Paul Stanley recently spoke to Louder Sound and discussed how they tried to play fair with AC/DC while KISS was on tour with them.
AC/DC opened for KISS in the early 70s, as Stanley recalled seeing the Bon-Scott-led act for the first time in Los Angeles’ popular club, Whisky A Go Go. He continued:
“A little later [he saw the band in the L.A. club], we took AC/DC out as the opening act for KISS, and again, they were fantastic. As Angus has said, we made sure they had the best sound, and we always had the same attitude with opening acts.”
The rocker continued by explaining how ‘unrightfully’ overshadowing AC/DC or any other opening act wasn’t what KISS wanted:
“It’s cheating to undermine them [opening acts] or sabotage them. If you’re the headliner you’re supposed to be the champ, but if the champ can only win by having the contender fight with one hand tied behind their back, then you don’t deserve to be champion. So that’s part of it.”
Stanley was also generous with compliments while discussing AC/DC, praising:
“I also think that what AC/DC have is something that’s in all the great classic bands, without any exception. It’s that chemistry between two people, that yin and yang, and a sense of camaraderie that audiences can relate to.”
He added by giving different examples of the ‘chemistry’ in question:
“All the great bands have it. It’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend. It’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. It’s Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart If you go down the line it’s me and Gene, it’s Axl and Slash. AC/DC had it with Bon and Angus, and it was the same with Brian and Angus.”
Although KISS seemingly didn’t sabotage their opening acts, there were times in rock history when other bands tried to. You can check out here to read about the time Steven Tyler tried ‘sabotaging’ Kansas while the two bands were on tour.
