priest were phenomenal. Bob Seger… We can go down the list. Bob Seger got his first gold album on tour with us. John Cougar Mellencamp… Tom Petty… The list goes on and on.”
6 comments
KISS isn’t KISS anymore.. Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are wannabes!!!
Get over it. Singer is 10x the drummer Criss was. Thayer plays everything Ace did, and does it better.
Eric Carr was 10x better than Singer.
ace was a drunk and peter an addict….move on.
Its what happens when the original guys are too messed up to do the work anymore.
They left Cheap Trick off the list. They’re the most under-rated band in Rock-n-Roll. Rick Nielsen plays better than most Guitarists out there. Plus he makes it look so simple. If you never seen Rick play Live, you’re missing out.