Kiss was formed in New York City in 1973, three years after The Beatles disbanded but their influence was still vibrant. They were one of the biggest influences for Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. The American musicians even decided that they would be a super-band like the Fab Four, because all the band members would have their own songs recorded and would eventually sing in the tracks.
Although their sound wasn’t similar and of course, the look, a lot of similarity can be seen when it comes to songwriting, since Paul Stanley and Simmons are the band’s main songwriters just as John and McCartney were in The Beatles, coincidentally them being the main singers, who were also the rhythm guitarist and bassist.
Over the decades Gene Simmons shared his love for the Liverpool band many times. He even revealed which it might be their best album in his opinion.
The Beatles album that Gene Simmons chose as the best
Like countless artists, The Beatles were the one who made Gene Simmons want to become a professional musician. He was born in Israel and moved with his family to the United States when he was a young kid. He felt like he was an outcast and was insecure about his accent at the time. But as soon as he saw the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan show he saw that it was cool to be different.
During his life, his love for the band only got bigger and in an interview with Goldmine Magazine in 2023, he said that The Beatles self-titled album, also known as the “White Album” might be the best of their career.
“The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ is one of my favorites because you’re seeing turmoil within perhaps the greatest band that ever existed that recorded its own music, where each member was a star. But you could hear and feel the disjointed sense of that album. Although clearly the songs shined and the playing and the production was terrific.”
“It’s interesting that Abbey Road perhaps was the greatest Beatles album. They were breaking up at that point, but somehow that had a more unified thing. But just for crazy out there music, it’s gotta be ‘The White Album’,” Gene Simmons said.
Released in 1968, the double-album had many hits. Some of them were “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Helter Skelter”.
For Simmons, The Beatles literally changed the world
The Beatles impact in music is immeasurable. The music nowadays and from the past six decades wouldn’t be the same without their existence. Simmons agreed with that and said in an interview with Planet Rock (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) in 2022, that they literally changed the world.
“There’s is no place like the United Kingdom. For me, this is holy ground. You gave the world The Beatles and for that I can almost forgive you for being a colonial empire. They literally changed the world and opened the mind of a lot of young kids who all of a sudden discovered Motown, Chuck Berry and all that. They had no idea the impact they had,” Gene Simmons said.
Until this day, The Beatles are the most successful band of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 600 million records worldwide. They were together for only one decade and released 13 studio albums. Besides their incredible work together, all the four members had successful solo careers with praised discographies.