During a recent interview with VRP Rocks, Gene Simmons claimed Eddie Van Halen disliked David Lee Roth and wanted to join KISS.
After saying that Van Halen changed after fame and money, the bassist stated:
“In fact in 1982, it got so bad for the guys that Eddie called me. We were recording an album called, ‘Creatures of the Night’ and he came down to the studio and I said, ‘Well, let’s get out of here. Let’s go across the street to a place to grab some coffee or something.’”
Eddie Complained About DLR
Simmons shared what Eddie told him at the time:
“And he asked me to join KISS. ‘I can’t take Roth anymore. I’ve got to get out of here.’ And I think I did the right thing by talking him out of it. I said, ‘No no. You’ve got to rough it out. You can’t be on a jet without turbulence. That’s just the nature. Even if you get married, you will have some rough spots. Just hang in there.’”
Gene thinks KISS wasn’t the right band for Eddie:
“And besides, if Van Halen ever joined KISS, which would never happen, there’s no room. You’ve got so much sound coming out of that guitar. You need to get out of the way and just have bass and drums in the back of it so because he fills it up.”
Eddie Impressed The Bassist With His Talent
Simmons was amazed by Eddie’s talent when he first saw Van Halen perform. He signed them to his production company and produced a demo. He shared his opinions on the late guitarist in a 2021 chat with Guitar World:
“You would have been surprised. Of course, genius is the right word, but when you think ‘geniuses’ you also think of big personalities and people that are perhaps full of themselves. You couldn’t have met a nicer person than Edward. He didn’t like Eddie. A lot of people don’t know that he started off on drums and that he was an accomplished pianist and it actually his brother Alex who was the guitar player.”
He continued:
“They decided to switch quite early on. Imagine the musical talent in that family? When I heard he had passed, the image that immediately came into my mind after the shock, was him smiling. He always smiled. He smiled on stage when they did videos. He was just enjoying life. He’d do these astonishing things with his guitar and look up at you as if to say, ‘Aren’t we having fun?’ as opposed to ‘See what I just did there?!’ There was never any of that ‘I know I’m great’ side to his personality.”
Despite the quality of their recordings, Simmons couldn’t convince his manager or bandmates in KISS to take an interest in Van Halen. Warner Brothers later signed them, and they became famous with hits like ‘You Really Got Me.’
You can watch Gene’s full interview below.