Peter Criss has responded to a recent Gene Simmons interview in which he claimed Criss didn’t deserve a songwriting credit on KISS‘ 1976 hit “Beth.”
The track, which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, is credited to Criss, the late Stan Penridge and producer Bob Ezrin.
Simmons made the claim during an interview with the Professor of Rock podcast, saying, “Peter had nothing to do with that song. He sang it. … The mythology of ‘Beth’ is exactly that: mythology.” He argued Criss got the writing credit because he was “lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time as a guy who wrote” it.
But Criss told Billboard Simmons’ version of events is “not correct.”
“Gene wouldn’t know how the song was originally written because Gene wasn’t there from the conception of the song in the late ‘60s and he wasn’t there for the completion of the song with Bob Ezrin,” Criss said. “Gene’s statements are ridiculous and very uncalled for; he talks about things that he doesn’t know about.”
Criss said he wrote the melody and created the phrasing of the song’s original demo, then titled “Beck,” with Penridge. He also said that even though Simmons claimed it was his idea to change the title, it was Ezrin who changed it.
Ezrin also told Billboard that Simmons’ account is “not exactly how I remember it.”
“I believe from what I was told that the original song was written by Criss and Penridge and was called ‘Beck.’ It was a bit rockier and more macho,” he said. “I felt it had potential, so I asked to take it home and play with it a bit.”
Criss noted, “I would not put my name on a song I had nothing to do with. That is not who I am. I would not do that.”
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