Heavy
Banned
Gene Simmons likes to remark that he discovered Van Halen (and that they still owe them the money he fronted them to record their first demos). Indeed, when he came across the Van Halen in 1976, he attempted to convince Eddie Van Halen to leave the group and join his own band instead, but the guitarist refused.
A few years later, Van Halen were nationally famous but the notorious bad blood between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth was at a boiling point, precipitated by an intense disagreement over the darker sound of 1981's Fair Warning album. Concurrently, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had just deparated Kiss; Eric Carr had already taken Criss's place on the drum stool, but they had yet to find a replacement lead guitarist.
During the recording of Kiss's Creatures Of the Night album, Eddie Van Halen approached Gene Simmons and asked to join his band, but Simmons and Alex Van Halen were able to persuade him to stick with Van Halen. Kiss would subsequently (and briefly) recruit Vinnie Vincent, who had co-written some of the songs on Creatures Of the Night as their new lead guitarist.
What if Simmons had accepted Eddie's offer, or Alex hadn't been able to convince his brother not to quit? What would have happened to Van Halen? What would have happened to Kiss? Indeed, what would have happened to hard rock in general?
My assumption is that Eddie wouldn't last long in Kiss; his ego is infamous and it seems unlikely that there'd be room for it in a band that already has two forceful personalities in Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Consider that Vinnie Vincent didn't last long either; among other things, Stanley complained that his flashy guitar playing was stealing the rest of the band's thunder. I wouldn't be surprised if the same accusations landed on Eddie.
As for Van Halen, the question is whether they can justify keeping it going without one of their two big draws (Eddie's guitar playing and Diamond Dave's capering). Would Roth even stick around or would he try to strike out on his own four years earlier? Would Van Halen continue with Alex as its leader, even under a different name? If it did, who would they conceivably select to replace their departing guitarist and front man?
A few years later, Van Halen were nationally famous but the notorious bad blood between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth was at a boiling point, precipitated by an intense disagreement over the darker sound of 1981's Fair Warning album. Concurrently, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had just deparated Kiss; Eric Carr had already taken Criss's place on the drum stool, but they had yet to find a replacement lead guitarist.
During the recording of Kiss's Creatures Of the Night album, Eddie Van Halen approached Gene Simmons and asked to join his band, but Simmons and Alex Van Halen were able to persuade him to stick with Van Halen. Kiss would subsequently (and briefly) recruit Vinnie Vincent, who had co-written some of the songs on Creatures Of the Night as their new lead guitarist.
What if Simmons had accepted Eddie's offer, or Alex hadn't been able to convince his brother not to quit? What would have happened to Van Halen? What would have happened to Kiss? Indeed, what would have happened to hard rock in general?
My assumption is that Eddie wouldn't last long in Kiss; his ego is infamous and it seems unlikely that there'd be room for it in a band that already has two forceful personalities in Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Consider that Vinnie Vincent didn't last long either; among other things, Stanley complained that his flashy guitar playing was stealing the rest of the band's thunder. I wouldn't be surprised if the same accusations landed on Eddie.
As for Van Halen, the question is whether they can justify keeping it going without one of their two big draws (Eddie's guitar playing and Diamond Dave's capering). Would Roth even stick around or would he try to strike out on his own four years earlier? Would Van Halen continue with Alex as its leader, even under a different name? If it did, who would they conceivably select to replace their departing guitarist and front man?
