Rock and roll has had its feuds. Kurt Cobain vs. Axl Rose, Dave Mustaine vs. Metallica, David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar.
And lest anyone forget, John Lennon and Paul McCartney weren’t exactly friends in the years after the Beatles broke up.
But perhaps no feud in the history of rock is stranger than the one between a celebrated, spiritually driven electric guitar player and a makeup-clad bass guitar player who wears seven-inch platform boots.
Yes, we're talking about Carlos Santana and Gene Simmons.
Santana is famous for his view of music as divinely inspired. He said in 2000 that he communicates with an angel called Metatron, but he has also drawn on the so-called “saints” of guitar.
“I had only one concern when making my new record,” he explained to Guitar Player in 1999 while speaking about his then recently released hit album, Supernatural. “Would Jimi Hendrix like it if he were here? Would there be enough guitar? It's important for me to appease Jimi and Wes Montgomery, because I play for them, too.”
But Carlos was in a much less positive frame of mind in 2005 when it came to Kiss and, in particular, Gene Simmons.
“He's not a musician, he's an entertainer,” the guitarist declared. “A musician is Coltrane, Bob Marley. Kiss is Las Vegas entertainment, so he wouldn't know what music is anyway. That's why he wears all that stuff.
“Simmons hides his talent beneath costumes and makeup. A musician doesn’t need the mask or the mascara. There’s a difference between an entertainer and a musician.”
Santana would know. After all, he's performed with some of the greatest, including John McLaughlin.
Even so, it was an unusual statement coming from a guitarist better known for his messages of love and peace.
Simmons’ response was surprisingly diplomatic: “Not everyone likes the same meal,” he offered.
Besides, the bassist couldn’t entirely object to what Santana said. He has himself admitted that, from the start, Kiss aimed to bring a more entertaining element to music and, especially stage performance. It was something he and Kiss cofounder Paul Stanley felt was sorely missing from American rock and roll, but not from the British acts that the two musicians so deeply loved and admired.
“The thing that we liked was English music,” Simmons told Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast, "the Kinks and the Stones. American bands just weren't writing that kind of music, and the American bands didn't look that way.
“Especially Jimmy Page and Zeppelin. The guitar was worn way down on the crotch. They'd hit a chord and for no reason whatsoever the hand would swing up in the air, and a lot of these guys would do the Jesus Christ pose. American bands didn't do that. [British rock] was more theatrical and grand, and it was glamorous.”
And when he got the makeup on, Simmons was transformed. “It's in my DNA,” he said, referring to the time he scared the bejesus out of Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler while in full costume. “Once the war paint was on, I became the Demon.”
But four years later, it was apparent that Santana’s words had found their mark, and Simmons felt compelled to speak up. In a 2009 interview to talk about Kiss’s then-new Sonic Boom album, he let loose.
"It's time for us to go out and show the little boys how the big boys do it," the bassist declared. "I'm sick and tired of these bands like Carlos Santana looking at his shoes and thinking that's a rock concert.
"Get off the stage!"
Santana did not, of course.
And apparently Simmons hasn’t either. Although Kiss claimed to have brought their 50-year reign to an end in 2023, the glam rockers recently announced they’ll be returning for a one-off show in November of this year as part of the Kiss Army Storms Vegas event at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
The show will also feature a special performance from former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick — who recently told us about his best and worst shows with Kiss — as well as other special guests.
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