GENE SIMMONS Says PETER CRISS Had 'Nothing To Do' With Writing Of KISS's 'Beth' Despite Being Listed As Co-Writer

In a new interview with Professor Of Rock, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons sets the record straight about the band's hit ballad "Beth", which holds the distinction of being KISS's highest-charting single in the U.S., having reached position No. 7 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart back in 1976. Original KISS drummer Peter Criss claims to have co-written the song with the late Stan Penridge while Criss and Penridge were in the band CHELSEA. In the song's original version, the title name was "Beck" after Becky, CHELSEA bandmate Mike Brand's wife, who often called during practices. Criss later received a People's Choice Award for the track, which was heavily tweaked and arranged by producer Bob Ezrin for the "Destroyer" album sessions.

Despite the fact that Criss is listed as a writer, along with Penridge and Ezrin, in the song's official credits, Simmons claims the drummer had little to do with its creation. Gene tells Professor Of Rock (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The history of 'Beth' is that Peter and I were in one limo, and Ace [Frehley, original KISS guitarist] and Paul [Stanley, KISS guitarist/vocalist] were in another, and we were going from Flint, Michigan to a little place called Cadillac, Michigan, which is a few hundred miles from Detroit… So, in the limo, Peter starts humming [the beginning of what became 'Beth']. I'm, like, 'What is that? That's a nice melody. What is that?' He goes, 'Oh, it's a song I wrote called 'Beck'.' B-E-C-K. 'So how's it go?' 'Beck, I hear you calling,' and so on and so forth. And I remember at the time, I said to him, because we had started working with Bob Ezrin, 'Why don't you bring up that song? By the way, what are the chords to that?' He goes, 'I don't know.' 'Oh.' I thought that was peculiar. So, Peter had a tape of it. He brought it up to Ezrin. But before then, I suggested in the car, 'Why don't you change it to 'Beth', because when you say 'Beck', that hard syllable stops the melody. 'Beck, I hear you… Beck, I hear you…' There's a 'ck' [sound] in there that it's not smooth. 'Beth' is a much smoother way. And 'Beth' is a much more romantic idea. Actually, the lyrics are very clever. It's about guys in a band rehearsing and the girlfriend bugs the guy, 'Hey, when are you coming home?' And he says to her, 'I'm not coming home anytime soon, 'cause me and the boys are gonna be playing all night.' You know, almost like, 'What's more important? Your band or me?' 'Actually, bitch, it's the band. You're not gonna change my life. They will.'"

Simmons then went on to break down Peter's involvement — or alleged lack thereof — in the writing of "Beth", saying: "Okay, children, now that you've all grown up, it's time for the truth. Statement of fact: I love Peter. We all do. Families are complex. I don't know of any family that doesn't argue or get angry with each other and sometimes don't speak with each other for sometimes decades and then get back together. 'Cause family is family. Peter is always family. And sadly we saw Peter at Ace's funeral [last October]. And we reminisced in between the sorrow and the pain — 'remember when' and all that. But it's time for the truth.

"Peter does not write songs," Gene explained. "He doesn't play a musical instrument. Drums are not a musical instrument, by definition. They're called a percussive instrument. Really important — 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 plays no other instruments that I've ever seen. Not keyboards, six-instruments at all. Peter's got a great whiskey voice in the early days.

"The person who wrote 'Beth' and 'Baby Driver' and one or two more was a guy named Stan Penridge," Gene continued. "Stan Penridge was with Peter in a group called CHELSEA. They had a record out, actually, I think it was on the MCA. So, Peter did not write 'Beth'. And he did not write 'Baby Driver'. Stan Penridge wrote that. But through politics and — hint, hint, nudge, nudge — and I wasn't there when the conversation went down, Stan Penridge apparently agreed that Peter's name would go in the songwriting credit. It appears first — Peter Criss, Stan Penridge… Or Peter Criss, Bob Ezrin, Stan Penridge, or the other way around. But Peter's first. Peter had nothing to do with that song — nothing. He sang it. And to fix all the mythology and the gossip and the outright lies, it was Bob Ezrin who said, 'I wanna do this like [THE BEATLES'] 'Yesterday',' 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.'"

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

Back in 2014, Stanley also disputed Criss's claim that the drummer co-wrote "Beth", telling Rolling Stone magazine: "Peter can't write a song, because Peter doesn't play an instrument. Penridge came up with [sings], 'Beth, I hear you calling...' Peter 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 hung on to validate himself, but it wasn't based on reality."

"Paul is so full of fucking shit," countered Criss, "'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."

In a 2000 interview, Penridge was asked how "Beck" was written and how much of it Peter was really responsible for, if any. "'Beck' was written, almost word for word, from Mike Brand's responses to his wife's constant calls that interupted our rehearsals," Penridge 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 — I'm sure."

He added: "[Peter was] absolutely not responsible [for it] at all. Another poorman's copyright by me in '70."