deepfreezebatman's review against another edition
4.0
Loved hearing about how KISS got their start, the backstories to songs and albums, and about Paul's life in general. I love that he reads the audiobook and was surprised by how grounded, mature, and positive he is about life. Great attitude, awesome entertainer, and super inspirational.
twerkingtobeethoven's review against another edition
3.0
Caution: lotsa F and even C words.
Stuff I liked, better yet, what got my attention and interest:
1. The bits about the actual music-making and how some of the records were made. What they did in the studio, what the producer came up with, why that certain album was an absolute disgrace and bombed hard;
2. Sex, drugs, alcohol, antics, debauchery, etc.;
3. Ace was a pain in the ass because he was lazy and constantly off his face, he was funny at first, and blahblahblah, oh well, fuck you, you fucking fuck!;
4. Peter was a pain in the ass because he was constantly intoxicated, bitter, bitching and moaning, also blahblahblah, oh well, you can't play, you suck at drums, we had to call Anton Fig to record Dynasty and Unmasked, well, fuck you, you fucking fuck!;
5. Vinnie Vincent was a pain in the ass and a full on wacko, he also played a 20 minute guitar solo which was fucking boring as shite;
6. Mark St. John played 20000 notes a minute because that was the fashion back in the eighties, he got a serious tendonitis and couldn't play for shite so we let him go, fuck him.
What I didn't give a flying squirrel's chuff about:
1. I was a poor jewish kid, everybody would take the piss out of me because I was born without an ear;
2. I got married but she was in love with some frog-eating twat in France, the bastard would ring her all the time and when I told her to stop talking to him she basically told me to get fucked and mind my own business. I got a divorce in the end and she got a fuckload of money. My money.;
3. Met another girl, the right one, we got married and have three kids; we're family. Family rocks!;
4. I was depressed so someone suggested I should paint. I painted. My paintings sell, I'm a talented artist, hey!;
5. I was in Phantom of the Opera. I loved it. People loved me. Gene couldn't care less;
6. Gene is a fucking cunt. I hate his guts but I've known him for over 40 years so we're friends, he didn't come to my wedding because I didn't invite the bastard as he'd tell me weddings are for twats, and that annoyed me no end. He got married too eventually, in 2011, ha!;
7. Charity.
Three stars.
Stuff I liked, better yet, what got my attention and interest:
1. The bits about the actual music-making and how some of the records were made. What they did in the studio, what the producer came up with, why that certain album was an absolute disgrace and bombed hard;
2. Sex, drugs, alcohol, antics, debauchery, etc.;
3. Ace was a pain in the ass because he was lazy and constantly off his face, he was funny at first, and blahblahblah, oh well, fuck you, you fucking fuck!;
4. Peter was a pain in the ass because he was constantly intoxicated, bitter, bitching and moaning, also blahblahblah, oh well, you can't play, you suck at drums, we had to call Anton Fig to record Dynasty and Unmasked, well, fuck you, you fucking fuck!;
5. Vinnie Vincent was a pain in the ass and a full on wacko, he also played a 20 minute guitar solo which was fucking boring as shite;
6. Mark St. John played 20000 notes a minute because that was the fashion back in the eighties, he got a serious tendonitis and couldn't play for shite so we let him go, fuck him.
What I didn't give a flying squirrel's chuff about:
1. I was a poor jewish kid, everybody would take the piss out of me because I was born without an ear;
2. I got married but she was in love with some frog-eating twat in France, the bastard would ring her all the time and when I told her to stop talking to him she basically told me to get fucked and mind my own business. I got a divorce in the end and she got a fuckload of money. My money.;
3. Met another girl, the right one, we got married and have three kids; we're family. Family rocks!;
4. I was depressed so someone suggested I should paint. I painted. My paintings sell, I'm a talented artist, hey!;
5. I was in Phantom of the Opera. I loved it. People loved me. Gene couldn't care less;
6. Gene is a fucking cunt. I hate his guts but I've known him for over 40 years so we're friends, he didn't come to my wedding because I didn't invite the bastard as he'd tell me weddings are for twats, and that annoyed me no end. He got married too eventually, in 2011, ha!;
7. Charity.
Three stars.
witchmoonchild's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
ferrisscottr's review against another edition
4.0
Being a life long Kiss fan since the 70's I thought I'd give this one a try. Unlike Gene Simmons auto-biography (which was all about him all the time) Stanley spent a lot of time talking about the band, the albums, the tours, the strife etc. ~ That was good but it also means he spent less time talking about himself, his private life, his art and believe it or not he spent very little time talking about Gene Simmons.
So there was a bunch of stuff that I wished he would have spent more time on but it's his autobiography so it's his call.
What there was was written very well, interesting, moved along at a nice clip, included a bunch of backstage, back scene stories, dealt with his deafness and missing ear, loneliness, divorce, issues with Peter and Ace.
Not great but definitely a good read and glad I spent my time with it.
So there was a bunch of stuff that I wished he would have spent more time on but it's his autobiography so it's his call.
What there was was written very well, interesting, moved along at a nice clip, included a bunch of backstage, back scene stories, dealt with his deafness and missing ear, loneliness, divorce, issues with Peter and Ace.
Not great but definitely a good read and glad I spent my time with it.
sarina_johnston's review against another edition
4.0
First off, I feel it is important to just put it out there that I am not a KISS freak. I am not a member of the KISS Army or anything like that. I am a diehard Bon Jovi fan (and now Def Leppard, although Bon Jovi will always be number one in my book), and my type of music is hair bands, not KISS.
Don't get my wrong - I do like KISS music. I did see them on their tour with Def Leppard in August 2014 (although I went for Def Leppard, but knew I couldn't leave during KISS because, come on, they're legends).
So why, might you ask, did I read this book when I'm not even a big KISS fan? I don't even know the answer to that question. After I saw them with Def Leppard, I was like, "Hey, I kind of want to read Paul Stanley's book." So I got it on hold at the library and I read it.
Now, on to the actual review. I was extremely surprised when reading this book. The writing style was so much better than I ever could have expected, and when he was talking about something I cared about or was at least interested in, I found it quite easy to read. It was very nice.
I was also extremely shocked to discover Paul had only one ear throughout most of his life. What kind of musician has only one ear?! It was strange to read about how life was for him as a child. Speaking of which, his childhood reminds me somewhat of my grandfather's, excepted Paul was much more blessed. He didn't get a lot of affection from either parent during childhood, and I felt bad for him about that.
A HUGE problem I had with Face the Music was Paul's constant bashing of Peter Criss and Ace and even Gene. I mean, come on! Maybe they're not the best people and made a lot of mistakes in their life, but who hasn't? He was constantly saying Ace and Peter couldn't play and had no talent (ironic considering Ace's latest album hit #9 on the charts). It's also ironic that he continued to mention their talentlessness considering he sounded terrible when I saw him live - and no, it wasn't the venue, because Joe Elliott sounded amazing. In any case, Paul's constant whining about his band mates got really old really fast.
I was also bothered by how much he talked about the sex he had with groupies (not in a lot of detail, but his "women" were mentioned often), although I was expecting it coming into the book. I was just tired of him mentioning it all the time.
I liked reading about KISS's history. I thought that aspect of the book was really cool. Going into it, I didn't know a lot about KISS, but now I feel like an expert. It was cool to be in with the action going on behind the scenes and to know how KISS got to where it is.
In conclusion, I was very surprised at how much I really did enjoy this book. I didn't think I would. I've never read nonfiction before, and definitely not an autobiography, but it was a good first experience.
4 stars!
Don't get my wrong - I do like KISS music. I did see them on their tour with Def Leppard in August 2014 (although I went for Def Leppard, but knew I couldn't leave during KISS because, come on, they're legends).
So why, might you ask, did I read this book when I'm not even a big KISS fan? I don't even know the answer to that question. After I saw them with Def Leppard, I was like, "Hey, I kind of want to read Paul Stanley's book." So I got it on hold at the library and I read it.
Now, on to the actual review. I was extremely surprised when reading this book. The writing style was so much better than I ever could have expected, and when he was talking about something I cared about or was at least interested in, I found it quite easy to read. It was very nice.
I was also extremely shocked to discover Paul had only one ear throughout most of his life. What kind of musician has only one ear?! It was strange to read about how life was for him as a child. Speaking of which, his childhood reminds me somewhat of my grandfather's, excepted Paul was much more blessed. He didn't get a lot of affection from either parent during childhood, and I felt bad for him about that.
A HUGE problem I had with Face the Music was Paul's constant bashing of Peter Criss and Ace and even Gene. I mean, come on! Maybe they're not the best people and made a lot of mistakes in their life, but who hasn't? He was constantly saying Ace and Peter couldn't play and had no talent (ironic considering Ace's latest album hit #9 on the charts). It's also ironic that he continued to mention their talentlessness considering he sounded terrible when I saw him live - and no, it wasn't the venue, because Joe Elliott sounded amazing. In any case, Paul's constant whining about his band mates got really old really fast.
I was also bothered by how much he talked about the sex he had with groupies (not in a lot of detail, but his "women" were mentioned often), although I was expecting it coming into the book. I was just tired of him mentioning it all the time.
I liked reading about KISS's history. I thought that aspect of the book was really cool. Going into it, I didn't know a lot about KISS, but now I feel like an expert. It was cool to be in with the action going on behind the scenes and to know how KISS got to where it is.
In conclusion, I was very surprised at how much I really did enjoy this book. I didn't think I would. I've never read nonfiction before, and definitely not an autobiography, but it was a good first experience.
4 stars!
pascalthehoff's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know what I expected going into this, but this (audio)book was MUCH more interesting than expected. My personal background with KISS might be kinda relevant for this review:
I used to be really into KISS for about a year or so when I was 15/16 years old (almost ten years ago). Since then, I feel out of love with them pretty hard. The reasons for that were on one hand the misogynistic content of their lyrics and on the other hand my growing (let's just call it) "contemptuous cynicism" for their comparatively simplistic (if not downright stupid) music.
There are still quite a few KISS songs I've always genuinely enjoyed. Songs like 'Detroit Rock City' hardly ever grow old and other songs like 'Love Gun' that lean a bit more on the sexist end of the spectrum have always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. But to think that I ever used to enjoy songs like 'Plaster Caster'... But I digress...
I originally started listening to this audiobook as a tangent to an academic paper I planned to write about misogyny in rock music. Pretty soon, I was extremely surprised by how compelling Paul's retelling of his life's story was.
Maybe I was a bit too cynical writing off about 80% of KISS' song catalogue as trash, often making fun of their style over substance-approach to making music.
Despite being a big fan back then, I never really dug into Paul Stanley, the persona. He appears to be A LOT more sophisticated than I ever would've expected and I respect his sense of showmanship as well as the pride he takes in his music a lot more after listening to this.
I know, he wrote this book himself and he could have basically portrayed himself in whichever way he wanted. But I think there are certain values you simply can't fake, just as there are certain values that wouldn't make any sense to advocate if you didn't truly believe in them.
So if you are somewhat of a jaded KISS fan like me (and if Paul was almost your favourite member of the band – for reasons that should be apparent to anyone) this is the book for you. Lots of interesting insights and great laughs, ESPECIALLY if you see the band from a slightly cynical 'Spinal Tap'-angle nowadays.
I used to be really into KISS for about a year or so when I was 15/16 years old (almost ten years ago). Since then, I feel out of love with them pretty hard. The reasons for that were on one hand the misogynistic content of their lyrics and on the other hand my growing (let's just call it) "contemptuous cynicism" for their comparatively simplistic (if not downright stupid) music.
There are still quite a few KISS songs I've always genuinely enjoyed. Songs like 'Detroit Rock City' hardly ever grow old and other songs like 'Love Gun' that lean a bit more on the sexist end of the spectrum have always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. But to think that I ever used to enjoy songs like 'Plaster Caster'... But I digress...
I originally started listening to this audiobook as a tangent to an academic paper I planned to write about misogyny in rock music. Pretty soon, I was extremely surprised by how compelling Paul's retelling of his life's story was.
Maybe I was a bit too cynical writing off about 80% of KISS' song catalogue as trash, often making fun of their style over substance-approach to making music.
Despite being a big fan back then, I never really dug into Paul Stanley, the persona. He appears to be A LOT more sophisticated than I ever would've expected and I respect his sense of showmanship as well as the pride he takes in his music a lot more after listening to this.
I know, he wrote this book himself and he could have basically portrayed himself in whichever way he wanted. But I think there are certain values you simply can't fake, just as there are certain values that wouldn't make any sense to advocate if you didn't truly believe in them.
So if you are somewhat of a jaded KISS fan like me (and if Paul was almost your favourite member of the band – for reasons that should be apparent to anyone) this is the book for you. Lots of interesting insights and great laughs, ESPECIALLY if you see the band from a slightly cynical 'Spinal Tap'-angle nowadays.
thanhnguyen99's review against another edition
4.0
Made me fall in love with Paul Stanley and Kiss. Beautiful tenderness conveyed through an autobiography that details Paul’s journey from childhood to the present day. Poignant and funny.
bfth23's review against another edition
2.0
If you like(d) Kiss, do yourself a favor and just stick to listening to Alive! None of the books written by the band members will make you like the band any better or give you any insight that any casual fan might have. I'd have to say that of all 4 autobiography's out there, this one is the most "literate" (or maybe that should be the one that was best edited and/or ghost written). The Kiss story is not pretty (no matter who's book and "facts" you read) a so just leave it at that.