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shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
My experience with Kiss can be described pretty quickly. Around the age 7 or 8 (approximately 1977) they were my favorite band. I had never heard them, but boy did look cool on my collectable cards. Around that same time I dressed as Gene Simmons for Halloween. When I was about 45 I saw Kiss play live.
That's it. I've never really been a fan of their music, I only know the radio songs and really, other than appreciating their accomplishments, I think they're pretty lame. So boy was I surprised to find that Paul Stanley is the musician I connect with the most out of all the musicians I've read about. I really enjoy biographies about musicians since I played in bands from about 1985 to 2015. I've read about Marilyn Manson, Flea, Tommy Lee, Anthony Kedis, Dave Mustaine, Keith Morris, Scott Ian etc... and most of the time I'm completely disheartened by these "success stories" almost completely eclipsed by tales of addiction and woe.
This book reads almost like a "self-help" book. I can see many people being turned off by the semi-pretentious tone; instead of saying "this works for me" he's saying, "This is the way it works". BUT, I agreed with about 95% of the stuff he said. He just seems really grounded, as you would hope anyone his age would be. He really comes off as someone who wants to make the lives of those around him better. He really enjoys pushing himself into new things. The other reason people might not enjoy this is that he doesn't really talk about Kiss that much. Maybe 30% of the book talks about his relationships with other members, the reunion tour etc... but there aren't any crazy road stories, no debauchery.
He gained a lot of respect from me when he talked about Kiss refusing to do cigarette ads, even when they weren't doing well financially. And he talked about a response to someone saying a band was just a cover band if they didn't have most of their original members. He said (not exact words), "In the end the people at the concert are going to be having a blast, while you're sitting at home complaining, so who cares."
That's it. I've never really been a fan of their music, I only know the radio songs and really, other than appreciating their accomplishments, I think they're pretty lame. So boy was I surprised to find that Paul Stanley is the musician I connect with the most out of all the musicians I've read about. I really enjoy biographies about musicians since I played in bands from about 1985 to 2015. I've read about Marilyn Manson, Flea, Tommy Lee, Anthony Kedis, Dave Mustaine, Keith Morris, Scott Ian etc... and most of the time I'm completely disheartened by these "success stories" almost completely eclipsed by tales of addiction and woe.
This book reads almost like a "self-help" book. I can see many people being turned off by the semi-pretentious tone; instead of saying "this works for me" he's saying, "This is the way it works". BUT, I agreed with about 95% of the stuff he said. He just seems really grounded, as you would hope anyone his age would be. He really comes off as someone who wants to make the lives of those around him better. He really enjoys pushing himself into new things. The other reason people might not enjoy this is that he doesn't really talk about Kiss that much. Maybe 30% of the book talks about his relationships with other members, the reunion tour etc... but there aren't any crazy road stories, no debauchery.
He gained a lot of respect from me when he talked about Kiss refusing to do cigarette ads, even when they weren't doing well financially. And he talked about a response to someone saying a band was just a cover band if they didn't have most of their original members. He said (not exact words), "In the end the people at the concert are going to be having a blast, while you're sitting at home complaining, so who cares."
bookswithjoe's review against another edition
3.0
Be forewarned: this is not a book about KISS. It's a book of Paul's life philosophies. While it does tend to get preachy at times, there are some lessons that can be applied to anyone's life. Worth a read
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