Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has praised KISS legends Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. He called them two of the greatest frontmen in rock history.
Corgan highlighted not only the band’s iconic 1970s breakthrough but also their remarkable ability to evolve their sound across decades. He considers that ability one of their greatest accomplishments.
“Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, two of the greatest frontmen in the history of rock,” Corgan said. “Obviously, a lot of KISS fans focus on the ’70s because that’s when they broke through and they were literally the biggest band in the world, but what I’m so impressed by with Gene and Paul is they made the transitions to the ’80s.”
Corgan drew a direct line between KISS’s late-era sound and the broader shifts happening in rock music at the time.
“If you think about it, some of the late ’70s KISS basically foreshadowed the hair metal phase that was coming,” he continued. “They adapted their songwriting… and had a whole other run of hits like ‘Heaven’s On Fire.’ You have to have real ability to pivot your band’s sound into something completely different.”
He also pointed to the band’s decision to remove their iconic makeup as a defining moment of reinvention.
“They obviously took off the makeup and they had a whole other run of success,” Corgan added. “That, for me, I think that’s one of their greatest accomplishments.”
The comments reflect Corgan’s long-standing admiration for KISS and their enduring influence on rock music across multiple generations.
Corgan’s praise carries particular weight when viewed against the full arc of KISS’s career. It is a story defined not just by spectacle, but by a series of bold reinventions that kept the band commercially relevant long after their initial peak.
KISS officially retired their iconic makeup in 1983. The move initially alienated a portion of their fanbase. It proved, however, to be a calculated risk that paid off. Freed from the constraints of their theatrical personas, Stanley and Simmons steered the band toward a sleeker, radio-friendly hard rock sound that resonated strongly with mainstream audiences throughout the mid-1980s.
That pivot produced some of the band’s most commercially successful material. Tracks like “Heaven’s On Fire” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” became staples of rock radio. The ability to adapt their songwriting to the evolving tastes of the era — without losing their core identity — set them apart from many of their contemporaries.
When grunge and hip-hop reshaped the musical landscape in the 1990s and traditional rock fell out of mainstream favor, KISS continued to tour and record. They sustained a global fanbase through sheer force of will and business acumen. Their longevity became as much a part of their legacy as any individual album or hit single.
Simmons has spoken openly about the band’s survival strategy. He frequently credits their ability to treat music as both an art form and a business as the key to their endurance. That combination of creative flexibility and commercial instinct is precisely what Corgan appears to be recognizing in his remarks — an acknowledgment that greatness in rock is measured not only by peaks, but by the ability to keep climbing.
Source: Consequence
