Rolling Stone: KISS After 40 Years

I was never a big fan of the band KISS myself.  Despite the fact that they're going to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a few weeks, I think I would recognize only 3 or 4 of their songs. But there's no denying that their persistent endurance and ubiquitous licensing have long-since transcended Gene Simmons' preternaturally long tongue dripping fake blood onstage in the 1970s.

Well, on the brink of their Hall of Fame induction, Rolling Stone magazine just published THIS very readable profile of the band today, featuring separate interviews with all four original members (two of whom have been out of the band for years).  Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley came across to me like two guys who have had a successful partnership for four decades, but perhaps not a deep friendship.  And the other two guys struck me as people who still defined themselves in opposition to a band (and band mates) that they left long ago.  Most intriguingly, Gene Simmons comes across as a man in late middle age, a little lonely living in a KISS museum he built proudly for himself.