{"id":696566,"date":"2026-01-15T01:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/696566\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T01:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:09:09","slug":"peter-criss-fires-back-at-gene-simmons-over-beth-songwriting-comments-his-statements-are-ridiculous-and-very-uncalled-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/696566\/","title":{"rendered":"PETER CRISS Fires Back At GENE SIMMONS Over ‘Beth’ Songwriting Comments: His ‘Statements Are Ridiculous And Very Uncalled For’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a new interview with Billboard<\/a>, original KISS<\/b> drummer Peter Criss<\/b> fired back at Gene Simmons<\/b> over the bassist\/vocalist’s assertion that Criss<\/b> “had nothing to do” with the writing of the group’s 1976 hit “Beth”<\/b>.<\/p>\n

“Beth”<\/b> holds the distinction of being KISS<\/b>‘s highest-charting single in the U.S., having reached position No. 7 on Billboard<\/b>‘s Hot 100 chart back in 1976. Criss<\/b> claims to have co-written the song with the late Stan Penridge<\/b> while Criss<\/b> and Penridge<\/b> were in the band CHELSEA<\/b>. In the song’s original version, the title name was “Beck”<\/b> after Becky<\/b>, CHELSEA<\/b> bandmate Mike Brand<\/b>‘s wife, who often called during practices. Criss<\/b> later received a People’s Choice Award<\/b> for the track, which was heavily tweaked and arranged by producer Bob Ezrin<\/b> for the “Destroyer”<\/b> album sessions.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that Criss<\/b> is listed as a writer, along with Penridge<\/b> and Ezrin<\/b>, in the song’s official credits, Simmons<\/b> told Professor Of Rock<\/a>: “Peter<\/b> does not write songs. He doesn’t play a musical instrument. Drums are not a musical instrument, by definition. They’re called a percussive instrument. Really important \u2014 sometimes extremely important in a band. It was for us. But you cannot play a drum fill that can be copywritten [sic], but you can come up with a riff that you can own and a melody and a lyric. Those can be copywritten [sic], but nothing you do on drums will prevent anybody else from directly copying whatever you did and applying it to another song. Okay, that’s number one. Number two, as far as I know, Peter<\/b> plays no other instruments that I’ve ever seen. Not keyboards, six-instruments at all. Peter<\/b>‘s got a great whiskey voice in the early days.<\/p>\n

“The person who wrote ‘Beth’<\/b> and ‘Baby Driver’<\/b> and one or two more was a guy named Stan Penridge<\/b>,” Gene<\/b> continued. “Stan Penridge<\/b> was with Peter<\/b> in a group called CHELSEA<\/b>. They had a record out, actually, I think it was on the MCA<\/b>. So, Peter<\/b> did not write ‘Beth’<\/b>. And he did not write ‘Baby Driver’<\/b>. Stan Penridge<\/b> wrote that. But through politics and \u2014 hint, hint, nudge, nudge \u2014 and I wasn’t there when the conversation went down, Stan Penridge<\/b> apparently agreed that Peter<\/b>‘s name would go in the songwriting credit. It appears first \u2014 Peter Criss<\/b>, Stan Penridge<\/b>\u2026 Or Peter Criss<\/b>, Bob Ezrin<\/b>, Stan Penridge<\/b>, or the other way around. But Peter<\/b>‘s first. Peter<\/b> had nothing to do with that song \u2014 nothing. He sang it. And to fix all the mythology and the gossip and the outright lies, it was Bob Ezrin<\/b> who said, ‘I wanna do this like [THE BEATLES<\/b>‘] ‘Yesterday’<\/b>,’ more like a string quartet and piano. So more acoustically, because the melody in the song demanded it. And we’d never done that. We never thought we’d be doing a song like that, but we all went, ‘Sure.'”<\/p>\n

Simmons<\/b> added: “So, the mythology of ‘Beth’<\/b> is exactly that: mythology. The real story is Peter<\/b> was lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time as a guy who wrote a song called ‘Beth’<\/b>, and then Bob Ezrin<\/b>, when he heard the song, went home before it was recorded, and then Bob<\/b> added the middle section of the piano, which was taken legally, as it’s public domain. I believe it was a Mozart<\/b> piano concerto. And that is the story behind ‘Beth’<\/b>.”<\/p>\n

Contacted by Billboard<\/b>, Criss<\/b> said that in Simmons<\/b>‘s description of the “Beth”<\/b> creative process is “not correct.”<\/p>\n

“Gene<\/b> wouldn’t know how the song was originally written because Gene<\/b> 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<\/b>,” Criss<\/b> told Billboard<\/b>. “Gene<\/b>‘s statements are ridiculous and very uncalled for; he talks about things that he doesn’t know about.<\/p>\n

“What Gene<\/b>‘s getting wrong is that as the singing songwriter, I wrote the melody and creating the phrasing for the song that’s on the original demo ‘Beck’<\/b> with Stan Penridge<\/b>. Out of Stan<\/b>‘s little black book what remained on the reworked version of ‘Beth’<\/b> is Stan<\/b>‘s original verse and chorus, and my core melody remains on the reworked composition. The core melody was expanded with Bob<\/b>‘s orchestration symphony and musical genius. Bob<\/b> and I sat at the piano at the Record Plant<\/b> studio working out the song. Bob Ezrin<\/b> changed the tempo and made it slower, and I worked on changing some of the second verse and the phrasing with the slower tempo.”<\/p>\n

Criss<\/b> added that “Bob Ezrin<\/b> changed the title from ‘Beck’<\/b> to ‘Beth’<\/b> \u2014 not Gene<\/b> or anybody else. It was Bob Ezrin<\/b>; He asked me, ‘Peter<\/b>, do you mind if we change the title?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not. ‘Beth’<\/b> is much better.’ Bob<\/b> took the song home and fixed the rest of the lyrics and the structure of the song. He added piano, some time changes and the incredible orchestra composition which elevated the song beyond my wildest my dreams. It was mind-blowing.”<\/p>\n

Back in 2014, Stanley<\/b> also disputed Criss<\/b>‘s claim that the drummer co-wrote “Beth”<\/b>, telling Rolling Stone<\/a> magazine: “Peter<\/b> can’t write a song, because Peter<\/b> doesn’t play an instrument. Penridge<\/b> came up with [sings], ‘Beth<\/b>, I hear you calling…’ Peter<\/b> had nothing to do with it. Because if you write one hit song, you should be able to write two. That’s the reality. Devastating? It’s the truth. It was a lifeline that Peter<\/b> hung on to validate himself, but it wasn’t based on reality.”<\/p>\n

“Paul<\/b> is so full of fucking shit,” countered Criss<\/b>, “’cause as a lead singer of the band he never got to write the hit. That’s his problem. They hated the fact that I wrote a hit record and won a People’s Choice<\/b>.”<\/p>\n

In a 2000 interview<\/a>, Penridge<\/b> was asked how “Beck”<\/b> was written and how much of it Peter<\/b> was really responsible for, if any. “‘Beck’<\/b> was written, almost word for word, from Mike Brand<\/b>‘s responses to his wife’s constant calls that interupted our rehearsals,” Penridge<\/b> explained. “It got to the point where I wrote down his remarks over a period of three or four days in what I called my ‘wizard book.’ It was merely a small notebook I carried to jot down silly sayings, sketch in, anything….to save ideas. If you look at the lyrics and view them as a hen-pecked hubby’s remarks to his nagging wife, you’ll see what I mean. Just pause after every sentence and pretend there’s a bitch at the other end of the line. You’ll catch it \u2014 I’m sure.”<\/p>\n

He added: “[Peter<\/b> was] absolutely not responsible [for it] at all. Another poorman’s copyright by me in ’70.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a new interview with Billboard, original KISS drummer Peter Criss fired back at Gene Simmons over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-696566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115896448751681850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}