(Classic Rock) Gene Simmons is proud of what he told Eddie Van Halen when the guitarist begged to replace Ace Frehley in Kiss.Simmons says events unfolded in 1982 when Kiss parted ways with guitarist Frehley. Van Halen appeared in the band's studio, where they were working on new material, and played the main theme from future hit single Jump on a synth.
Simmons spoke about it on Nikki Sixx's radio show, "So I take him to lunch across the street and he actually tells me: 'I want to join Kiss. I can't take Roth – he's driving me nuts. We're not getting along. I've got this sound in my head that I want Van Halen to do, and Roth doesn't want to do it, and we're just getting to a point where he's believing his own hype.'," Gene said. "I remember feeling proud of what I said. I said: 'Don't do it. Stay with the band you started. There's no role for you – you're too big. You cast too much of a shadow to be the guitar player in Kiss.' That's not all.
